Euhemeristic

Part of speech: adjective

Definitions

1. The approach of interpreting deities as historical figures is known
2. Understanding gods or myths through the lens of historical events is termed
3. The practice of explaining myths by attributing them to real individuals and events is described

Etymology: Euhemerus was a Greek writer from Messene in Sicily, active around 300 BC, who claimed to have travelled to a remote island in the Indian Ocean called Panchaea. There he supposedly read a bronze inscription recording that the gods of Greek myth had once been mortal kings, conquerors and inventors whose deeds were later exaggerated into divine legend. His own book survives only in fragments, but his idea was so influential that his name became a label for the theory itself. The adjective "euhemeristic" describes an interpretation that reads myths as garbled history, stripping away the supernatural to find real people and events beneath. It is built from "euhemerist," the term for a follower of this view, combined with the English suffix "-ic," which turns a noun into an adjective meaning "relating to" or "characterised by."

Synonyms: historical, mythological, realistic, pragmatic, rational

Antonyms: mythical, fantastical, supernatural, legendary, unrealistic