Finding a book with a man from the future being reincarnated on Earth in past times

Question

I am trying to find a book I read about ~10 years ago. I really want to read it again, but all my google searches, goodreads.com lists have come up empty.

What I remember is:

• The Protagonist is from the future and is being reincarnated(not sure of the method) throughout time periods on Earth.
  • He is fighting humans that look at themselves as deities or gods
  • At one time he was Prometheus, bringer of fire to the human race
  • Towards the end, he and a spaceship crew are the first Homo Sapiens on Earth and all humanity are their descendants
  • involves traveling back in time

I just remember it as a great read but, for my life, can't remember the name or author

Any help is much appreciated..

Oli

Answer 1

This sounds like it might be the Orion series by Ben Bova.

From the link:

John O'Ryan is not a god...not exactly. He is an eternal warrior destined to combat the Dark Lord through all time for dominion of the Earth. Follow him, servant of a great race, as he battles his enemy down the halls of time, from the caves of our ancestors to the threat of nuclear annihilation.

In particular the part about Orion traveling back in time with a crew of humans and becoming the ancestors of humanity I believe is from Orion 5 Orion Among the Stars.

Orion Among the Star - Summary

The part that really matches is:

Orion and a group of soldiers travels back to before the Ice Ages and become the first humans on the planet finally replacing the Neanderthals who came before. O'Ryan becomes corrupted to Orion over the millennia known as the great hunter who taught humanity how to survive.

Finally Orion also travels to other times in the Earth's past. Ancient Egypt, prehistoric times during dinosaur ages, etc.