(November 29, 2022 at 7:37 am)Won2blv Wrote: was there really a human living amongst the elite that had exaggerated tales written about her?
A lot of the ancient Greeks believed this about their own mythology. It's called euhemerism, after an early proponent of the view, Euhemerus.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Euhemerism
Nobody really knows.
Since polytheistic systems (especially the Greeks) tend to be a hodge-podge that fit together imperfectly over time, I suspect that there is no single answer to your question.
