All we have are scriptures and texts that could have been a series of meme that built/improved from eachother but lost the common knowledge between the generations that it was fictional.
That’s a cool thought.
Same with Julius Caesar, Nebuchadnezzar, Christopher Columbus, Henry VIII, Copernicus, Napoleon, Alexander the Great, Ptolemy.
Really anybody famous could have their image embellished back before the widespread ability to read and write. (Some folks listed above may not have lived in a time of illiteracy, but it was hard to think of a list of historical characters lol.)
I mean, it’s pretty well documented how awful Christopher Columbus was. Even in the context of the time period: he was arrested in the new world and shipped back to Spain for a trial because he was so ruthless in his treatment of the native peoples. The myths about him being a ‘great man’ are all only like 100 years old.
