Pyrrha

Pyrrha was the daughter of Epimetheus and Pandora and the wife of Deucalion. With him she survived the great flood that Zeus sent against mankind, and together they made new people from stones. Ancient writers treat the couple as the ancestors of the Greeks through their son Hellen.

Family

Apollodorus says that Deucalion, the son of Prometheus, married Pyrrha, the daughter of Epimetheus and Pandora, “the first woman fashioned by the gods” (Apollodorus, Library 1.7.2). Ovid agrees and has Deucalion address her as cousin and wife, since he was the son of Prometheus, and calls her Epimetheus’ daughter (Ovid, Metamorphoses 1.350–353, 1.390). Hesiod’s Catalogue of Women made Deucalion the son of Prometheus and Pronoea and Hellen the son of Deucalion and Pyrrha.

The Flood

According to Apollodorus, Zeus wanted to destroy the people of the Bronze Age. On the advice of Prometheus, Deucalion built a chest, stocked it with provisions and went aboard with Pyrrha. Zeus poured down so much rain that most of Greece was flooded and all people died except a few who fled to the high mountains. Deucalion and Pyrrha floated over the sea for nine days and nights and came to Parnassus (Library 1.7.2).

Ovid tells the same story with different details. In his account the sea covered everything except the two peaks of Parnassus, where Deucalion and his wife came to rest in a small boat. Zeus saw that of so many thousands only one man and one woman were left, both harmless and both worshippers of the gods, so he scattered the clouds and Poseidon ordered the sea to retreat (Metamorphoses 1.313–347). Deucalion wept at the emptiness of the earth and said that the two of them were now all the peoples of the world (Metamorphoses 1.348–366).

The Stones

In Apollodorus’ version Deucalion landed, sacrificed to Zeus the god of escape (Zeus Phyxios), and Zeus sent Hermes to let him choose whatever he wished; he chose to have people. At Zeus’s bidding Deucalion picked up stones and threw them over his head. Those he threw became men, and those Pyrrha threw became women. Apollodorus adds that this is why people are called laos, from laas, “stone” (Library 1.7.2). Pindar says that Pyrrha and Deucalion came down from Parnassus, settled first in the city of Protogeneia by the decree of Zeus, and without marriage made a race of people out of stones (Pindar, Olympian 9.41–46). Hesiod, too, said that Zeus gave Deucalion stones gathered from the earth, which became mortal men called people (Hesiod, Catalogue of Women, fragment preserved by Strabo 7.7.2).

Ovid adds a conversation. Deucalion and Pyrrha went to pray at the temple of Themis, who gave the oracle. They were to leave the temple, veil their heads, loosen their garments and throw the bones of their great mother behind them. Pyrrha spoke first and refused: she would not offend her mother’s spirit by scattering her bones. After thinking it over, Deucalion reasoned that the great mother was the earth and the stones were her bones. They did as ordered. The stones softened and took on a shape; the stones thrown by the man took the form of men, and from those thrown by the woman women were made (Metamorphoses 1.367–415).

Children

Apollodorus gives Deucalion and Pyrrha three children: first Hellen, whose father some said was Zeus; then Amphictyon, who ruled Attica after Cranaus; and a daughter, Protogeneia, who by Zeus became the mother of Aethlius (Library 1.7.2). From Hellen came the Hellenes (Library 1.7.3). Hesiod also calls Hellen the son of Deucalion and Pyrrha. Other writers know further children of Deucalion without naming their mother: Hesiod names daughters Pandora, who bore Graecus to Zeus, and Thyia, who bore Magnes and Macedon to Zeus, and Pausanias names a son, Orestheus (Pausanias 10.38.1).

Pyrrha Sources

Apollodorus, Library 1.7.2–3; Ovid, Metamorphoses 1.313–415; Pindar, Olympian 9.41–46; Hesiod, Catalogue of Women (fragments on Deucalion, Pyrrha, Hellen, Pandora and Thyia); Strabo 7.7.2; Pausanias 10.38.1.

See Also: Epimetheus, Pandora, Deucalion, Zeus, Ages of Man, Prometheus, Themis