Two quotes from Karen Armstrong’s A Short History of Myth, which I finished reading last week. (The link is to my review.)

Today the word ‘myth’ is often used to describe something that is not true… Since the eighteenth century, we have developed a scientific view of history; we are concerned above all with what actually happened. But in the pre-modern world, when people wrote about the past they were more concerned with what the event had meant.
…
A myth does not impart factual information, but is primarily a guide to behavior. It’s truth will be revealed only if it is put into practice–ritually or ethically. If it is pursued as if it were a purely intellectual hypothesis, it becomes remote and incredible.

If you wish, discuss.