Deucalion- Greek HeroHero"Survivor of the Flood"
Also known as: Deukalion, Deukaliōn, and Δευκαλίων
Description
Son of Prometheus who survived the great flood Zeus sent to destroy the human race. For nine days and nights, Deucalion and his wife Pyrrha floated in a wooden chest upon the rising waters. When they emerged as the last two people alive, the oracle at Delphi told them to cast stones over their shoulders — and from the stones, a new humanity was born.
Mythology & Lore
Parentage and Character
Deucalion was the son of Prometheus, the Titan who stole fire for humanity. His mother is named variously as Clymene or Pronoia. He inherited none of his father's rebellious cunning — where Prometheus defied the gods, Deucalion honored them. He married Pyrrha, daughter of Epimetheus and Pandora, a union that joined both Titan brothers' lines. Together they ruled in Thessaly, known for their justice and piety.
The Great Flood
Zeus, disgusted by the wickedness of the Bronze Age — and outraged above all by Lycaon, who had served human flesh at a divine banquet — resolved to destroy the race with a great deluge. Poseidon struck the earth to release the waters while Notus, the south wind, brought unceasing rain. Rivers burst their banks and the sea overran its shores until only the mountain peaks stood above the flood.
Prometheus foresaw the catastrophe and warned his son to build a wooden chest and stock it with provisions. When the waters rose, Deucalion and Pyrrha sealed themselves inside and floated for nine days and nights. On the tenth day the flood receded, and their vessel came to rest on Mount Parnassus — or Mount Othrys, in other tellings. They stepped out as the sole survivors of the human race.
The Oracle of Themis
Surrounded by desolation, Deucalion and Pyrrha made their way to the oracle of Themis at Delphi — the only temple still standing. The goddess told them to "cast behind you the bones of your great mother." Pyrrha recoiled at the thought of disturbing her mother's grave, but Deucalion read the riddle: their great mother was Gaia, the Earth, and her bones were the stones on the ground. They walked forward and threw stones over their shoulders. Those Deucalion cast became men; those Pyrrha cast became women. A new race of humans grew from the earth itself, hard as the stones they came from.
Deucalion and Pyrrha also had children of their own. Their son Hellen became the ancestor from whom all Hellenes took their name. At Athens, a chasm near the Temple of Olympian Zeus was said to mark the spot where the floodwaters finally drained away.