I write for children and like most of the world love the ancient myths of people from different countries but I think we often forget how much we live in a mythical creation of our own even as adults. Perhaps this is what gets us by in life, I am not sure but I am sure, yet there are myths we could actually do without.
The Romans had a myth about how there were founded, and had myths for the founding of many of the most significant cities in the Mediterranean. There are several historical figures who are not treated as real at all: look at how the Chinese will not criticize Chin or the Turkish laws against criticizing Atatürk. Then we have myths about how great our countries are and how we will not have our flags burned in protests, how a country can be betrayed to another country when what we mean is that we are in a constant state of possible war and our greatness relies upon our military prowess and the betrayal is to other human beings who are, we are taught, really enemies.
But our greatest myths are thinking their is a god, and thinking there is more to money that our foolishness. The first is an expression of our egos because god is always more fond of us than of the animals of earth, and the second is a description of our inability to be sophisticated enough to build civilizations without buying and selling each other.
Myths are truly what makes the world go round.