"similar practice in Protagoras"
-- Correction: I meant to say Cratylus
***
I hadn't heard that Cladistics term before. Thanks for sharing.
****
The Greeks like Anaxagoras[~500BC], realized their myths didn't make sense, and sounded like Hogwarts, and some of them tryed to make sense out of the myths. Rightly or Wrongly.
[
www.roangelo.net]
"[Anaxagoras and the] rationalization [making plausible to reason] of stories about the gods."
***
To me, this has echoes of the "golden age" though I'm not sure when THAT concept arose.
-- The "five ages" appears to be an old concept, dating back to Hesiod, or the earliest myths.
[
en.wikipedia.org]
And different, and perhaps wrong, interpretations of these 5 "ages of man" have been made. Newton for instance, says these 5 ages are "5 generations". In this interpretation, one could attribute those 5 generations to the 5 generations of Io to Danaus; perhaps wishful thinking on my part, though. I'm sure no classicist would like this answer.
****
Since Ogygos likes numbers... the mention of the "Orichalcum" or bronze, could be symbolic of 3rd generation, or Bronze Age. Athena is associated with the Number 3 as well(Trito-geneia), and appears to correspond with this 3rd generation, whereas Cecrops Diphyes, is associated with 2, and would be second generation.
****
"Speaking as a writer of fiction"
Back to the Hogwarts topic. I listened to the last Harry Potter on cd last year... I don't think you can write a book like that from front to back. It sounded like it was outlined... like make 50-100 points... 1a, 1b, 1c... and fill in the blanks in random order... and then edit.