Editing Cosmic egg (section)

== Greek and Roman mythology ==
Ideas similar to the cosmic egg myth are mentioned in two different sources from Greek and Roman mythology. One is in the Roman author [[Marcus Terentius Varro]], living in the 1st century BC. According to Varro, heaven and earth can respectively be likened to an egg shell and its yolk. The air, in turn, is represented by the moisture functioning as a form of humidity between the shell and yolk.{{Sfn|Alcock|2007|p=21–22}} The second mention is found in the [[Clementine literature|Pseudo-Clementine Recognitions]] 10:17,{{Sfn|Alcock|2007|p=21–22}} although from an oppositional standpoint, insofar as Clement is presented as summarizing a ridiculous cosmological belief found among pagans: according to the description given, there is a primordial chaos which, over time, solidified into an egg. As is with an egg, a creature began to grow inside, until at some point it broke open to produce a human that was both male and female (i.e. androgynous) named Phanetas. When Phanetas appeared, a light shone forth that resulted in "substance, prudence, motion, and coition," and these in turn resulted in the creation of the heavens and the earth. The Recognitions 10:30 presents, then, a second summary of the idea, this time attributed to the cosmogony of [[Orpheus]] as described by a "good pagan" named Niceta. This summary, in contrast to the first one, is presented in a serious manner.{{Sfn|Dronke|1974|p=83–84}} This myth appears to have had occasional influence, insofar as a manuscript of it is associated with the reappearance of the idea at a library of [[Saint Gall]] in a 9th-century commentary on [[Boethius]]. Another three appearances occur again in the twelfth century.{{Sfn|Dronke|1974|p=85–98}}