Primary sources of Greek mythology: which text tells which myth
The ancient texts behind Greek mythology — Hesiod's Theogony and Works and Days, the Homeric Hymns, the Iliad and Odyssey, Pindar, Aeschylus, Apollodorus, Pausanias, and Ovid as the Roman witness — with what each one actually tells, the passages this corpus cites from it, and its approximate date.
Why this wins its question: Reading lists say "Hesiod, Homer, Apollodorus, Ovid". This guide says which myth each one carries, with the passages this corpus actually cites from it, and marks Apollodorus and Ovid as late witnesses rather than sources on a par with Hesiod.
Key takeaways
- Origins: Hesiod (Theogony). Gods in action: Homer. Births and epiphanies: the Homeric Hymns. The dead: Odyssey 11 and 24.
- Apollodorus is a handbook of the Roman period that preserves variants; Ovid is Roman poetry in Latin names. Neither is archaic.
- The dates are the encyclopaedia's; the contents are the texts'. This corpus cites the line, not the date.
Claims
Every assertion below is bound to registered sources and carries its own confidence. Weight them; do not treat the page as uniformly authoritative.
Hesiod's Theogony is the genealogical source: it sets out to tell "how at the first gods and earth came to be" and how the gods "divided their wealth … and how at the first they took many-folded Olympus" (Theog. 108–113), and delivers the cosmogony (Theog. 116–125), the Titans (132–138, 207–210), the birth of Zeus (453–491), the Titanomachy (617–735), Typhoeus (820–868) and Zeus's marriages (886–944). It is generally dated to around 730–700 BC.
Hesiod's Works and Days is the source for Pandora — Hephaestus moulds her, Athena dresses her, Hermes gives her "lies and crafty words", and she lifts the lid of the jar so that only Hope remains (WD 60–105) — and for the account of "how the gods and mortal men sprang from one source" that follows (WD 106 ff.).
The Homeric Hymns are the source for individual gods' births and epiphanies: Athena springs "from his awful head, arrayed in warlike arms" while Olympus reels (HH28 1–17); Apollo enters Zeus's house and the gods rise from their seats while Leto unstrings his bow (HH3 1–13); Dionysus's disputed birthplaces are listed and rejected — "all these lie" (HH1 1–9). They are anonymous poems of various dates, the longer ones mostly of the 7th–6th centuries BC.
The Iliad is a source for the gods in action rather than their origins: the three brothers' lots (Il. 15.187–193), the Theomachy muster (Il. 20.31–40), Aphrodite as daughter of Dione (Il. 5.370–380), Briareus rescuing Zeus from Hera, Poseidon and Athena (Il. 1.396–406), Tartarus "as far beneath Hades as heaven is above earth" where "Iapetus and Cronos" sit (Il. 8.13–16, 478–481), and Oceanus "from whom the gods are sprung" (Il. 14.201). It is usually dated to the 8th century BC.
The Odyssey is the source for the underworld and the dead: Odysseus's sacrifice and the ghosts (Od. 11.23–50), "mighty Hades and dread Persephone" (Od. 11.47), the punishments of Tityos, Tantalus and Sisyphus (Od. 11.576–600), Heracles' phantom while "he himself among the immortal gods takes his joy" (Od. 11.601–604), and Hermes leading the suitors' souls "down the dank ways" (Od. 24.1–14). It is dated a little after the Iliad, in the 8th–7th centuries BC.
Apollodorus's Bibliotheca is the systematic handbook: it begins with Sky ruling the world and runs through the Titans, the birth of Zeus, the Titanomachy, the children of the Titans, the Giants, Typhon, Prometheus and Deucalion in order (Apollod. 1.1.1–1.7.2), often noting variants ("according to Homer", "Pherecydes says"). It is a compilation of the 1st or 2nd century AD, not an archaic poem.
Pindar, Aeschylus and Pausanias each give what the epics do not: Pindar rewrites Pelops's story "contrary to earlier stories" and refuses to call a god a glutton (Pind. Ol. 1.25–52); Prometheus in Aeschylus tells the Titanomachy from the losing side — the Titans "disdaining counsels of craft" and Cronus hidden in Tartarus by his counsel (PV 199–221); Pausanias records cults and their local claims, such as Demeter Chthonia at Sparta (Paus. 3.14.5) and the Serapis brought to Athens from Ptolemy (Paus. 1.18.4).
Ovid is a Roman witness, not a Greek source: the Metamorphoses (finished about AD 8) retells the Greek myths under Latin names — "the Son of Saturn" convening the council (Met. 1.163–252), Venus sending Cupid against "Pluto" (Met. 5.341–384), Aeneas made a god by Venus's petition (Met. 14.581–608). Where Ovid and Hesiod differ, the difference is Roman and eight centuries later.
Two prose witnesses look at the Greek gods from outside: Herodotus says the Greeks borrowed "the names of twelve gods" from Egypt (Hdt. 2.4.2) and "the names of nearly all the gods" (Hdt. 2.50.1), and Plutarch retells the Osiris myth with Greek gods' names for the Egyptian ones (Plut. Is. 12–19).
Primary sources of Greek mythology
"Greek mythology" is not a book. It is a set of texts written across nine centuries, each with its own version, and the honest answer to "where does this myth come from?" is a text and a line. Here is which text carries what.
The texts
| Text | Approx. date | What it tells | Cite as |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hesiod, Theogony | c. 730–700 BC | Cosmogony, Titans, birth of Zeus, Titanomachy, Typhoeus, Zeus's wives and children | `Theog. N` |
| Hesiod, Works and Days | c. 700 BC | Pandora, the ages of man, Prometheus's theft | `WD N` |
| Homeric Hymns | 7th–6th c. BC (mostly) | Births and epiphanies of single gods: Demeter, Apollo, Hermes, Aphrodite, Athena, Dionysus | `HH<n> N` |
| Homer, Iliad | 8th c. BC | The gods at Troy; the three lots; Aphrodite and Dione; Tartarus | `Il. book.line` |
| Homer, Odyssey | 8th–7th c. BC | The underworld; Hermes as guide of souls | `Od. book.line` |
| Pindar, Olympian Odes | 5th c. BC | Pelops, Tantalus, Heracles at Olympia | `Pind. Ol. ode.line` |
| Aeschylus, Prometheus Bound | 5th c. BC | The Titanomachy from Prometheus's side | `PV N` |
| Apollodorus, Bibliotheca | 1st–2nd c. AD | Systematic summary of the whole tradition with variants | `Apollod. b.c.s` |
| Pausanias, Description of Greece | 2nd c. AD | Cults, sanctuaries, local versions | `Paus. b.c.s` |
| Ovid, Metamorphoses | c. AD 8 (Roman) | The myths retold in Latin under Roman names | `Met. book.line` |
The dates in the second column are the standard scholarly estimates as summarised by the encyclopaedia; nothing in this corpus depends on them.
Which text for which question
- How did the world begin? Who are the Titans? Hesiod. The cosmogony
is Theog. 116–125, the Titans Theog. 132–138, the Titanomachy Theog. 617–735. Apollodorus repeats it in prose (Apollod. 1.1.1–1.2.1); Aeschylus lets Prometheus tell it (PV 199–221).
- How was Zeus born and how did he become king? Hesiod
(Theog. 453–506, 881–885). Apollodorus has the cave of Dicte and the Curetes (Apollod. 1.1.6–1.1.7).
- Who is Aphrodite's father? Hesiod says the foam of Uranus
(Theog. 188–206); Homer says Zeus and Dione (Il. 5.370–380). Two sources, two answers.
- How was Athena born? Hesiod (Theog. 924), the Homeric Hymn
(HH28 1–17), Apollodorus with the axe (Apollod. 1.3.6).
- What is the underworld like? The Odyssey (Od. 11), with Hermes as
guide of souls in Od. 24.1–14. Hesiod gives Tartarus's measurements (Theog. 720–735).
- How was the first woman made? Works and Days (WD 60–105).
- What happened to Prometheus? Hesiod (Theog. 507–616), Aeschylus
(PV, whole play), Apollodorus (Apollod. 1.7.1).
- Where was a god worshipped, and how? Pausanias.
The late witnesses
Apollodorus and Ovid are the two texts most often quoted as if they were Greek mythology itself. Both are Roman-period works. Apollodorus is a compiler who preserves variants and names his sources ("according to Homer", Apollod. 1.3.5; "Pherecydes says", Apollod. 1.4.3), which makes him valuable exactly because he is not original. Ovid is a Latin poet who calls the gods Jupiter, Venus and Pluto and reshapes the stories for his own poem. When this corpus cites Ovid for a Greek myth it says so, and prefers a Greek witness where one exists.
The outside view
Herodotus and Plutarch are not sources for Greek myths but for how Greeks mapped them onto other peoples' gods — Herodotus's claim that the twelve gods' names came from Egypt (Hdt. 2.4.2) and Plutarch's Osiris told with Greek names (Plut. Is. 12–19). They belong in the Egyptian sources guide, and in every discussion of interpretatio graeca.