Thus Spoke Zarathustra is a philosophical novel by German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche, composed in four parts between 1883 and 1885. Much of the work deals with ideas such as the "eternal recurrence of the same", the parable on the "death of God".

"He goes on to characterize "what the name of Zarathustra means in my mouth, the mouth of the first immoralist:"

Zarathustra was the first to consider the fight of good and evil the very wheel in the machinery of things: the transposition of morality into the metaphysical realm, as a force, cause, and end in itself, is his work. Zarathustra created this most calamitous error, morality; consequently, he must also be the first to recognize it. His doctrine, and his alone, posits truthfulness as the highest virtue; this means the opposite of the cowardice of the "idealist” who flees from reality.

Another singular feature of Zarathustra, first presented in the prologue, is the designation of human beings as a transition between apes and the "Übermensch" (in English, the "overman" or "superman"; or, superhuman).

The will to power is the fundamental component of human nature. Everything we do is an expression of the will to power.

Man as a race is merely a bridge between animals and the overman (superhuman).

Prometheus, a Titan, is credited with having made the human race out of clay. Prometheus was said to have been so enthralled by his human creation that he stole fire from the gods to help the humans along. Zeus punished Prometheus for his crime with an unimaginable torture -- chaining him to a rock and having an eagle eat his liver. The organ grew back at night, and every day, the eagle came back to peck it out.

The ancients believed that the name Prometheus derived from the Greek pro (before) + manthano (learn) and the agent suffix -eus, thus meaning "Forethinker".

We should also discuss the relevance of Cuneiform Script in the film, the most ancient of languages. It pops up in hundreds of horror/adventure films.

Cunieform's concept is fascinating because of its reliance on ABSOLUTE designs (classical geometrics) to communicate information. It is considered the most advanced language as it is "universal". It is said to convery imagery all conscious beings can relate to, and controversially, represents a hidden language that lies dormant in all mankind. We just need a way of tapping into it. Learning it might help

Of relevance to the film, not only is Cuneiform a spoken language, but it is also representative of musical notation. Recent discoveries show it predates the Greek model of the Pentatonic Scale by several thousand years. Cuneiform not only conveys a language but also potentially can relate instructions through music. Archeo-Musicologist Prof. Richard Dumbrill has published a very interesting paper regarding this, for those curious.

So, much as we laughed at the "Willy Wonka" moment in Prometheus - it was actually a very well researched idea, and an intellectual addition to the mythology. It is possible the first cultures were using a hybrid visual/musical language between one another.

There's no evidence it was used to control spaceships...but hat's off to the writers for putting it out there

(That's the only positive thing I'll have to say about Spaights and Lindelof - EVER lol)