The Flood of Deucalion
Deucalion and Pyrrha survive a catastrophic flood and restore humanity by casting stones behind them.
The Story
A great flood was sent upon the human world.
Deucalion, son of Prometheus, and his wife Pyrrha survived the catastrophe.
Prometheus had warned Deucalion of the coming disaster.
The couple escaped in a chest or vessel while the waters overwhelmed the land.
For days they were carried across the flooded world.
Eventually the waters began to fall.
Their vessel came to rest on a mountain, most famously Mount Parnassus in later tradition.
Deucalion and Pyrrha found themselves among the few survivors of the destruction.
They sought guidance about how humanity could be restored.
An oracle instructed them to cast the bones of their mother behind them.
At first the command seemed disturbing.
They eventually understood that their mother meant the Earth.
The bones of the Earth were stones.
Deucalion and Pyrrha covered their heads and threw stones behind themselves.
The stones cast by Deucalion became men.
Those cast by Pyrrha became women.
Human life therefore returned to the world.
Deucalion and Pyrrha also became ancestors of a new generation.
Their descendants included Hellen, the ancestral figure from whom the Hellenes were said to take their name.
The flood therefore stands at an important boundary in Greek myth.
The older world is destroyed, but humanity survives and begins again.
Key Figures
Why It Matters
The flood of Deucalion is the principal Greek flood tradition. It links the myths of Prometheus and Pandora with the genealogical origins of later Greek peoples through Deucalion, Pyrrha and Hellen.
Traditions & Variations
Ancient accounts differ over the cause and extent of the flood, the mountain on which Deucalion lands and details of the restoration of humanity. Later versions particularly emphasise the transformation of stones into people.