Sentence:  We shall not be able entirely to pass over these connections to the East as we consider Ripe Geometric pottery , the epic and the <WSD>myth</WSD> , and the religious evolution of early Greece ; the important point , however , is that these magnificent achievements , unlike those of later decades , were only incidentally influenced by Oriental models . 
Meaning of the word marked with <WSD> tags:  a traditional story accepted as history; serves to explain the world view of a people