Deucalion and Pyrrha.

    When Zeus decided to flood the earth in retribution for the sins of mankind during the mythical Bronze Age, Prometheus advised his son, Deucalion, to build an ark in which to ride out the storm. After nine days the waters receded and the boat came to rest on Parnassus. Deucalion and his wife Pyrrha were then advised by an oracle of Themis to throw the “bones of their mother” behind them. According to Ovid, Deucalion interpreted this to mean that they should toss stones, since these came from the “body” of the earth, the mother of all things. They thus complied with the oracle, and the stones thrown by Deucalion turned into men, while those thrown by Pyrrha became women; these new people repopulated the world. The couple later bore a son, Hellen, for whom the Greeks named themselves (Hellenes) and their country (Hellas). Because of the similarity of this tale to the biblical account of the flood, Deucalion is often called the Greek Noah.