Euhemerus | |
|---|---|
| Born | Fourth century BC Messene (nowMessina),Sicily |
| Died | Third century BC |
| Occupation | Writer, philosopher, mythographer, historian |
| Nationality | Greek |
Euhemerus (/juːˈhiːmərəs,-hɛm-/; also spelledEuemeros orEvemerus;Ancient Greek:ΕὐήμεροςEuhēmeros, "happy; prosperous"; late fourth century BC) was a Greekmythographer at the court ofCassander, the king ofMacedon. Euhemerus' birthplace is disputed, withMessina inSicily as the most probable location, while others suggestChios orTegea.[citation needed]
The philosophy attributed to and named for Euhemerus,euhemerism, holds that many mythological tales can be attributed to historical persons and events, the accounts of which have become altered and exaggerated over time.
Euhemerus's work combined elements of fiction and political utopianism. Early Christian writers, such asLactantius, used Euhemerus's belief that the ancient gods were originally human to confirm their inferiority regarding theChristian God.[citation needed]
Little is known about Euhemerus's life, and his birthplace is disputed. Classical writers such asDiodorus Siculus,[1]Plutarch,[2] andPolybius,[3] maintained that Euhemerus was a Messenian, but did not specify whether he came from thePeloponnesian or theSicilian Messene, which was an ancient Greek colony. Other ancient testimonies placed his birth atChios,Tegea (Pseudo-Plutarch,Plac. Phil.), orAgrigentum (Clement of Alexandria,Protrept.; Arnobius,Adv. Gent.). Most modern scholars, however, generally agree that Euhemerus came from the Sicilian Messene (Messina).[4]
Diodorus Siculus is one of the very few sources who provide other details about Euhemerus' life. According to Diodorus,[5] Euhemerus was a personal friend ofCassander, king of Macedonia (c. 305 – 297 BC) and the most prominent mythographer for the Macedonian court. Sometime in the early third century BC Euhemerus wrote his main work "Sacred History" ("Hiera Anagraphê").
Only quoted fragments remain from Euhemerus' main work,Sacred History.Diodorus Siculus included fragments from Euhemerus’ writings in the Arabian geography of his fifth book and in the mythology of his sixth book.[6]
The sixth book of Diodorus’Bibliotheca is lost, butEusebius cites a fragment from it at length in hisPraeparatio evangelica.[7] The ancient Roman writerEnnius first translated Euhemerus' work into Latin, but this translation also is lost.Lactantius however in the third century AD included substantial references to Ennius' translation in the first book of hisDivine Institutes.[8] Various other fragments of importance are also found in the later literature ofAugustine of Hippo.[9] From these extant fragments and references, modern scholars have been able to "compile what is presumably a fairly complete picture of Euhemerus’ work".[10]
Euhemerus' work may have taken the form of a philosophical fictionalized travelogue, universally accepted today as a philosophicalRomance, incorporating imagined archaic inscriptions, which hisliterary persona claimed to have found during his travels. Euhemerus claims to have traveled to a group of islands in the waters off Arabia. One of these,Panchaea, being home to a utopian society made up of a number of different ethnic tribes. His critique of tradition is epitomized in a register of the births and deaths of many of the deities, which his narratorpersona discovered inscribed on a golden pillar in a temple ofZeus Triphylius on the invented island ofPanchaea;[11] he claimed to have reached the island on a voyage down theRed Sea round the coast ofArabia, undertaken at the request of Cassander, according to the Christian historian of the fourth century AD,Eusebius.
Euhemerus refers to a rational islandutopia. The ancient Hellenic tradition of a distantGolden Age, ofHesiod's depiction of human happiness before the gift ofPandora, of the mythic convention of idealizedHyperboreans, made concrete in the legendary figure of theScythian philosopher-heroAnacharsis, or the idealized "Meropes" ofTheopompus had been recently enriched by contacts withIndia.[12] Euhemerus apparently systematized a method of interpreting the popularmyths, which was consistent with the attempts of Hellenistic culture to explain traditional religious beliefs in terms of a naturalism. Euhemerus asserted that the Greek gods originally had beenkings, heroes, and conquerors, or benefactors to the people, who had thus earned a claim to the veneration of their subjects. According to him, for example,Zeus was a king ofCrete, who had been a great conqueror; the tomb of Zeus was shown to visitors nearKnossos, perhaps engendering or enhancing among the traditionalists the reputation of Cretans as liars.[13]
Euhemerus has become known chiefly for a rationalizing method of interpretation, known as "euhemerism", which treats mythological accounts as a reflection of historical events, or mythological characters as historical personages, but which were shaped, exaggerated, or altered by retelling and traditionalmores. In more recent literature of myth, such as inBulfinch's Mythology, euhemerism is called the "historical interpretation" of mythology.[14] Euhemerism is defined in modern academic literature as the theory that myths are distorted accounts of real historical events.[15] Euhemerus was not the first to attempt to rationalize mythology through history, as euhemeristic views are found in earlier writers, includingXenophanes,Herodotus,Hecataeus of Abdera, andEphorus,[16][17] however, Euhemerus is credited as having developed the theory in application to all myths, considering mythology to be "history in disguise".[18]
