euhemerism

plural euhemerisms · alternative euemerism · alternative Euemerism · alternative Euhemerism

1. uncountableusuallyThe belief that legends and mythology arise from exaggerated descriptions of historical people and events.

   In regard to the Thracian god Zalmosis, the Hellespontic Greeks interpreted his character and attributes according to the scheme of Euemerism.

   1846, George Grote, History of Greece, volume I, page 596

   2 more examples

   Then again there was a period of what is sometimes called Euhemerism - the theory that the gods and goddesses had actually once been men and women, historical characters round whom a halo of romance and remoteness had gathered.

   1920, Edward Carpenter, Pagan and Christian Creeds, New York: Harcourt, Brace and Co., published 1921, page 10

   Already before euhemerism saved them by embalming them, [...] they had become in their very being the enlarged shadows of great men and warriors upon the walls of the world.

   1936, J. R. R. Tolkien, Beowulf: The Monsters and the Critics, Norwood, Pa.: Norwood Editions, published 1976, page 24

   Synonyms: historical theory, rationalism