The flood story of Hierapolis (1)

Text
Sisythes = Ziusudra.

pseudo-Lucian, De Dea Syria 12:
Well then, the majority say that Deucalion, called Sisythes, founded the sanctuary. This is the Deucalion in whose lifetime the flood occurred. About Deucalion I have heard an account among the Greeks, which the Greeks tell about him. The story goes as follows: This race, the men of the present time, was not the first. As for the previous race, all in it perished. These current men are of the second race, which multiplied again from Deucalion. Concerning those earlier men they say the following. They were extremely violent and committed lawless deeds, for they neither kept oaths nor welcomed strangers nor spared suppliants. As punishment for these offenses the great disaster came upon them. Suddenly the earth poured forth a flood of water. Heavy rains fell, rivers rushed down in torrents, and the sea rose on high, until everything became water, and all the people perished. Deucalion alone among men was left for the second race because of his prudence and piety. This was the manner of his salvation: He embarked his children and his wives into a great ark which he possessed and he himself went in. As he boarded, pigs and horses, species of lions, snakes and every kind of creature that grazes on earth came to him, all of them in pairs. He welcomed all, and none harmed him. Instead, from some divine source, there was great friendship among them, and in a single ark all sailed as long as the flood prevailed. This, then, is the story which Greeks tell about Deucalion.

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pseudo-Lucian, De Dea Syria 12

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