Deucalion Flood

• In Greek Mythology, Deucalion and his wife survive the Deucalion Flood by placing provisions in a Chest in which they then remain for nine days until the Floodwater recedes.

The Myth

• In Greek Mythology, Deucalion is the son of Prometheus and Clymene, or possibly Hesione or Pronoia.
• The Parian Marble dates the Deucalion Flood to 1529-28 BCE.

• Deucalion and his wife Pyrrha, daughter of Epimetheus, are told by Prometheus to build and put provisions in a Chest, in order to survive an impending Flood.
• He is 82 years old, according to the Sources. They are the only humans to enter the Chest, and no animals were taken with them.

• When the Flood recedes, the Chest is left on the top of a mountain: Sources vary as to whether it was Mount Etna, Mount Parnassus, Mount Athos or Mount Othrys.
• Deucalion and Pyrrha are then instructed by the Oracle of Themis to repopulate the Earth by throwing the bones (Rocks) of his Mother (Gaia, the Mother of all living beings), over his shoulder.
• His rocks become Men, and Pyrrha’s rocks become Women.
• Their children are: Hellen, Amphictyon, Orestheus, Protogeneia, Pandora II and Thyia.
• Their grandchildren are: Aeolus, Aethlius, Dorus, Graecus, Makednos, Magnes and Xuthus.

Other Flood Myths

• The story is similar to that of Noah from the Bible.
•  And Utnapishtim, from the Sumerian Epic of Gilgamesh.
• The Flood of Gun Yu, China
• The three Greek Flood Myths:
  • Flood of Ogyges
  • Flood of Deucalion
  • Flood of Dardanus

The Ages of Man

• According to the Chronology of St. Jerome:
  • Golden Age (c.1710-1674 BCE)
  • Silver Age (c.1674-1628 BCE) ended by the Ogygian Flood.
  • Bronze Age (c.1628-1472 BCE) ended by the Deucalion Flood.
  • Heroic Age (c.1460-1103 BCE)
  • Iron Age (1103 BCE-300 CE)

Sources:

• Ovid: Metamorphoses (8 CE)
• Pausanius
• Plutarch
• Strabo
• Lucian
• Apollodorus
• Bibliotheca of Pseudo-Apollodorus. (c.100 CE)
• Theogony by Hesiod (c.700 BCE)