Did someone in Genesis create people by throwing stones?

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Sorry this one is very vague. I have a childhood memory of reading about how in some family who were very isolated, the adult man/father threw some stones and the stones turned into some kind of human helper.

I'm wondering if it is true, or if I have my wires crossed. Am not sure where in the Bible it came but I know it was in the Old Testament, probably Genesis.

I always wondered whether this means according to the Bible, humans are descended from stones as well as Adam and Eve.

The reputation limits on upvoting before 2 reputation points and 350 before adding a new Tag are working so far. I'll se what happens when I get the 2 rep points.

1 Answers

I believe you're thinking about the Greek story of Deucalion and Pyrrha: it is a flood narrative like Noah in Genesis and Utnapishtim in Babylonian sources. The most complete versions of the Deucalion and Pyrrha story can be found in Ovid's Metamorphoses and in Apollodorus' Library. Deucalion is a son of Prometheus who is warned by his father to build a chest/ark to protect himself and his wife from an impending flood. The flood lasts only nine days and no animals are rescued in this deluge story, though the later version related by Lucian seems to have taken elements from the eastern flood narratives to supplement Deucalion's tale; namely, Lucian's version has Deucalion saving his wives, children, and pairs of animals. After the flood, Deucalion thanks Zeus and then consults an oracle to learn how to repopulate the land. The oracle tells him to cover his head and throw his mother's bones behind him. Deucalion and Pyrrha discern that the 'mother' is Gaia (Earth), so they throw stones over their shoulders. The stones thrown by Deucalion become men and those thrown by Pyrrha become women. According to Pindar, 'without the marriage bed [Deucalion and Pyrrha] founded a unified race of stone offspring' (Olympian Odes 9.43–46). So, according to the tale of Deucalion and Pyrrha at least some humans are were descended from stones.