Malinowski said, "Man creates myths when he reaches a frontier that man cannot explain logically. When man cannot scientifically or logically explain something man creates a theory or a myth of why or how something happens. In Bulfinch's Mythologies the myths, created by the ancient Greeks and Romans, try to explain what happens. .
Apollo, the sun god, everyday drove a flaming chariot across the sky. We now know that the sun is star in our solar system that is so close and bright it lights up the world which faces it. Since the world rotates it has a rainbow shape trail across the sky. The Romans and Greeks had no clue that the sun was a star. They believed in many gods. Apollo drove the sun and that was a logical explanation to them. Another example is their explanation of how peacocks got their feathers. Argus was a monster with one hundred eyes. Juno ordered Argus to guard Io who had been turned, by Juno, into a cow. Zeus sends Mercury down to free Io. Mercury cuts off Argus' head and in memory of him Juno puts his eyes on the tail feathers of the peacock. This was a very reasonable explanation to the Romans and Greeks.
These are only two out of the many myths that they wrote to explain unkown phenomenon. The Greeks and Romans did not have the technology available to them to allow them to make more logical explanations for why things are the way they are. Now even with all the technology we have there are still things that we cannot explain. Man still makes theories on how or why things happen.
