Greek mythology describes various great floods throughout ancient history. Differing sources refer to the flood of Ogyges, the flood of Deucalion, and the flood of Dardanus, though often with similar or even contradictory details. Like most flood myths, these stories often involve themes of divine retribution, the savior of a culture hero, and the birth of a nation or nations. In addition to these floods, Greek mythology also says the world was periodically destroyed by fire, such as in the myth of Phaëton.
Sources
Plato makes reference to great floods in several of his dialogues, including Timaeus, Critias, and Laws. In Timaeus (22) and in Critias (111–112) he describes the "great deluge of all", specifying the one survived by Deucalion and Pyrrha, as having been preceded by 9,000 years of history before the time of Solon, during the 10th millennium BCE. In Laws, Book III, argues that a great flood had occurred ten thousand years before his time, as opposed to only "one or two thousand years that have elapsed" since the discovery of music, and other inventions. Plato also alludes to a well-known event of great destruction, in Statesman (270), where "only a small part of the human race survives", presumably also referring to the flood of Deucalion. In addition, the texts report that "many great deluges have taken place during the nine thousand years" since Athens and Atlantis were preeminent.
Ogyges
The Ogygian flood is so called because it occurred in the time of Ogyges, a mythical king of Attica. The name Ogyges and Ogygian is synonymous with "primeval", "primal" and "earliest dawn". Others say he was the founder and king of Thebes. In many traditions the Ogygian flood is said to have covered the whole world and was so devastating that Attica remained without kings until the reign of Cecrops.<ref>Gaster, Theodor H. Myth, Legend, and Custom in the Old Testament , Harper & Row, New York, 1969.</ref>
Deucalion
The Deucalion legend as told by the Bibliotheca has some similarity to other deluge myths such as the Epic of Gilgamesh (which Stephanie West writes was likely the source of this myth); the story of Noah's Ark in the Judeo-Christian telling; and the story of Manu's ark in the Hindu, Buddhist and Jain religions. The Titan Prometheus advised his son Deucalion to build a chest. All other men perished except for a few who escaped to high mountains. The mountains in Thessaly were parted, and all the world beyond the Isthmus and Peloponnese was overwhelmed. Deucalion and his wife Pyrrha, after floating in the chest for nine days and nights, landed on Parnassus. An older version of the story told by Hellanicus has Deucalion's "ark" landing on Mount Othrys in Thessaly. Another account has him landing on a peak, probably Phouka, in Argolis, later called Nemea. When the rains ceased, he sacrificed to Zeus. Then, at the bidding of Zeus, he threw stones behind him, and they became men, and the stones Pyrrha threw became women. The Bibliotheca gives this as an etymology for Greek (, 'people') as derived from ('stone'). The Megarians told that Megarus, son of Zeus and a Sithnid nymph, escaped Deucalion's flood by swimming to the top of Mount Gerania, guided by the cries of cranes.
From the Theogony of the Bibliotheca
According to the theogony of the Bibliotheca'', Prometheus moulded men out of water and earth and gave them fire which, unknown to Zeus, he had hidden in a stalk of fennel. When Zeus learned of it, he ordered Hephaestus to nail Prometheus to Mount Caucasus, a Scythian mountain. Prometheus was nailed to the mountain and kept bound for many years. Every day an eagle swooped on him and devoured the lobes of his liver, which grew by night. That was the penalty that Prometheus paid for the theft of fire until Heracles afterwards released him.
Prometheus had a son Deucalion. He, reigning in the regions about Phthia, married Pyrrha, the daughter of Epimetheus (the brother of Prometheus) 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. Having stocked it with provisions, he embarked in it with Pyrrha. 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 neighbourhood as Peloponnesus 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 made a sacrifice 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.