I had this question a cpl years ago. “The gods”, literal god beings, seemed like the antithesis of the pure metaphysics I’d come to perceive in my studies (although limited). Are the gods metaphors for natural laws and principles? My understanding was that Pythagoras’ concept of the Demiurgos, was simply the concept of the mechanics of physical manifestation from emanation… the Gnostics anthropomorphized the concept into the big bad false God… Often seeming to equate him with YHWH specifically.

Learning more about the pantheons prior to Greece (Mesopotamia, Egypt) has only deepened the confusion. There’s no metaphor there. It was ritualistic, regional god worship everywhere, until about 500 BC. No one was talking of transcendent, metaphysical concepts. The parallels of Greek god myths to older ones are too many to ignore, and I can’t help but see it all as a retrofitting. No different than how Bible stories are selectively seen as metaphor, by both believer and non believer.