Lee Malatesta . # . 1/1

On the one hand, one of the interesting things about most of the classical Greek philosophers is that they /rejected/ the myths of ancient Greece. Socrates was notable for not only rejecting them but saying that they had to be rewritten to leave all the bad behavior out, told as Noble Lies, and then made a mandatory part of education.

And on the other hand, we all know what happened to Socrates when brought up on charges of impiety and corrupting the youth.

I think a much more parsimonious explanation is that as civilization feel in many areas of western Europe, myth collapsed into reason. As an example, one of the early Christian emperors (I want to say Justinian but I could be wrong) banned the practice of burning witches under the rationale that witches had no real power. Fast forward a few hundred years and in parts of Europe they were burning witches again because they thought that the witches were doing them actual harm. Myth became reality.