Pyrrha

Oil on canvas by Paul Merwart (1855 – 1902): The Flood or Deucalion keeping his wife high. Leopolis Art Gallery.

In Greek mythology, Pyrrha (Πύρρα, Pyrra or Pyrrha) was the daughter of Epimetheus and Pandora, and was the wife of Deucalion. The etymology of its name is not clear, but it seems that it derives from the Latin pyrrhus, in turn from the Greek word πυρρός, purrhos, that is, from the color « of the flame", or simply "ruddy" or "blonde". This quality was especially alluded to by the Latin poets, especially Horace and Ovid, who also added the devout and pious character of Pyrrha. called titania (Ovidian translation of the Greek titanide), for being the daughter of the Titan Epimetheus.

The myth of the flood and the creation of humans

In the Mythological Library it is narrated that, when Zeus decided to end the fabulous Bronze Age with a great deluge, Deucalion and Pyrrha survived thanks to Prometheus warning his son, and he built an ark. When the deluge ceased, Zeus, pleased by Deucalion's mercy, granted him the power to repopulate the earth by throwing rocks that turned into men. The rocks thrown by Pyrrha became women, but none of their names have survived.

Another version tells that when the deluge had ended and the couple returned to the mainland, Deucalion consulted an oracle of Themis about how to repopulate the earth. He was told to throw his mother's bones over his shoulder. Deucalion and Pyrrha understood that & # 34; his mother from him & # 34; It was Gaea, the mother of all living beings, and that the "bones" it was the rocks. So they threw stones over her shoulders and they turned into people.

According to the Library, the following list of children of Pyrrha and Deucalion appears: Helen, Amphictión and Protogenia, ancestors of most of the Greek peoples. Other sources instead say that their children were Oresteus or Melantea, mother of the eponymous Delphus.

According to Hesiod's Catalogue of Women, there were three daughters of Deucalion and Pyrrha: Tuya, Pandora and Protogenia, who were loved by Zeus. Pyrrha's inclusion in the poem already denotes the seniority of this character. Although Pandora is considered the first woman in mythology, her daughter Pyrrha was actually "the first mortal born", words attested by Hyginus, who probably followed Hesiod in his text. This situation is corroborated by Pindar, which alludes to the "sons of the daughters of the race of Iapetus and of the very powerful Cronidas", alluding to Pyrrha as the first of the women who had a union with Zeus. In fact, it is assumed that the Catalogue of mujeres begins with the union of Pyrrha and Zeus, who engendered Helen, the first of the kings of the blood of Zeus. Again Hyginus confirms this filiation and in a scholium we are told that "Helen was the son of from Zeus by birth, by word he was from Deucalion". In this way humanity would descend from Deucalion and Pyrrha, but the kings strictly from Pyrrha, and hence their importance in primitive myths. However, there are other later versions that say that Niobe, the daughter of Phoroneo, was the first mortal loved by Zeus.

Other names for Pirra

Pyrrha was also the name by which Achilles was known when he hid, disguised as a maiden, in the court of King Lycomedes. The name was given to him because he had blond hair.