the apparent extreme literality of religious beliefs in the distant past.
What evidence do we have about that? First-hand, Homeric or earlier historical evidence is very scant and selective to begin with. We don't have philosophical treaties written by the ancients of what they themselves believed and how literally they took it. The Homeric epics are also describing people who from to the writer were already old, different, and also heroic and not representative of the average man.
What evidence do we have about that?
The very widespread practice of non-symbolic sacrifices, for example.
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