Pyrrha
Wife of Deucalion and daughter of Epimetheus who survived the great flood and helped repopulate the earth by throwing stones.
The Legend of Pyrrha
She threw stones over her shoulder and they became women — the entire female population of the post-flood world emerged from rocks. Pyrrha and Deucalion were the sole survivors of Zeus's flood, floating in a wooden chest for nine days. When an oracle said to throw the bones of their mother behind them, Pyrrha was horrified — until Deucalion reasoned that their mother was Gaia, and her bones were stones. Pyrrha's stones became women; Deucalion's became men. Her father Epimetheus and mother Pandora had both contributed to humanity's downfall, but Pyrrha reversed the damage. She is the second mother of all humanity in Greek myth. Her name means "red" or "fire-haired," connecting her to Prometheus's stolen fire through lineage.
Parents
Epimetheus, Pandora
Children
Hellen
Symbols
Fun Fact
Pyrrha is the granddaughter of Prometheus AND the daughter of Pandora — fire-bringer and doom-bringer united in one lineage.
Explore Further
Deucalion
🗡 herosurvival
Son of Prometheus who survived Zeus's great flood by building an ark on his father's advice, then repopulated the earth.
Deucalion
🗡 heroGreek Noah
Deucalion survived Zeus's flood and repopulated the earth by throwing stones.
Aristodeme
🗡 heroMotherhood, divine favour
Mother of Asclepius in certain traditions, a mortal woman of Messenia loved by Apollo
Perseus
🗡 heroHero who slew Medusa
The son of Zeus and Danae who beheaded Medusa, rescued Andromeda, and founded the Perseid dynasty of Mycenae.
Alcimede
🗡 heroMotherhood, nobility
Noble Thessalian woman and mother of Jason, leader of the Argonauts
Macaria
🗡 heroSelf-Sacrifice, Female Heroism, Heraclidae
Daughter of Heracles who voluntarily sacrificed herself so that the Heraclidae could defeat Eurystheus.
Deucalion's Flood
💭 conceptflood, renewal
The Greek deluge myth in which Zeus destroyed corrupt humanity with a great flood, sparing only the pious Deucalion and Pyrrha who repopulated the earth with stones.
Amphiaraus
🗡 heroSeer-warrior swallowed by earth
Amphiaraus was a warrior-prophet who foresaw his death in the Seven Against Thebes but marched anyway, bound by his wife's betrayal.
Aethra
🗡 heroMotherhood, Captivity, Loyalty
Princess of Troezen, mother of Theseus, who became a captive slave in Troy.
Peleus
🗡 heroheroism
King of Phthia, Argonaut, and father of Achilles who wrestled the shape-shifting sea goddess Thetis to win her as his bride.
Caenus
🗡 heroTransformation, Invulnerability, Gender
Lapith warrior transformed from a woman into an invulnerable man by Poseidon, killed by Centaurs pounding him into the earth.
Hypsipyle
🗡 heroNone recorded
Queen of Lemnos who saved her father when the women of the island murdered every other man, later becoming the lover of Jason during the Argonauts' voyage