Mythologist G. S. Kirk has developed a theory for the sequential development of Greek myths about the origin of man.

I. AUTOCHTHONOUS CREATION

1) Greeks borrowed freely from Near Eastern traditions, but could not accept those traditions concerning man's origins, because many Near Eastern cultures held that man was created virtually as a slave, a source of labor for work.

2) The Greeks turned to the old metaphor of the Earth Mother and developed traditions of autochthonous birth. The most famous: the Spartoi.

3) These traditions were less an etiology for the origin of mankind than they were functional: i.e., "this land is ours because we literally came from it."

4) Lacking a true etiology, the Greeks looked again to the Middle East. The least offensive model was creation by a culture-bearer.

II. CREATION BY THE CULTURE-BEARER

By Classical times the most common version of the creation of man holds the culture-bearer, Prometheus, to be the creator. Often, he has Athena's help.

III. CREATION BY GODS

Many Classical sources ascribe the creation of man to Zeus, some other god, or even a team of gods.