Evemerus

Little is known in detail about the Sicilian author, Evemerus, but he was known to have written around the time of Alexander the Great. Many have speculated about his birth place but the majority of historians believe it to have been Messene. He was trained in the philosophical school of the cyrenaics who, before his time, had become notorious for their scepticism of popular religion. The impact from this philosophy gave Evemerus the foundation for forging a new method of interpretation for the contemporary religious beliefs. He believed that much of Greek mythology could be interpreted as natural events given supernatural characteristics. It has been compared, specifically by David Friedrich Strauss, with many 19th century German rationalists, such as Johann Gottfried Eichhorn and Heinrich Paulus, in their interpretations of the Judeo-Christian Scriptures. About 316 BC we find Evemerus at the court of Cassander in Macedonia, with whom he was connected by friendship and who, according to Eusebius, was sent on an expedition. He is said to have sailed down the Red Sea and round the southern coast of Asia to an island called Panchaea. After this great journey he wrote a book loosely translated as "Sacred History." In this work he tried to show how several Greek gods were originally kings, warriors, inventors, or benefactors to men, and after their deaths were worship as if dieties. Zeus for example, was according to him, a king of Crete, who had been a great conqueror.