Euhemeros

Are we, with the Greek Euhemeros, to find it in certain human beings of bygone days who were wiser and stronger than their contemporaries, and on this account, and in consequence of the benefits which they conferred upon the race, were exalted into the position of gods, and woshipped as such by succeeding generations?

Whereas Euhemeros was content to claim that the gods had once been great men, it now seems to be generally held that such a thing as a purely mythical character has never existed.

He has fallen into a common misconception of Euhemerism; for Euhemeros did not say that the first gods were dead kings: he said that they were living kings.

The Church Father Athenagoras, in the manner of Euhemeros, conceives many demons as the postmortal souls of important deceased men, like heroes and kings.