Hence, they are often conservative in nature. They seek to maintain the status quo by replicating origins: “ So behave the sacred ancestors, so must we behave.” Myths had the advantage of creating a whole social world in which all acts had meaning. They had the disadvantage of creating static societies, of resisting innovation, and, many would say, of being false.
古希腊的神话
Among the earliest literary sources are Homer‘s two epic poems, the Iliad and the Odyssey. Hesiod（赫西 奥德）, a possible contemporary with Homer, offers in his Theogony（《神谱》） (Origin of the Gods) the fullest account of the earliest Greek myths, dealing with the creation of the world; the origin of the gods, Titans and Giants; as well as elaborate genealogies, folktales, and etiological myths. Hesiod’s Works and Days（《工作与时日》）, a didactic poem about farming life, also includes the myths of Prometheus, Pandora, and the Four Ages. The poet gives advice on the best way to succeed in a dangerous world, rendered yet more dangerous by its gods.
