Richard Carrier - The Hero Savior Analogy

[Minimalist]

That's the challenge that historians face when approaching more or less any ancient figure.

But with most it doesn't matter.  Only with religious figures do modern followers insist that everyone follow the supposed dictates of these dusty old figures.  That forces the question of whether or not there ever was a jesus, a moses, a mohammed, a zoroaster, a zeus.  It doesn't really matter if Imhotep built the Step Pyramid.  It still exists whoever built it.