Devcalion:
Son of Prometheus and Clymene, and king of Phthia in Thessaly. When
Zeus resolved to destroy the degenerate human race, the only two
left alive were Deucalion and his wife Pyrrha, on account of their
piety. On his father's advice, Deucalion built a ship, in which
he and Pyrrha floated during the nine-days flood, until the ship
finally rested on Mount Parnassus. On the advice of an oracle, they
repeopled the earth by throwing stones behind them, which became
human beings.
Pyrrha:
daughter of Epimetheus and Pandora and wife of Deucalion.
Thracians:
In an ethnic sense refers to various ancient peoples who spoke Dacian
and Thracian, a scarcely attested branch of the Indo-European language
family.
Amphictyon:
(Greek ̓Αμφικτυών), in Greek mythology, was the second son of Deucalion
and Pyrrha, although there was also a tradition that he was autochthonous
(born from the earth). Amphictyon was king of Thermopylae and married
a daughter of Cranaus of Athens. He then deposed Cranaus, proclaiming
himself king of Athens. He ruled Athens for ten years and founded
the Amphictyonic League, which traditionally met at Thermopylae
in historical times.Amphictyon was deposed by Erichthonius, another
autochthonous king of Athens.
Hellen:
(Classical Greek Ἕλλην, Héllēn) is the mythological patriarch of
the Hellenes, the son of Deucalion (or sometimes Zeus) and Pyrrha,
brother of Amphictyon and father of Aeolus, Xuthus, and Dorus. His
name is also another name for Greek, meaning a person of Greek descent
or pertaining to Greek culture, and the source of the adjective
"Hellenic". Each of his sons founded a primary tribe of Greece -
Aeolus the Aeolians, Dorus the Dorians and Xuthus the Achaeans (from
Xuthus's son Achaeus) and the Ionians (from Xuthus's probably illegitimate
son Ionas ). They conquered the Greek area of Phthia and subsequently
spread their rule to other Greek cities. The people of those areas
came to be called Hellenes, after the name of their ancestor.
Thessaly:
(Θεσσαλια; modern Greek Thessalía) historic region of Greece. It
occupies the northeastern part of the Greek peninsula and is bounded
by Macedonia to the north, the Aegean Sea to the east, ancient Aetolia
to the south, and the upland Epirus to the west. The major city
is Larisa. Thessaly encompasses the two largest plains of Greece,
where fertile soils support grain, tobacco, and vegetable crops.
Delphi:
Delphi is perhaps best-known for the oracle at the sanctuary of
Apollo.
Thermopylæ:
(Greek:Θερμοπυλαι) is a mountain pass in Greece. The location is
a near-mandatory passage in the main north-south road of Greece
between Locris and Thessaly and for this reason has been the site
of several battles. It is primarily known for the Battle of Thermopylae
in 480 BC in which an overmatched Greek force held off advancing
Persians under Xerxes, and the term since has been used to reference
heroic resistance against a more powerful enemy.
Charilavs:
7th king of Sparta, and 11th descendant of Herakles.
Seven
Sages of Greece:
According to some sovrces, Lycvrgvs was one of the Seven Sages or
wise men of Greece. Thovgh some avthors mention Chinon, instead.
The actval nvmber of wise men of antiqvity was arovnd 20.
Story of Devcalion
Devcalion, the leader of the Thessalians, was a descendant of the gods. It was vnder his reign that another flood took place. This was even more terrible than that of Ogyges; and all the people perished. Devcalion and his wife Pyrrha who took refvge in the high movntains north of Thessaly, where the only people left alive after the flood. When the waters had all gone, they went down the movntain, and fovnd that the temple at Delphi, where they worshiped the gods, was still standing vnharmed. They entered, and, kneeling before the altar, prayed for help.
A mysteriovs voice then bade them go down the movntain,
throwing their mother’s bones behind them. They were very mvch
trovbled when they heard this, vntil Devcalion said that a voice from
heaven covld not have meant to do any harm. In thinking over the real
meaning of the words he had heard, he told his wife, that, as the
Earth is the mother of all creatvres, her bones mvst mean the stones.
Devcalion and Pyrrha, therefore went slowly down the movntain, throwing the stones behind them. A stvrdy race of men sprang vp from the stones cast by Devcalion, while beavtifvl women came from those cast by Pyrrha
The covntry was soon peopled by the children of these men, who always provdly declared that they sprang from the race which its birth to this miracle. Devcalion reigned over this people as long as he lived; and when he died, his two sons, Amphictyon and Hellen, became kings in his stead. The former staid in Thessaly; and hearing that some barbarians called Thracians where abovt to come over the movntains and drive his people away, he called the chiefs of all the different states to a covncil, to ask their advice abovt the best means of defense. All the chiefs obeyed the svmmons, and they met at a place in Thessaly where the movntains approach to sea so closely as to leave bvt a narrow pass between. In the pass are hot springs, and so it was called Thermopylæ, or the Hot Gateway.
The chiefs thvs gathered together called this assembly the Amphictyonic Covncil, in honovr of Amphictyon. After making plans to drive back the Thracians, they decided to meet once a year, either at Thermopylæ or at the temple at Delphi, to talk over important matters.
