Ovid, “Creation of the Earth and the Great Flood” (Part 2)

Ovid was a Roman author that lived around the birth of Jesus of Nazareth (43 BCE – 17 CE).  He wrote his work “The Metamorphoses” between 2 and 8 CE.  The original work is 15 “books,” and is written in hexameter poetry.  It is a syncretistic writing of Greek and Roman mythology.  Previously I posted his account of the creation of the world (Part 1), and here is his account of the fall of mankind and a great flood.

When Saturn lost his rule to Jove †, this golden age on earth gave way to a silver age. Jove, the sky god, shortened springtime and added the seasons of summer, fall, and winter. The earth now yielded its bounty of grain only from plowed fields, made fruitful by the labor of man and beast.

Then came an age of bronze. Just as bronze is harder than silver, men were now more disposed toward warfare than heretofore.

Finally came an age of iron, a metal baser and harder than gold, silver, or bronze. Now the natural virtues of man gave way to baser, harsher qualities. Modesty, truth, and loyalty were replaced by treachery, deceit, and greed. Sailors now traversed the seas seeking new lands and power. Men sought wealth in foreign places and from beneath the earth, wealth that in turn became the cause of much wickedness and suffering. Friend betrayed friend, and relative turned against relative.

The conflict on earth threatened even heaven. Legends tell how at that time giants attempted an attack on the realm of the gods by piling mountains together to reach the sky. Jove defended his heavenly kingdom with a mighty thunderbolt, which destroyed the tower of mountains, crushing the giants beneath it as it fell. Torrents of blood flowed forth from their bodies, drenching the earth. It is said that from this blood-soaked earth was born a new breed of men, who like their giant forebears had no respect for the gods.

The Great Flood

Looking down from his kingdom in the sky, Jove saw that mankind was now hopelessly violent and cruel [cf. Genesis 6:5]. He called together his council, and they came to him forthwith, traveling that famous bright path across heaven’s vault, the Milky Way. Jove angrily demanded that the utterly corrupt human race be destroyed, promising that afterward he himself would supervise the creation of a new stock of men. The gods sadly agreed that only this extreme act would solve the threat of mankind’s wickedness.

Jove was about to strike the earth with a barrage of thunderbolts when he realized that the conflagration caused by such an attack might threaten heaven itself, so he resolved to destroy the earth’s inhabitants by water instead of by fiery lightning. To this end he fettered the North Wind, then charged the South Wind to bring forth endless rains. Jove’s brother Neptune, god of the seas, caused the tides and the waves to rise upon the land and the rivers to overflow their banks.

Man and beast alike fell prey to the ever-rising flood. Orchards and planted fields were washed away. Houses and other buildings were either demolished by the crashing waves or submerged beneath a sea that had no shores. Not even the temples and sacred images were spared. The birds themselves, their wings finally tiring from continuous flight, in the end were forced to surrender to watery graves.

In the end only one place on earth remained above water: the twin summits of Mount Parnassus. It was here that the small boat carrying Deucalion and his wife Pyrrha ran aground. They alone had survived the great deluge.

When Jove saw that only one man and one woman were still alive on earth, and that this husband and this wife were virtuous people, both true worshippers, he released the North Wind and caused it to dissipate the storms and clouds. Then Neptune called upon Triton to recall the tides and waves with a signal from his conch-shell trumpet.

The earth was now restored, but lifeless, desolate, and empty. Deucalion and Pyrrha, seeing that they were the only living beings left on earth, sought guidance by going together to the Waters of Cephissus, which were again flowing in their usual channel. They sprinkled themselves with this holy water, then entered the temple and asked for assistance. The answer came through an oracle that they should leave the temple and scatter behind them their mothers’ bones.

Deucalion could not believe his ears, and Pyrrha stated aloud that she would never dishonor her mother’s spirit by thus disturbing her bones. Deucalion, however, thought that the words of the oracle were not to be taken literally, that the mother mentioned was not a human mother, but rather mother earth, and that the bones to be scattered were stones from the earth’s body. Deciding to put this interpretation to the test, Deucalion and Pyrrha scattered behind them stones from the earth.

No one would believe what happened afterward, if it were not for the testimony of ancient legends. The stones, once thrown to the ground, lost their hardness and assumed human forms. Those scattered by Deucalion became male, and those scattered by Pyrrha became female. And thus the earth was repopulated.

Then through the natural process of warmth and moisture and earth reacting with one another the lower animals were reborn as well. Yes, fire and water are opposites, but moist heat is the source of all living things. Creation comes about through the resolution of opposing forces.

† Jove is the Roman equivalent of the Greek god Zeus.  He is the chief god and also called “Jupiter,” meaning “Heavenly Father.”

Source: Abstracted from The Metamorphoses of Ovid, translated by Mary M. Innes (Harmondsworth, Middlesex, England: Penguin Books, 1955), book 1. 1955 by Mary M. Innes.