“The Celtic Myth”: Euhemeristic Interpretation of National History and Mythology in the Works by French Scholars of the First Half of the 18th Century

Introduction. The purpose of the article is to determine the role of euhemerism in the study and the construction of national history and mythology in the works of French scholars of the first half of the 18th century. The novelty of the study is determined by the lack of special works on this problem. The relevance of the research topic is due to the ever-increasing interest of modern Russian and foreign researchers in the history of euhemerism as one of the ways of rational interpretation of mythology. However, this area of research still has noticeable gaps and this article is partly intended to fill them.

Methodology and sources. To study this problem, the article uses the method of historical and philosophical analysis, problem and classification approaches. The works by French intellectuals of the first half of the 18th century, who used euhemerism as a tool for constructing national history and mythology, were the main sources of the study. The article presents the main ideas of P.-Y. Pezron, J. Martin, A. Banier and S. Pelloutier

Results and discussion. P.-Y. Pezron, using strict euhemerism, combined the Old Testament narrative, the names of various gods, national and pan-European history to create a speculative construct, which can be called “Celtic myth”. His theory was popular in intellectual circles throughout the 18th century. J. Martin and A. Banier reproduced it in their texts with some modifications. The concept of “natural religion” and original monotheism allowed the authors to link together the Old Testament narrative and national polytheism. They believed that the events described in the Scriptures were the true historical basis for many “pagan fables” and interpreted the emergence of the polytheistic cult euhemerically. S. Pelloutier, without diminishing the comprehensiveness of the “Celtic theory”, rejected the confessionally tinged euhemerism of P.-Y. Pezron. He stopped linking the origin of the Celts with the Old Testament narrative and used the euhemeristic interpretation of mythological plots only episodically.

Conclusion. In the works by French scholars of the first half of the 18th century, euhemerism supported the confessional concept of the national past and served as an explanation for the emergence of “false” polytheistic gods.

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