Final answer:
The oldest myths trace back to oral tradition from around 800 B.C.E., with stories like The Iliad and The Odyssey penned roughly 400 years later. These epics served as cultural and educational cornerstones for ancient Greeks, providing moral guidance and retaining their influence despite growing skepticism in later periods.
Step-by-step explanation:
The Homeric epics, The Iliad and The Odyssey, were crucial in preserving the tales of ancient Greek heroes, their virtues, and the ethos of their times. These stories underwent centuries of oral transmission during the Homeric Age, through bards and storytellers, before they were finally penned down by scribes using the Greek alphabet in the 8th century BCE. This era followed the interlude of the Greek Dark Ages and provided insights into ancient Greek values, beliefs, and practices, including the concept of arete, which incorporated moral virtue alongside physical and mental excellence.
The Iliad recounts the war between Greeks and Trojans, while The Odyssey narrates the adventures of Odysseus. These epics served as an essential part of Greek education, an 'encyclopedia' of sorts, and set a precedent for moral exemplars in Greek society. The tales recounted by Homer and Hesiod were more than just entertainment; they offered lessons on a wide range of human experiences. Through these mythical accounts, the Greeks gained a sense of history and moral conduct, which, despite increasing skepticism by the time of Socrates, continued to influence their culture and way of thinking.