Myth, Ritual, and Religion/Volume 1/Chapter 10  From Wikisource
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by Andrew Lang Chapter 10 : Greek cosmogonic myths    Nature of
the evidence—Traditions of origin of the world and man—Homeric,
Hesiodic, and Orphic myths—Later evidence of historians,
dramatists, commentators—The Homeric story comparatively
pure—The story in Hesiod, and its savage analogues—The
explanations of the myth of Cronus, modern and ancient—The
Orphic cosmogony—Phanes and Prajapati—Greek myths of the origin
of man—Their savage analogues.  The authorities for Greek
cosmogonic myth are extremely various in date, character, and
value. The most ancient texts are the Iliad and the poems
attributed to Hesiod. The Iliad, whatever its date, whatever the
place of its composition, was intended to please a noble class
of warriors. The Hesiodic poems, at least the Theogony, have
clearly a didactic aim, and the intention of presenting a
systematic and orderly account of the divine genea