Myths are usually based on something real. No, I think what you're thinking of is the legend, where a real person blows up into something mythicalesque. Myths are ways of explaining natural phenomena when you have no ken of the world beyond your senses but a burgeoning intelligence, as of a child who thinks that, because they have just realized that they are DOING things, conclude (it's called the personification fallacy, I think) all things that happen, are caused. Sounds familiar...

Also, the Romans actually kept very good written records, and we've uncovered tons of lists of executed and crucified people, and they never mentioned anything about anybody specially threatening...

Also, Christianity was a great invention for the Roman slaves - it made everything their masters did (that was forbidden to the slaves) into a SIN - gluttony, lust, homosexuality, all the stuff the Romans were big into - hey, it would have been totally popular if instead of resenting their lack of freedom they could feel all virtuous for their restraint!

What about the people who focus, instead, on something I like and believe in - some people like and believe in killing people who don't share their superstitions. So, no, I don't agree that If everyone did that, we'd all be a lot happier, wouldn't we. Islamic radicals have been slaughtering Americans wholesale overseas for decades, and recently here too. They've gone after infidels in the Pacific, the Far East, Europe. They're killing each other in the middle East and across North Africa. I'm not talking about the Crusades, here. I'm talking about current events. Christians are taking over medical decisions. The Supreme Court has actually ruled that the judicial branch has more say over a pregnancy than the medical profession.
As I keep saying, it's the harm, it's the harm. It is no longer reasonable to treat it as a viable alternative interpretation of reality. It just doesn't hold up to scrutiny and that fact should no longer be hushed out of "respect" for something that is fundementally silly anyway, no matter how precious it is to those of whom I speak, who do not accept reality.
I really feel that it is becoming the *duty* of freethinkers everywhere to stop pretending to respect silly statements of actual, adult, belief in the supernatural. Like the duty to vote. We can, and there are those who have died trying.
Little Hawk, have you ever been a parent? Whatever the child likes is fine with you? Ever read Lord of the Flies? It's the adults' job to make sure that children aren't allowed to follow their natural impulses. It's called civilization, or rearing, and yes, I'm being saracastic by now, but people who leave it up to the kids are seriously shirking their responsibility.
Although check out Deep Springs College, where the students do pick the curriculum and hire the faculty...