Deukalion, The Champion Of A New Race

Deukalion was the son of Prometheus, and a just and god-fearing man. In the time of Deukalion, Zeus destroyed the human race by means of a great flood. People had become wicked and godless; they did not fear the gods, and the meaner classes paid no respect to the better, and all of them loved every manner of wickedness.

This state of affairs reached the ears of Zeus. But wishing to take the evidence of his own eyes and see if the stories that came to him were really true, he took the form of a mortal man and went down from his Olympian home to the Earth.

One evening after sunset he reached Arcadia and asked for a night's shelter in the palace of Lykaon, the king. Lykaon was famous for his wickedness. Some of the people seemed to see some signs that Zeus was a god and went down on their knees to him, but Lykaon laughed at their credulity and said: "Stay till I find out whether he be a god or a man!"

Lykaon had a stranger in his palace who had been sent to him as a messenger. Lykaon had the stranger killed and served up as food for his guest. When the dreadful feast was placed before Zeus, he arose at once in anger and left the table, and he shattered the house with a thunder-bolt. Lykaon betook himself to flight with all speed. He fled to the fields howling like a wild beast.

Lykaon tried to speak, but his human voice had left him. His skin turned into a wolf's pelt, his hands into paws. He rushed furiously among the herds and began to tear and bite cattle and sheep. He had been changed into a wolf.

Zeus, having seen with his own eyes that things were even worse than had been told him, returned to Olympos. He called the gods together in council and related to them the wicked deeds he had seen. He ended by saying: "The whole race of man must surely perish," and the other gods consented to his judgment.

At first Zeus thought it best to send thunder-bolts to destroy the evil race, but he feared that the flames might reach from earth into the heavens and burn the whole firmament. He therefore laid aside his thunder-bolts and resolved to drown the earth's inhabitants by means of a flood. So he ordered the God of the Winds to shut Boreas and all the other winds in his cave, save Notos, only, the wet south wind, who was to go free.

Then Notos flew forth with his damp wings. A thick cloud hid his face like a veil and darkness hung around his head. Water ran down from his brow and his hair. Cloud-bursts broke from the sky and sent cataracts of water over the earth, flooding it in every direction. The work of the farmers was stopped and their hopes destroyed in an instant.

But Zeus was not satisfied with that. He called Poseidon, Lord of the Seas, to his assistance. Poseidon came quickly. He spoke to all the rivers in a loud commanding voice. "Leave your beds," he cried, "and rush wildly over your banks and flood the world!" The rivers obeyed, and Poseidon himself struck the earth with his trident. The earth quaked and, bursting open in many places, let forth torrents of water.

The waters rose higher and higher. The valleys became one wide lake, and soon the tops of the trees were no longer above the water. Man and herds were drowned. The altars of the gods were swept away. When a house remained standing it was soon covered with water. The highest towers disappeared in the flood. Land and sea were no longer separated. The world was all sea--a long, shoreless sea.

Seals gambolled where goats had formerly grazed. Dolphins swam over the cities that were buried beneath the waves. Wolves and sheep, lions and tigers huddled close together and swam about as long as they could keep afloat, when they sank below the waters. The deer could no longer find ground for his fleet foot. The birds flew on tired, trembling wings searching for a place on which to perch and finally fell into the sea with worn-out wings.

The people tried to save themselves in any possible way. Some fled to the hills and mountains. Some took refuge in ships and sailed over the fields where formerly the plough had moved. By and by the mountain-tops were swept by the waves, and the ships were whirled about by the terrible currents and wrecked.

Deukalion and his wife, Pyrrha, were the only ones to be saved. He had taken the advice of his father, Prometheus, to build himself a floating-house in the form of a box and to store in it a great amount of food; when the flood came he entered this house with his wife. The house was carried about nine days and nine nights by the winds. Only the two peaks of Parnassos remained above water. On this mountain the floating-house stuck fast.

When Zeus cast his eyes down to earth he saw that everything was covered with water, on the surface of which floated trees and grasses and thousands of animals and people who had perished in the flood. And he saw Deukalion and his wife safely anchored on the heights of Parnassos.

Then Zeus gave commands to Boreas to chase away the black clouds. The sun shone again and the waters retreated from the earth, which was soon dry again. Poseidon laid aside his trident and the rivers ran in their old channels. Woods sprang up and the fields bloomed with flowers.

Deukalion and Pyrrha looked around them. Everywhere was loneliness and silence. It was like the solitude of death. Deukalion wept and said to his beloved Pyrrha: "My dear wife, I do not see a living soul far or near in any direction. Thou art my only companion. All the friends we have known have perished in the flood. We are the only inhabitants of the earth. What will life be worth to us, since we must live alone in the world with no fellow-men. I should like better to live if we had other people whom we might love and help and with whom we could enjoy ourselves. But we will give thanks to Zeus for saving us."

They walked along a little way and came to an altar of the Goddess of Justice. There they fell on their knees and said: "Oh, divine Justice, tell us how we may revive the human race which has perished. Oh, help us and restore our lost ones to us." They listened for the goddess to answer and soon they heard a soft voice reply: "Veil your faces, oh, Deukalion and Pyrrha. Go down the mountain, and as ye go throw backward over your shoulders the bones of your mother."

Deukalion and his wife were puzzled at these words and at first they could not tell what they meant. But after some meditation Deukalion said: "My dear wife, the earth is our mother and her bones are the rocks. As we go down the mountain we will cast behind us the stones which we find in our pathway."

So they started forth, the founders of a new race, throwing the stones and rocks which they met over their shoulders and out of sight. From the stones which they cast there sprang up living men and women; the stones which Deukalion threw became men and those which Pyrrha cast became women.

Deukalion and Pyrrha had many children. One of their sons was called Hellen. Hellen's children and grandchildren spread over Greece and were called Hellenes, and they gave the name Hellas to Greece.