Interpretatio Graeca

Under interpretatio graeca ( Latin for "Greek translation") refers to the habit of ancient Greek writers, unknown to them deities non-Greek cultures with Greek gods equate and to name them accordingly.

The Greek historian Herodotus has countless examples of this procedure ( Historien ; 2.42 ff.):

Non-Greek deity	Greek deity
Amun (Egyptian)	Zeus
Osiris (Egyptian)	Dionysus
Thoth (Egyptian)	Hermes
Melkart (Phoenician)	Heracles
...	...

Herodotus usually only mentions Egyptian deities by their Greek name. In most of the cases where he mentions their Egyptian names, he adds the Greek name. The same phenomenon can be observed in other Greek authors. According to Herodotus, not only did most of the Greek gods, but even their names originally come from Egypt (see histories ; 2, 50). Completely different to Plato . He only uses the original Egyptian names. In the only case where he adds the Greek name, he puts this equation into the mouths of the Egyptians themselves.

In the Interpretatio Graeca, the Greek feeling of superiority over the barbarians increasingly manifests itself : the mythologies of non-Greek peoples are incorporated into the Greek world of ideas; However, what does not appear to be integrable is often presented as bizarre. The Interpretatio Graeca also expresses that, according to the Greeks, the same gods apply to the whole world. Roman authors dealt with non-Roman, especially Greek deities accordingly ( Interpretatio Romana ). The same applies, with restrictions, to the Gallic Celts with the Interpretatio Celtica .