Knowra Euhemerism Euhemerism Euhemerism interprets myths about gods as distorted accounts of historical people or events later treated as divine. It takes its name from the Greek writer Euhemerus.
Euhemerus : A Greek writer, probably active around 300 BCE, who presented the gods as deified human rulers. His account of discovering records of mortal gods became the model for the interpretation named after him.
Apotheosis : The elevation of a human being to divine status, especially through worship after death. Euhemerism treats apotheosis as the historical process behind many gods.
Christian Apologetics : The intellectual defense of Christian beliefs against criticism and rival religions. Some Christian writers used euhemeristic explanations to portray pagan gods as dead humans, not true deities.
Allegorical Interpretation : A method that reads stories as symbolic expressions of ideas beyond their literal events. Unlike euhemerism, allegorical readings explain divine stories through symbols rather than historical mortals.
Sacred History : A narrative that presents religious traditions as records of events in the distant past. Euhemerus framed his account of the gods as history preserved in an inscription.
Ancestor Worship : Religious veneration of deceased family members or forebears. Veneration of powerful ancestors offers one route by which mortals might acquire divine status.
Cicero : A Roman statesman and author whose philosophical works examined Roman religion and the gods. In On the Nature of the Gods, he presents the reduction of gods to deified humans as one explanation of divinity.
Myth-Ritual Theory : The theory that myths are closely connected to ritual practices and their social functions. It looks to ritual context, not deified historical figures, to explain how myths arise.
Hiera Anagraphē : Euhemerus’s lost work, known chiefly through later summaries, describing an imagined island and its divine rulers. This fictional narrative supplies the clearest ancient example of euhemeristic storytelling.
Myth : A traditional narrative that expresses a community’s beliefs, values, or account of the world. Euhemerism is one way of interpreting myths by recasting their divine figures as historical people.
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