Why did the ancients leave these simple statements and use myths? This very enquiry is a useful excersise. Myths are divine as can be inferred from their use by inspired poets, the best philosophers, the founders of mysteries, and the Gods speaking in oracles. They are divine because they must be like the Gods if they are to please them and win their favor for us. Myths, then, imitate the Gods and teach the foolish simply that the Gods exist, the wise their nature and character. This saves the former from contempt, the latter from sloth. The Universe can be called a myth; the outer shell veils the inner realities. Still, why are myths so strange? Surely it is in order that man may regard the stories as mere cloaks wrapped around secret truth.
Sallustius, On the Gods and the World, iii
Are Myths Literally True?
We westerners have become accustomed to viewing sacred scripture as a source of infallible revelation, never to be questioned. This foolishness has lead many to an idolatry of words, worshipping the scribbling of men as if they were the words of God.
Poets, oracles and philosophers all speak of the Gods but in different ways. None of them are perfectly infallible. They are a finger pointing toward the Gods, not the Gods themselves. To mistake one from the other will allow the most severe delusion and superstition into our minds.
Look no further than biblical literalists for examples of this insanity.
The myths are mysteries. If you read a myth and it seems far fetched, that is because it is far fetched. Something that seems impossible in myth is a clue for you to not take it literally. It is also a clue for you to seek a deeper meaning within the text.
For it is the incongruous element in myths that guides us to the truth. I mean that the more paradoxical and prodigious the riddle is the more it seems to warn us not to believe simply the bare words but rather to study diligently the hidden truth, and not to relax our efforts until under the guidance of the gods those hidden things become plain, and so initiate or rather perfect our intelligence
Emperor Julian, To The Cynic Heracleios