[2] Both sons of the Titan Iapetus,[3] while Prometheus ("foresight") is ingeniously clever, Epimetheus ("hindsight") is inept and foolish.

According to Plato's use of the old myth in his Protagoras (320d–322a), the two Titan brothers were entrusted with distributing the traits among the newly created animals.

"[5] According to Hesiod, who related the tale twice (Theogony, 527ff; Works and Days 57ff), Epimetheus was the one who accepted the gift of Pandora from the gods.

[6] In some accounts, Epimetheus had another daughter, Metameleia, whose name means "regret of what has occurred" for those that do not plan ahead will only feel sorrow when calamity strikes.

[7] According to a scholion (marginal comment) on Apollonius of Rhodes' Argonautica, Eumelos states that Epimetheus' wife was called Ephyra, daughter of Oceanus and Tethys.