Deucalion

Deucalion ( ancient Greek Δευκαλίων Deucalion, Latin. Deucalion ) In Greek mythology, the son of Prometheus and Pronoia of the ( "precautionary "). He was king of Thessaly and lived in Kymos in Phthiotis. Here his wife Pyrrha and his son were buried Hellen. Deucalion built the first temple of Olympian Zeus in Athens, and was buried after his death in its vicinity.

Etymology and meaning

Deucalion is the same role as the biblical Noah and awarded the Sumerian Utnapishtim from the Epic of Gilgamesh. The name origin is not absolutely certain: one version is the derivation of the Boeotian form of Zeus ( Ζεύς ): Dyeus ( Δ ( υ ) εύς ) and Kalon ( κᾶλον ( from * κα ϝ - ελον ) - combustible (wood), ship, of καίειν - burn, burn ), another version looks at the name of a Greek equivalent of the ind. Kali Yuga. The name of his wife Pyrrha comes from the adjective Pyrrhus, - á, - ón ( πυρρός, ά, όν - flaming (transfer), flame- colored).

Deucalion flood

Because of the corruption of the people Zeus decided to end the Age of Bronze with a great flood ( the Deucalion flood ). Above all, the sons of Lycaon should have brought him to this decision ..

Prometheus had ordered his son, a ship ( ἡ κιβοτός - the "box" ) to build. When it began to rain, climbed Deucalion and his wife Pyrrha the box. All Greece was flooded, after nine days and nine nights when the flood was over, the couple landed at the Parnassos, according to another tradition on the Othrys. The just Deucalion and his wife Pyrrha were the only survivors. In the Libraries of Apollodorus is reported that other people who had escaped to the mountains survived ..

Deucalion consulted the oracle of Themis, what to do in order to populate the earth again (according to another source gave him Zeus himself the order). He was advised to throw his mother's bones over his shoulder. Initially shocked about this sacrilege, they understood the "mother" then as Gaia ( " mother earth ") and the "bones" as a rock; So they threw stones over their shoulders. There were people from it, a new humanity, " a tough race, skilled in tribulation ." Pyrrhas stones were to women and to men of Deucalion.

In Hierapolis Bambyke was located, according to Lucian of Samosata under the temple of the Dea Syria, a gullet, which should be a remnant of the deukalionischen flood. According to tradition, Deucalion had even built the first temple here.

According to the Parian Chronicle, the Deucalion flood occurred in the year 1529/8 BC, when Kranaos was king of Athens.

Descendants of Deucalion

Deucalion Pyrrha had with at least five children, Protogeneia, Hellen ( the ancestor of the Hellenes ), Graikos, Thyia and Orestheus and possibly a sixth, Amphictyon.

Connection to other traditions

The legendary figure of Deucalion could be related to the volcanic eruption on Santorini on an early king of Athens around 1500/1600 BC or go back to the legendary Minoan king of Crete. In Crete are found for this time flooding tracks; the Santorini explosion is said to have led to violent tsunamis.

The Deucalion myth is similar to the biblical Noah saga with her Archebau quite strong ( cf. Flood). Also find parallels in the Gilgamesh epic.

It is believed that the Greeks Deucalion again recognized in the constellation of Aquarius.