Greek Flood Myth of Deucalion and Pyrrha

The tale is that of one honest man in an age of decadence and godlessness. The gods themselves have come down upon Earth to seek some sign of humanity. They find the honest man and warn him of terrible calamities. The man builds a gigantic ship and awaits the end. Eventually, it starts raining, and then the land floods. The water level rises and submerges all the sins of humanity. The honest man, however survives in his ship and when the flood ends, he anchors the ship upon a mountain and surveys an empty Earth.

Most people will name this honest man, Noah. The story however, refers to Deucalion the Greek. The flood myth, in this exact form, exists in the myths of every ancient civilization from the Greeks, to the Sumerians, to the ancient Indians, and even the Chinese. It is one of those common tales that points out some commonly experienced event or tale in the forgotten depths of history.

The Greek tale goes as follows. It was an age before our own, but the days of humanity living without knowledge of suffering and evil were long past. Greed and hatred had taken root and even as Zeus, king of the gods, looked upon the lands, he saw the race of humans grown degenerate and impious. Zeus, took with him, Hermes – the messenger of the gods, and landed in Greece, disguised as common peasants. As they travelled across Greece, Zeus realized that nothing could be done to redeem his people. He decided to destroy everyone in a massive flood. Hermes, however, convinced him to find those who still believed in the old ways and who still remained faithful to the gods. They met Deucalion, son of Prometheus, and Pyrrha, daughter of Pandora, who were married to each other. Their piety impressed Zeus and he revealed himself to them and warned them of the oncoming flood. Deucalion and Pyrrha now built a massive ship in which they took shelter during the deluge. This flood lasted for a total of nine days, and all the cities of Earth perished within it. When the waters of the flood abated, the ship landed upon a mountain. Deucalion and Pyrrha looked out and saw a depopulated land. They now sought an oracle who had managed to survive to know how to restore humanity. The oracle told them to throw the bones of their mother behind them to do so. This was obviously confusing, but Deucalion realized that the Earth was mother to them all. Therefore, they both gathered stones from the mountain and began to throw them. The stones thrown by Deucalion became men, and those thrown by Pyrrha became women.

A similar story exists for the Sumerian king Ziusudra, who also built a boat and landed on a mountain. In India, the tale of Manu rings the same, with the boat and a mountain. Both these tales also had forewarnings of the oncoming doom. The Chinese flood myth is somewhat different. It speaks of how long ago, the heavens split and the earth sank down into the ocean and was therefore, flooded. The goddess Nvwa rescued everyone by repairing heaven by using stones of five colours and the supported it with the legs of a giant turtle that she chopped off. She also killed an evil dragon and used its power to push back the waves and rescue humanity.




 By: Aditya Govilkar