Myth & Allegory of the Gods
Saving the old myths by reading them as code — the moment philosophers decided that scandalous tales of the gods secretly meant something else.
As philosophers grew uneasy with Homer and Hesiod's tales of gods who lie, fight, and commit adultery, two strategies emerged. Critics like Xenophanes (6th century BCE) and Plato (4th century BCE) attacked the myths as unworthy of the divine, and even sought to censor them. Defenders — beginning with figures such as Theagenes of Rhegium and developed extensively by the Stoics — read the same stories allegorically: Zeus as aether, the gods' battles as the play of natural forces or moral truths, so the texts could be salvaged as veiled wisdom. This allegorical method went on to shape how later interpreters approached sacred and classical texts across antiquity. The concept matters as the birthplace of allegorical interpretation and of the long quarrel over how to read inherited sacred stories.
How it traveled
- HistoriesThurii (Magna Graecia) · -425explains
- RepublicAthens · -375explains
- CratylusAthens · -375explains
- GeographyAmaseia · 24explains
- Allegoriae (= Quaestiones Homericae)— · 75explains
- De Iside et OsirideChaeronea · 120explains
- Quaestiones RomanaeChaeronea · 120explains
- Quaestiones ConvivalesChaeronea · 120explains
- Description of Greece— · 180explains
- De SacrificiisSamosata · 180explains
- AlexanderSamosata · 180applies
- De astrologiaSamosata · 180explains
- Pyrrhoniae HypotyposesAlexandria · 210explains
- DeipnosophistaeNaucratis · 230explains
- Guide for the PerplexedCairo · 1190
- Ohr HaChammah on ZoharTzfat · 1620
- Historical LibrarySyracuse (Sicily)explains
- Praeparatio Evangelica—explains
- Scholia in Iliadem—explains
- Exegesis in Hesiodi theogoniam—explains
- Contra Celsum—explains
- Stromata—explains
- Legum Allegoriarum Libri I-III—explains
- De Incredibilibus—redefines
- Quaestionum Homericanum ad Iliadem pertinentium reliquiaeRomeexplains
- In XII Prophetas—explains
- Homiliae [Sp.]—explains
- Philocalia—explains
- De Somniis (lib. i-ii)—explains
- Generalis elementaria introductio (= Eclogae propheticae)—explains
- Commentarium In Evangelium Matthaei (Lib. 12-17)—explains
- Demonstratio Evangelica—explains
- Commentarii In Evangelium Joannis—explains
- Refutatio Omnium Haeresium (= Philosophumena)—explains
- Historia Ecclesiastica—explains
- De Specialibus Legibus (lib. i‑iv)—explains
- Fragmenta Logica et PhysicaAthensexplains
- Scholia in Euripidem (scholia vetera)—explains
- To the Cynic HeracleiosConstantinople (Istanbul)explains
- Symposium Sive Convivium Decem Virginum—explains
Key passages(20)
Guide for the Perplexed · Moses ben Maimon (Rambam) · 1190 CE
6 ההשאלות האלה רבות מאוד מאוד בספרי הנבואה. יש מהן שהמון העם חשים שהן מושאלות, ויש מהן שהם חושבים שאינן מושאלות. א) שהרי אין מי שיפקפק בכך ש"יִפְתַּח ה' לְךָ אֶת אוֹצָרוֹ [הַטּוֹב אֶת הַשָּׁמַיִם לָתֵ
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Guide for the Perplexed · Moses ben Maimon (Rambam) · 1190 CE
11 לפיכך אם תמצאני מבאר באחד מפרקי חיבור זה את משמעותו של אחד מן המשלים ומעיר לך מהו הכלל הנמשל, אל תדרוש את כל חלקי העניינים שנאמרו במשל הזה כדי לרצות למצוא להם מקבילה בנמשל. זאת משום שהדבר יביא אותך
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Exegesis in Hesiodi theogoniam · Anonymi Exegesis in Hesiodi Theogoniam
Exegesis in Hesiodi theogoniam · Anonymi Exegesis in Hesiodi Theogoniam
Exegesis in Hesiodi theogoniam · Anonymi Exegesis in Hesiodi Theogoniam
Catena In Epistulam Ad Galatas (Typus Parisinus) (E Cod. Coislin. 204) · Catenae (Novum Testamentum)
Fragmenta Logica et Physica · Chrysippus
Fragmenta Logica et Physica · Chrysippus
Homiliae [Sp.] · Clemens Romanus (Clement of Rome)
Homiliae [Sp.] · Clemens Romanus (Clement of Rome)
Homiliae [Sp.] · Clemens Romanus (Clement of Rome)
Praeparatio Evangelica · Eusebius of Caesarea
Allegoriae (= Quaestiones Homericae) · Heraclitus the Allegorist (Homericus)
Allegoriae (= Quaestiones Homericae) · Heraclitus the Allegorist (Homericus)
Allegoriae (= Quaestiones Homericae) · Heraclitus the Allegorist (Homericus)
Allegoriae (= Quaestiones Homericae) · Heraclitus the Allegorist (Homericus)
Allegoriae (= Quaestiones Homericae) · Heraclitus the Allegorist (Homericus)
Allegoriae (= Quaestiones Homericae) · Heraclitus the Allegorist (Homericus)
Allegoriae (= Quaestiones Homericae) · Heraclitus the Allegorist (Homericus)