Interpretatio and the Universal Polytheism

Robert Parker, Wykeham Professor of Ancient History at New College, Oxford University

What does it mean to say that, say, Roman Neptune is ‘the same’ as Greek Poseidon?   This practice of identifying gods of different cultures was pervasive in the ancient world.  I ask who made these identifications, on what basis they were made, and what implicit assumptions underly them.  I argue that assumptions may well have varied, but one important possibility was the belief that the gods of all peoples were indeed the same under different names. This meant that adherents to the various ancient polytheisms did not feel hostile to one another on religious grounds.