Deucalion and Pyrrha (the Flood)

This myth tells the story of the flood and how Deucalion and Pyrrha escape in a huge box. The myth of the flood also existed in ancient Babylon: This is the myth of Pirnapishtim, or Utnapishtim, which was borrowed by the ancient Jews. They have a biblical myth about the flood and Noah.

Many crimes were committed by people of the Copper Age. Arrogant and impious, they did not obey the Olympian gods. The Thunderer Zeuswas angry at them; the king of Lycosura especially angered Zeus in Arcadia, Lycaon. One day Zeus, disguised as a mere mortal, came to Lycosur. So that the inhabitants would know that he was god, Zeus gave them a sign, and all the inhabitants prostrated themselves before him and revered him as god. Lycaon alone did not want to pay divine honors to Zeus and mocked everyone who honored Zeus. Lycaon decided to test whether Zeus was a god. He killed a hostage who was in his palace, boiled part of his body, fried part of it and offered it as a meal to the great thunderer. Zeus was terribly angry. With a lightning strike, he destroyed the palace of Lycaon, and turned him into a bloodthirsty wolf.

People became more and more wicked, and the great cloud-bearer, the egidoderzhavny Zeus decided to destroy the entire human race. He decided to send such a heavy downpour to the ground so that everything would be flooded. Zeus forbade all winds to blow, only a moist south wind of Notes drove dark rain clouds across the sky. A downpour poured onto the ground. The water in the seas and rivers rose higher and higher, flooding everything around. The cities with their walls, houses and temples disappeared under the water, and the towers that rose high on the city walls were no longer visible. Gradually, the water covered everything - both forested hills and high mountains. The whole of Greece disappeared under the raging waves of the sea. The peak of the double-headed Parnassus rose alone among the waves. Where a peasant used to cultivate his field and where vineyards rich in ripe grapes were green, fish swam, and herds of dolphins frolicked in forests covered with water.

So the human race of the Copper Age perished. Only two escaped among this common death - Deucalion, the son of Prometheus, and his wife Pyrrhus. On the advice of his father Prometheus, Deucalion built a huge box, put food supplies in it and entered it with his wife. For nine days and nights, Deucalion's box was carried over the waves of the sea that covered the entire land. Finally, the waves drove him to the double-headed peak of Parnassus. The downpour sent by Zeus has stopped. Deucalion and Pyrrha came out of the box and offered a thank-offering to Zeus, who preserved them among the stormy waves. The water receded, and again the earth appeared from under the waves, devastated, like a desert.

Then the aegid-powerful Zeus sent to Deucalion the messenger of the gods Hermes. The messenger of the gods quickly rushed over the deserted land, appeared before Deucalion and said to him:

- The ruler of gods and people Zeus, knowing your piety, ordered you to choose a reward; express your wish, and his son will fulfill it Crown.

Deucalion replied to Hermes:

- Oh, great Hermes, I only pray to Zeus for one thing, let him populate the earth with people again.

The swift Hermes rushed back to the bright Olympus and conveyed to Zeus the plea of Deucalion. The great Zeus ordered Deucalion and Pyrrhus to collect stones and throw them without turning over their heads. Deucalion fulfilled the command of the mighty thunderer, and men were created from the stones that he threw, and women were created from the stones thrown by his wife Pyrrha. So the earth received a population again after the flood. It was inhabited by a new kind of people who originated from stone.