Evhemerism

The evhemerism is a theory according to which the Gods are real characters who were divinisés after their death. It draws its name from the Greek Mythographe Évhémère.

This current of thought thus postulates that the characters mythological S were human beings, divinized by the fear or the admiration of the population. Such a theory fell at point named to satisfy the cultivated spirits of Antiquity which could not take the myths for money any more cash. Although the evhemerism was employed, for the beginnings of the Christian era, as a weapon against the Paganisme and the Polythéisme, the Moyen-âge will be used of these theories for finally preserving the pagan myths - within the framework of the study.

The evhemerism thus fits in the medieval tradition of interpretation of the ancient texts which considered that the myths, contained in poetry (Ovide and Virgile in particular) included/understood hidden directions, and that one could discover Christian precepts there. This vast project of rationalization of the myths, inter alia, allowed the conservation of important ancient texts, which without that would certainly have disappeared (Fathers of the Church granting a moral superiority to the crowned texts and condemning very early the reading of the poets of the pagan era).

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