Deucalion, << doo KAY lee uhn >>, was the “Noah” of Greek mythology. He was the son of Prometheus, who was a member of the earliest race of gods, called Titans. When Zeus decided to destroy all human beings by a flood because of their wickedness, Prometheus warned Deucalion and Deucalion’s wife, Pyrrha. He told them to build a wooden ark. They floated in this ark for nine days until they landed on the top of Mount Parnassus. When the water went down, they were the only living creatures left on the earth.
Deucalion and Pyrrha asked the oracle at Delphi how they might restore humanity. The oracle told them to “throw the bones of their mother.” They guessed this to mean stones, the bones of mother earth. The stones Deucalion threw became men, and those that Pyrrha threw became women. Deucalion and Pyrrha became the ancestors of the Greeks through their son Hellen, for whom the Hellenes (Greeks) were named. The grave of Deucalion was said to be visible in the city of Athens in the ancient temple of Zeus.
