Pyrrha- Greek FigureMortal"Daughter of Pandora"
Also known as: Πύρρα
Description
When Zeus drowned the world, Pyrrha and her husband Deucalion survived in a wooden chest that ran aground on Mount Parnassus. Themis told them to cast the bones of their great mother behind them. Pyrrha threw stones over her shoulder, and each one rose as a woman.
Mythology & Lore
Daughter of Pandora
Pyrrha was the daughter of the Titan Epimetheus and Pandora, the first mortal woman created by the gods. She married Deucalion, son of Prometheus. They were pious and just.
The Great Flood
When Zeus resolved to destroy the corrupt Bronze Age of humanity with a flood, Prometheus warned his son Deucalion to build a wooden chest and stock it with provisions. The rains fell and the waters rose past the peaks of the mountains. Every other mortal drowned. Pyrrha and Deucalion floated in their chest for nine days and nine nights until it came to rest on Mount Parnassus. When the waters receded, they stepped out onto a world emptied of human life. Deucalion's first act was to build an altar and sacrifice to Zeus Phyxios, god of refuge.
The Bones of Mother Earth
The couple traveled to the nearby oracle of Themis at Delphi. The Titaness told them to veil their heads, loosen their garments, and cast "the bones of your great mother" behind them as they walked.
Pyrrha wept. She feared it was impious to disturb her mother Pandora's remains. Deucalion read the riddle: their "great mother" was Gaia, the Earth, and her "bones" were stones. They veiled their heads, walked forward, and threw stones over their shoulders. Those thrown by Pyrrha became women; those thrown by Deucalion became men. In Ovid's telling, the stones softened like wax — veins appeared where mineral seams had been, and earth became flesh. From these stone-born people, a new race grew.
Pyrrha bore Deucalion a son, Hellen. The Greeks took his name — Hellenes — and traced their origin to the couple who repeopled the world with stones.