In Greek mythology, Deucalion (Ancient Greek: Δευκαλίων; pronounced "doo-KAY-lee-uhn" or "doo-KAL-ee-on") was the son of Prometheus. Some ancient sources say his mother was Clymene, Hesione, or Pronoia. He is closely connected with a flood story in Greek mythology. A trans-Neptunian object named (53311) Deucalion was discovered in 1999. It was named in his honor.

Etymology

According to a type of word study called folk etymology, Deucalion's name comes from δεῦκος, deukos, which is another form of γλεῦκος, gleucos, meaning "sweet new wine, must, sweetness," and from ἁλιεύς, haliéus, meaning "sailor, seaman, fisher." His wife Pyrrha's name comes from the adjective πυρρός, -ά, -όν, pyrrhós, -á, -ón, which means "flame-colored, orange."

Family

The Argonautica, a text from the 3rd century BC, describes the birth of Deucalion as follows:

In Achaea, which is Greece, there is a land surrounded by high mountains, rich in sheep and pastures. Here, Prometheus, the son of Iapetus, fathered Deucalion, a noble figure who first built cities, raised temples for the immortal gods, and became the first ruler of people. The people living nearby call this land Haemonia, which is now known as Thessaly.

According to the Bibliotheca, Deucalion and his wife, Pyrrha, had at least two children: Hellen and Protogenea. Some sources suggest a third child, Amphictyon. Another account adds a daughter named Melanthea (also called Melantho), who became the mother of Delphus through Poseidon.

The Catalogue of Women, one of the oldest texts, lists Deucalion and Pyrrha’s children as including daughters named Pandora and Thyia, and at least one son named Hellen. Their descendants were said to have lived and ruled in Thessaly.

Another source mentions three sons of Deucalion and his wife: Orestheus, Marathonios, and Pronous (the father of Hellen). Lastly, Deucalion had a son named Candybus, though the mother is not named. Candybus was the namesake of the town of Candyba in Lycia.

Mythology

The flood during the time of Deucalion was caused by the anger of Zeus, which was sparked by the arrogance of Lycaon and his sons, who were descendants of Pelasgus. According to this story, King Lycaon of Arcadia offered a boy as a sacrifice to Zeus. Zeus was horrified by this offering and decided to end the "Bronze" Age by sending a great flood. During this flood, rivers overflowed, the sea covered coastal areas, and the land was washed clean.

Deucalion, with the help of his father, Prometheus, survived the flood by building a chest. Like the biblical Noah and the Mesopotamian figure Utnapishtim, he used this chest to stay safe during the flood with his wife, Pyrrha.

The most detailed accounts of this story come from Ovid in his work Metamorphoses (written between late 1 BCE and early 1 CE) and from the mythographer Apollodorus (who lived in the 1st or 2nd century CE). Deucalion, who ruled the region of Phthia, was warned about the flood by his father, Prometheus. He built a chest and prepared it carefully (this version of the story does not mention saving animals). After nine days of flooding, the waters receded, and Deucalion and Pyrrha, who was the daughter of Epimetheus, were the only humans left. Their chest landed on solid ground on Mount Parnassus, or possibly Mount Etna in Sicily, Mount Athos in Chalkidiki, or Mount Othrys in Thessaly.

Hyginus mentioned that a man named Hegesianax believed Deucalion should be linked to Aquarius, a constellation, because so much water fell from the sky during his time that the flood occurred.

After the flood ended, Deucalion and Pyrrha thanked Zeus. Deucalion, who was said to be 82 years old at the time, asked an oracle of Themis how to repopulate the Earth. The oracle told him to "cover your head and throw the bones of your mother behind your shoulder." Deucalion and Pyrrha understood that "mother" referred to Gaia, the Earth, and "bones" meant rocks. They threw rocks over their shoulders, and the stones turned into people. Pyrrha’s stones became women, and Deucalion’s became men. These people were later called the Leleges, who lived in the region of Locris. This is similar to a story by Pindar, who wrote that Pyrrha and Deucalion came down from Mount Parnassus and created a new race of people from stones.

The 2nd-century AD writer Lucian described a version of the Greek Deucalion story in De Dea Syria that seems closer to Near Eastern flood legends. In this version, Deucalion (also called Sisythus) took his children, their wives, and pairs of animals onto the ark. After the flood, he built a large temple in Manbij (in northern Syria) on the site where the floodwaters had drained. Pilgrims from as far as Arabia and Mesopotamia brought sea water to this place twice a year to remember the event.

Dionysius of Halicarnassus stated that Deucalion’s parents were Prometheus and Clymene, the daughter of Oceanus. He did not mention the flood but instead described Deucalion as a leader of people from Mount Parnassus who drove the "sixth generation" of Pelasgians from Thessaly.

One of the earliest Greek historians, Hecataeus of Miletus, wrote about Deucalion, but his work no longer exists. A surviving fragment mentions Deucalion as the father of Orestheus, the king of Aetolia. Later, the geographer Pausanias followed this tradition, describing Deucalion as a king of Ozolian Locris and the father of Orestheus.

Plutarch wrote about a legend that Deucalion and Pyrrha settled in Dodona, Epirus. Strabo claimed they lived in Cynus, and that Pyrrha’s grave was still there, while Deucalion’s tomb could be seen in Athens. This is connected to a story that after the flood, Deucalion, who was the founder and king of Lycoreia on Mount Parnassus, fled to Athens with his sons, Hellen and Amphictyon, during the reign of King Cranaus. Soon after, Deucalion died and was buried near Athens. During his time there, he was credited with building the ancient sanctuary of Olympian Zeus. Strabo also noted two Aegean islands named after Deucalion and Pyrrha.

Interpretation

In the 19th century, the classicist John Lemprière wrote in his book Bibliotheca Classica that later versions of the Deucalion flood story included details similar to the story of Noah. He noted that later writers, such as Apollodorus, Plutarch, and Lucian, added elements like a chest for safety, birds to test if water had receded, and animals on the boat. However, the Epic of Gilgamesh, an ancient text, also contains these three elements: instructions to build a boat, sending birds to check water levels, and including animals on the boat. Lemprière did not know about the Epic of Gilgamesh because the Assyrian cuneiform tablets containing the story were discovered in the 1850s, more than 20 years after he published his work. The Epic of Gilgamesh is believed to be as old as, or older than, the Book of Genesis. Because of religious blending in ancient Greece, these flood story elements may have been known in oral traditions before being written down. It is unclear where the Greek versions of these elements originally came from.

During the Middle Ages, many European Christian scholars believed Greek myths were true and thought Deucalion’s flood was a local event that happened centuries after Noah’s family survived a global flood. Based on the Parian Chronicle, an ancient stone tablet, Deucalion’s flood was often dated to around 1528 BC. In Saint Jerome’s timeline, it was placed around 1460 BC. Augustine of Hippo wrote in City of God that Deucalion and his father Prometheus lived at the same time as Moses. Clement of Alexandria wrote in his Stromata that Deucalion’s flood occurred during the time of Crotopus, alongside the story of Phaethon’s burning and the flood.