When Zeus had resolved to destroy all mankind by a flood, Deucalion constructed a boat or ark, in which, after drifting nine days and nights, he landed on Mount Parnassus (according to others, Othrys, Aetna or Athos) with his wife.
The massive ridge of Parnassus (8068 ft.), which traverses the heart of the country, divides it into two distinct portions.
Under the southern slope of Parnassus were situated the two small plains of Crisa and Anticyra, separated by Mt Cirphis, an offshoot from the main range.
The ancient Zend name is, according to Rawlinson, Paresina, the essential part of Paropamisus; this accounts for the great Asiastic Parnassus of Aristotle, and the Pho-lo-sin-a of Hsiian Tsang.
In south Germany appeared the Wurttembergische Nebenstunden (1718), and the Parnassus boicus, first published at Munich in 1722.