Absolutely not. And I love your comparison between Beowulf and the Bible. I think they are eminently comperable.
Moreover, ancient literature describes a number of things which we do not see in our present world
Correct. Beowulf, for example, describes horrifying Grendel. Greek myths describe the transformation of humans into spiders. The Bible describes a flood covering the whole earth. The power of imagination was as strong then as it is now. All are works of fiction.
A good line with the ring of truth.
Are you implying that a flood covering the whole earth is as difficult to believe as humans turning into spiders? If we're to believe the world was at one time covered in ice, why is it so difficult to believe it was at one time covered in water?
Maybe those Greeks happened to catch some of that macro-evolution at work. ; * )
At various points in history, an eminently convenient and exploitable assumption.
History is not over yet.
Nor will it be after you and I are gone.