Interpretatio graeca
Interpretatio graeca (
The phrase may describe Greek efforts to explain others' beliefs and myths, as when
Interpretatio romana is comparative discourse in reference to
Jan Assmann considers the polytheistic approach to internationalizing gods as a form of "intercultural translation":
The great achievement of polytheism is the articulation of a common semantic universe. ... The meaning of a deity is his or her specific character as it unfolded in myths, hymns, rites, and so on. This character makes a deity comparable to other deities with similar traits. The similarity of gods makes their names mutually translatable. ... The practice of translating the names of the gods created a concept of similarity and produced the idea or conviction that the gods are international.[4]
Pliny the Elder expressed the "translatability" of deities as "different names to different peoples" (nomina alia aliis gentibus).[5] This capacity made possible the religious syncretism of the Hellenistic era and the pre-Christian Roman Empire.
Examples
Some pairs of Greek and Roman gods, such as Zeus and
Some deities dating to Rome's oldest religious stratum, such as
Interpretatio romana
The phrase interpretatio romana was first used by the Imperial-era historian Tacitus in the Germania.[6] Tacitus reports that in a sacred grove of the Nahanarvali, "a priest adorned as a woman presides, but they commemorate gods who in Roman terms (interpretatione romana) are Castor and Pollux."[7] Elsewhere,[8] he identifies the principal god of the Germans as Mercury, perhaps referring to Wotan.[9]
Some information about the deities of the ancient
In the Eastern empire, the Anatolian storm god with his double-headed axe became Jupiter Dolichenus, a favorite cult figure among soldiers.
Application to the Jewish religion
Roman scholars such as
From the Roman point of view, it was natural to apply the above principle to the
Emperor Julian, the 4th century pagan emperor, remarked that "these Jews are in part god-fearing, seeing that they revere a god who is truly most powerful and most good and governs this world of sense, and, as I well know, is worshipped by us also under other names".[15] However, Julian specifies no "other names" under which the Jewish god was worshiped.
In late antiquity mysticism, the sun god Helios is sometimes equated to the Judeo-Christian God.[16]
Cross-cultural equivalencies
This section needs additional citations for verification. (February 2023) |
The following table is a list of
Greek | Roman | Etruscan | Egyptian | Phoenician | Zororastrian | Celtic | Functions |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Achilles | Achle | hero | |||||
Adonis | Atunis | Osiris | Tammuz (Adōn)
|
agriculture; resurrection | |||
Amphitrite | Salacia
|
Hatmehit | sea goddess | ||||
Anemoi | Venti | Vayu-Vata | winds | ||||
Aphrodite | Venus | Turan (Apru) | Hathor / Isis[17] | Astarte | Anahita | beauty; sex; love | |
Apollo | Apulu | Horus | Resheph | Mithra | Belenus / Maponos / Borvo / Grannus | light; prophecy; healing; plagues; archery; music; poets | |
Ares | Mars | Laran | Anhur | Verethragna | Toutatis / Nodens / Neton | war | |
Artemis | Diana | Artume | Bastet[18] | Kotharat | Drvaspa | hunting, the hunt; wilderness, wild animals; virginity, childbirth; Diana: lit. heavenly or divine | |
Asclepius | Vejove
|
Veiove | Imhotep | Eshmun | healing | ||
Athena | Minerva[19] | Menrva | Neith[20] / Isis | Anat | Anahita | Sulis / Belisama / Senuna / Coventina / Icovellauna / Sequana | wisdom; war strategy; the arts and crafts; weaving |
Atlas | Aril | Shu[21] | holder of the celestial spheres | ||||
Atropos | Morta
|
Leinth | Atropos: lit. inflexible; death | ||||
Boreas | Aquilo
|
Andas | North Wind or Devouring One | ||||
Castor and Polydeuces (Dioscuri) | Castor and Pollux (Gemini) | Castur and Pultuce (Tinas cliniar) | twins | ||||
Charites | Graces | grace; splendor; festivity; charity | |||||
Charon
|
Charun | Aqen | fierce, flashing, feverish gaze (eyes) | ||||
Chloris | Flora | Chloris: lit. greenish-yellow, pale green, pale, pallid, fresh; Flora: lit. flower | |||||
Clotho | Nona | spinning; thread | |||||
Cronus | Saturn | Satre | Khnum | El (Elus) | Time, generation, dissolution, agriculture | ||
Cybele | Magna Mater
|
Magna Mater: lit. Great Mother | |||||
Demeter | Ceres
|
Zerene | Isis[22] | Ashi | grains, agricultural fertility; Demeter: lit. Earth Mother | ||
Dionysus | Liber / Bacchus | Fufluns | Osiris[23] | Cernunnos | wine and winemaking; revelry; ecstasy; Liber: lit. the free one | ||
Enyo | Bellona | Enie | Sekhmet | war | |||
Eos | Aurora / Matuta | Thesan | Tefnut | dawn | |||
Erinyes | Dirae | Furies | |||||
Eris | Discordia | Eris | Anat | Shahar | strife | ||
Eros
|
Cupid (Amor) | Erus | sexual love | ||||
Euterpe | Euturpa / Euterpe | "she who delights"; muse of music (especially flute music) and song; later, also of lyric poetry | |||||
Eurus | Vulturnus
|
East Wind | |||||
Gaia
|
Terra / Tellus | Cel
|
Geb | Zam | the earth | ||
Hades | Orcus
|
Aita | Anubis / Osiris | Mot | Angra Mainyu
|
the underworld. Hades: lit. the unseen | |
Hebe | Juventas | Renpet | youth | ||||
Hecate | Trivia | Heqet | Matronae
|
will; Hecate: trans. she who has power far off [24] | |||
Helios | Sol Invictus / Sol Indiges | Usil | Ra[25] | Shamash (Utu) | Mithra | sun | |
Hephaestus | Vulcan | Sethlans
|
Ptah | Kothar-wa-Khasis[26] | Atar | Gobannos
|
metalwork, forges; fire, lava |
Hera | Juno | Uni | Mut / Hathor | Armaiti | marriage, family | ||
Heracles | Hercules | Hercle | Heryshaf, Shu[27] | Melqart | Rostam | Ogmios | Heracles: lit. glory/fame of Hera |
Hermes | Mercury | Turms | Anubis, Thoth | Taautus | Shamash
|
Lugus / Viducus | transitions; boundaries; thieves; travelers; commerce; Hermes: poss. "interpreter"; Mercurius: related to Latin "merx" (merchandise), "mercari" (to trade), and "merces" (wages) |
Hesperus | Vesper | Shalim | evening, supper, evening star, west[28] | ||||
Hestia | Vesta | Anuket | hearth, fireplace, domesticity | ||||
Hygeia
|
Salus | Sirona | health; cleanliness | ||||
Ilithyia
|
Lucina | Ilithiia | Tawaret
|
childbirth, midwifery | |||
Irene | Pax
|
peace | |||||
Iris | Arcus / Iris | Nut | rainbow | ||||
Janus
|
Culsans | beginnings; transitions; motion; doorways | |||||
Lachesis
|
Decima | Lachesis: lit. disposer of lots; luck | |||||
Leto | Latona
|
Letun | Demureness; mothers | ||||
Maia | Rosmerta | growth | |||||
Moirai (Moerae) | Fates or Parcae | Apportioners | |||||
Muses | Camenae | Music; inspiration | |||||
Rhamnusia
|
Invidia | "retribution" | |||||
Nike | Victoria | Meanpe | victory | ||||
Notus | Auster | South Wind | |||||
Odysseus | Ulysses or Ulixes | Uthste | hero | ||||
Palaemon | Portunus | keys, doors; ports, harbors | |||||
Pan
|
Faunus | Min, Khem[29] | nature, the wild | ||||
Persephone | Proserpina | Persipnei | poss. "to emerge" | ||||
Phaon | Phaun / Faun / Phamu | mortal boatman given youth and beauty by Aphrodite | |||||
Pheme | Fama | fame; rumor | |||||
Phosphoros | Lucifer | Attar
|
lit. light bearer | ||||
Poseidon | Neptune | Nethuns | Yam | Apam Napat | sea; water; horses; earthquakes | ||
Priapus | Mutunus Tutunus | fertility; livestock; gardens; male genitalia | |||||
Prometheus | Prumathe | forethought | |||||
Rhea | Magna Mater (see Cybele above)
|
Nut | Asherah | Rhea: lit. flowing. Ops: lit. wealth, abundance, resources. | |||
Selene | Luna | Losna | Isis, Thoth, Khonsu | Yarikh | Mah | moon | |
Tiur | |||||||
Silenos | Silvanus | Selvans | Sucellus | Silvanus: lit. of the woods | |||
Thallo
|
Thalna | blossoms | |||||
Thanatos | Mors | Leinth | Anubis | Mot | death | ||
Charun | |||||||
Themis | Justitia | Ma'at
|
law of nature | ||||
Tyche | Fortuna
|
Nortia | Gad | luck, fortune | |||
Typhon | Set / Apep | "whirlwinds, storms, chaos, darkness" | |||||
Uranus | Caelus | Nut | El | Asman | sky, heavens | ||
Vertumnus | Voltumna | Baal | the seasons; change | ||||
Zephyr | Favonius | West Wind; Favonius: lit. favorable | |||||
Zeus | Jupiter or Jove[30] | Tinia | Amun[31] | Hadad | Ahura Mazda (Ohrmazd) | Taranis | weather, storms, lightning, Sky Father |
In art
Examples of deities depicted in syncretic compositions by means of interpretatio graeca or romana:
-
Jupiter Ammon (terracotta of Hellenistic style, 1st century AD)
-
Syncretized figure from the Eastern provinces, perhaps a Genius (1st century BC – 1st century AD)
-
Isis holdingoinochoe (Roman marble, reign of Hadrian)
-
Isis,Roman Africa, late 2nd century AD)
-
Worshipper before Zeus–Serapis–Ohrmazd(Bactria, 3rd century AD)
See also
- Aion (deity)
- Mystery religions
- Honji suijaku, in Japan
- Interpretatio germanica
- Interpretatio Christiana
- Celtic deities
- Proto-Indo-European religion, a reconstructed religion that relates Greek deities to other Indo-European deities
- Shinbutsu-shūgō, a Japanese amalgamation of Buddhist and Shinto deities
- Syncretism
- Three teachings, Buddhism, Confucianism and Taoism as harmonious aggregate in Chinese philosophy.
- Unknown god
References
- ISBN 978-90-04-12268-0.
- ISBN 0-19-860641-9.
- ^ Characterized as "discourse" by Mark S. Smith, God in Translation: Deities in Cross-Cultural Discourse in the Biblical World (Wm. B. Eerdmans, 2008, 2010), p. 246.
- ^ Moses the Egyptian: The Memory of Egypt in Western Monotheism (Harvard University Press, 1997), pp. 44–54 (quotation p. 45), as cited by Smith, God in Translation, p. 39.
- ^ Pliny, Natural History 2.5.15.
- ^ Tacitus, Germania 43.
- ^ "Praesidet sacerdos muliebri ornatu, sed deos interpretatione romana Castorem Pollucemque memorant."
- ^ Tacitus, Germania 9.
- ISBN 9781572582422. Retrieved 2013-01-24.
- ^ John T. Koch, "Interpretatio romana," in Celtic Culture: A Historical Encyclopedia (ABC-Clio, 2006), p. 974.
- ^ Koch, "Interpretatio romana," in Celtic Culture, pp. 974–975; Assmann, Moses the Egyptian, p. 45.
- ^ (Valerius Maximus), epitome of Nine Books of Memorable Deeds and Sayings, i. 3, 2, see EXEMPLUM 3. [Par.]
- ^ Plutarch. Symposiacs, iv, 6.
- ^ Tacitus, Histories 5.4
- ^ Julian, Letter XX to Theodorus, translated by Wilmer Cave Wright (1913)
- ^ Eleni Pachoumi, The Religious and Philosophical Assimilation of Helios in the Greek Papyri
- ISBN 9780801856426.
- ISBN 9780191630118.
- ISBN 978-0-415-18636-0.
- ISBN 9780191630118.
- ISBN 9781438131801. Retrieved 6 October 2014.
- ISBN 978-0-415-41550-7.
- ISBN 9780191630118.
- ^ "Henry George Liddell, Robert Scott, A Greek-English Lexicon, ἕκα^τος". Perseus.tufts.edu. Retrieved 2013-01-24.
- ISBN 9780191630118.
- ^ "Kothar – Semitic Deity". Encyclopædia Britannica. 2021. Retrieved 5 May 2021.
- ISBN 978-0-674-99130-9.
- ISBN 0-06-053690-X
- ^ Trevor, George (1863). Ancient Egypt: Its Antiquities, Religion, and History, to the Close of the Old Testament Period. Religious Tract Society.
- ISBN 978-90-04-12269-7.
- ISBN 9780191630118.
Further reading
- ISBN 9780823227242.
- Bergmann, Jan (1969). "Beitrag zur Interpretatio Graeca. Ägyptische Götter in griechischer Übertragung." In: Sven S. Hartman (ed.), Syncretism. Stockholm: Almqvist & Wiksell, pp. 207–227.
- Kaspers, Wilhelm. "Germanische Götternamen." Zeitschrift Für Deutsches Altertum Und Deutsche Literatur 83, no. 2 (1951): 79–91. www.jstor.org/stable/20654522.
- Pakkanen, Petra (1996). Interpreting Early Hellenistic Religion: A Study Based on the Mystery Cult of Demeter and the Cult of Isis. Foundation of the Finnish Institute at Athens. ISBN 978-951-95295-4-7.
- Pfeiffer, Stefan (2015). "Interpretatio Graeca. Der „übersetzte Gott“ in der multikulturellen Gesellschaft des hellenistischen Ägypten." In: Lange, Melanie; Rösel, Martin (ed.), Der übersetzte Gott. Leipzig: Evangelische Verlagsanstalt, pp. 37–53.