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Chapter 4: Prometheus and the First Men

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Hesiod, Ehoiai (Catalogue of Women) fr 2 MW – Fragmenta Hesiodea, p. 4, ed. R. Merkelbach and M. L. West. Oxford 1967.

Hesiod in the beginning of the Catalogue says that Deukalion is the son of Prometheus and Pandora and that Hellen is the child of Prometheus (or Deukalion) and Pyrrha, from whom the Hellenes and Hellas came forth. (Transl. E. Bianchelli)

ApB – Apollodoros, Bibliotheke (Library) 1.7.2

And Prometheus had a son Deucalion. He reigning in the regions about Phthia, married Pyrrha, the daughter of Epimetheus and Pandora, the first woman fashioned by the gods. And when Zeus would destroy the men of the Bronze Age, Deucalion by the advice of Prometheus constructed a chest, and having stored it with provisions he embarked in it with Pyrrha. But Zeus by pouring heavy rain from heaven flooded the greater part of Greece, so that all men were destroyed, except a few who fled to the high mountains in the neighborhood. It was then that the mountains in Thessaly parted, and that all the world outside the Isthmus and Peloponnese was overwhelmed. But Deucalion, floating in the chest over the sea for nine days and as many nights, drifted to Parnassus, and there, when the rain ceased, he landed and sacrificed to Zeus, the god of Escape. And Zeus sent Hermes to him and allowed him to choose what he would, and he chose to get men. And at the bidding of Zeus he took up stones and threw them over his head, and the stones which Deucalion threw became men, and the stones which Pyrrha threw became women. Hence people were called metaphorically people ( laos) from laas, “ a stone. ” And Deucalion had children by Pyrrha, first Hellen, whose father some say was Zeus, and second Amphictyon, who reigned over Attica after Cranaus; and third a daughter Protogenia, who became the mother of Aethlius by Zeus.  Greek Text

PD 560 – Aischylos, Prometheus Desmotes (Prometheus Vinctus, Prometheus Bound)

and won my sister Hesione to be your wedded wife.  Greek Text

Akousilaos FGrH 2F34 – Die Fragmente der griechischen Historiker 1, p. 56, ed. F. Jacoby, 2d ed. Leiden 1957.

Deukalion, under whom the flood occurred, was the son of Prometheus and of his mother Klymene, as most say; however according to Hesiod he is the son of Pronoe; according to Akousilaos he is the son of Hesione, daughter of Okeanos, and of Prometheus. (Transl. E. Bianchelli)

Hesiod, Ehoiai (Catalogue of Women) fr 4 MW – Fragmenta Hesiodea, p. 5, ed. R. Merkelbach and M. L. West. Oxford 1967.

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Edited by Elena Bianchelli, Senior Lecturer of Classical Languages and Culture, Univ. of Georgia, January 2022

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