Palaiphatos
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Palaiphatos was an ancient Greek writer known for his rationalizing interpretations of myths. He sought to find logical, non-supernatural explanations for mythological stories. For example, he interpreted the myth of Europa being carried off by a bull as a woman abducted by a man named Tauros, the Greek word for bull. Similarly, he explained the monstrous Scylla from Homer's Odyssey as merely the name of a pirate ship. This approach, which aimed to make myths sensible by stripping away divine or monstrous elements, was a form of rationalism in myth interpretation.1
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