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Likewise, Zeus plays a different role in every version of myth. In the Theogony, he is the legitimate and just ruler of the cosmos, and Prometheus' rebellion is what brought trouble to mankind:
"And angry though he was, he checked the rage
He felt against Prometheus, who dared
to match his wits against the almighty Zeus.
--Hesiod, Theogony
On the other hand, Prometheus is sometimes shown as a benefactor of mankind with Zeus as an oppresive dictator, like in Prometheus Bound, and pretty much all later Greek literature.