According to Greek mythology, Zeus sent a flood to earth that devastated the planet and killed most of its inhabitants. Zeus may not have been a benevolent God but he wasn’t insane. Why did the just God, Zeus send a flood to wipe the earth and kill its inhabitants?
Zeus asked his brother, Poseidon, to flood the earth so that he could wipe all of humanity and restart the human race from scratch. The God thought that humans were too greedy and vile so he reasoned that restarting them would help them become better.
Everything has a reason even if it seems unreasonable at first. Zeus may have been known to have a fiery temper but he never did anything without a valid reason behind it. In the end, he is tasked with upholding order and justice among the Gods and the humans.
The Events That Led to The Great Flood
There was once a King named Lycaon during the Age of Deucalion. He ruled over the highlands of Arcadia but was an impious King even to his own subjects. Zeus wanted to see the King and his sons for himself so he visited Arcadia in the disguise of a traveler.
During his stay in Arcadia, his divinity started to leak and people realized his true identity. The citizens worshipped him and word got to the King and his sons. They decided to invite Zeus over for a feast, wanting to test the God for his divinity.
Zeus obliged but Lycaon and his sons had other plans for the King of the Gods. They killed, butchered, and boiled the meat of a child and served it to Zeus in the disguise of a delicious meal. The King of the Gods saw through their deception and was disgusted by their vile act.
He decided to punish the King and his sons by smiting them into nothing but ashes. This did not end there as the God has decided that all of humanity should be punished for this cruel act. Seeking the help of his brother, Poseidon, Zeus asked the God of the Sea to send a flood over the entirety of the earth.
He did this hoping that he could reverse humanity’s evil and start the population from anew. Rain started to pour continuously onto the world and rivers flooded the crops nearby which made a whole year’s worth of work amount to nothing.
It didn’t take long for the world to be covered in nothing but water. The flood swallowed the entire world, killing everything on the surface. The only beings that survived were the ones who were told of this genocide beforehand…
The Ones Who Survived The Flood
King Deucalion was the mortal son of the Titan God of Fire, Prometheus. When Zeus decided to wipe humanity off the face of the earth, Prometheus caught wind of this and immediately warned Decaulion of the upcoming disaster.
Prometheus prepared provisions and a boat for Deucalion and his wife, Pyrrha, to survive the flood. They were considered to be humanity’s most innocent and pious beings and thus were spared from Zeus’ flood.
When the fated day had come, nothing but Decaulion, Pyrrha, and all sea creatures survived. When Zeus had finally seen nothing but a stagnant pool in the world, he receded all waters and allowed land to reappear once more after 9 days and nights.
Deucalion wanted to restore the world but thought it impossible as the world has become barren and empty. He and Pyrrha were the only ones alive and their mortal capabilities can only do so much to repopulate the earth.
They prayed and called upon the power of the Heavens to aid them in repopulating the earth. They sought out the help of the Titaness, Themis, for advice on how to restore the human race, to which the Titaness responded in kind.
Themis told them to pick up the stones and throw them above their heads to restore humanity. The stones that Deucalion threw above his head became men while the ones thrown above Pyrrha became women.
Eventually, they managed to repopulate the earth and had their own children through natural methods as well. Deucalion and Pyrrha had a daughter, Hellen, and two sons, Amphictyon who would later become King of Athens, and Orestheus who would later become the King of Locrians.
Conclusion
Zeus may have flooded the earth and killed almost all of the humans on it, but he didn’t do it without a reason. He wasn’t satisfied with how humanity had turned out and deemed them evil and vile so he needed to reset life on earth.
With the help of his brother, the God of the Sea, Zeus managed to flood the world and wipe humanity off the face of the earth. Unbeknown to him, two managed to survive, King Deucalion and his wife, Pyrrha.
Though they were powerless as mortals, they prayed to the Gods to help them repopulate the earth. The Titanness, Themis, heard their prayers and decided to help them in their mission to restart the human race.
