Men of renown...

"1 Now it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born to them, 2 that the sons of God saw the daughters of men, that they were beautiful; and they took wives for themselves of all whom they chose.


3 And the LORD said, “My Spirit shall not strive[a] with man forever, for he is indeed flesh; yet his days shall be one hundred and twenty years.” 4 There were giants on the earth in those days, and also afterward, when the sons of God came in to the daughters of men and they bore children to them. Those were the mighty men who were of old, men of renown."  
            -Taken from Genesis, chapter 6
 
Sounds like mythological stuff.  "Men of renown..." like the movie 300 or Spartacus or Troy...  What's going on here?  Did Angels do it with humans?  Did godly men do it with ungodly females?  Is this pure mythology?  Is it all a metaphor?
 
I find the cross of Christian Tradition with Mythology very fascinating.  I feel like the line was much blurrier back in Bible times than it is today.  We like to say "It's all true, cuz it says so right here in this book!"  But frankly, that's not always how it was orated around the campfire.  I'm not saying it's all "made up" but I get the sense that there was a lot of "borrowing" of stories back then.  The flood might have just been a pagan story that eeked it's way into Christian tradition...  same with these "Hercules-esque" God-men from Genesis.  Who knows if Moses was smoking something when he wrote this?  Can it still be the Word of God?  Yes... absolutely.  But it is through the hand of man that it is written and through the mind of man that it is understood.