Euhemerism - the belief that ancient gods were original human beings - was popular during the early modern period, and most euhemerists were biblical euhemerists, keen to show how pagan myths grew out of biblical characters and episodes.

Samuel Bochart was a master, relying on etymological connections to harmonize Scripture and ancient history. Buchwald and Feingold (Newton and the Origin of Civilization, 156) summarize Bochart’s argument for connection Moses and Bacchus: “They were both born in Egypt, both rescued from water, and in due course both fled to Arabia. The god who served as Bacchus’ devoted companion undoubtedly recalled Moses’ faithful follower Caleb (from kelev, the Hebrew for dog), while Bacchus’ nickname ‘bicornis’ (double-horned) derived from a mistranslation of Exodus 34.29.”

Newton too was a euhemerist and sometimes indulged in similar etymological excursions. He attempted to harmonize Genesis with Assyrian records by identifying Nimrod with Ninus, the founder of Assyria who lend his name to the Assyrian capital of Nineveh. If Nimrod is understood as nin-rodah, which means Ninus dominus, the names agree. Newton concluded, “Certainly the founder of the kingdom of Assyria, whom Moses calls Nimrod, is called Ninus by all the pagans with a single voice” (161).

Yet, Buchwald and Feingold argue that Newton’s methods were more exactly, rigorous, and tightly simplified than those of Bochart and others. Newton’s early work on ancient history attempts to fit the four ages of Hesiod’s Works and Days into post-diluvian history. He posited continuous conflict between the descendants of Noah and Noah’s sons, matching the battles of Hesiod. He also claimed that the names Saturn, Jupiter, and Hercules were given to various generations: Saturn was always the earliest (perhaps Noah, perhaps Ham), Jupiter his son (Shem, or Cush), and Hercules the next generation. In this way, he attempted to trace the history of ancient civilizations, and the corruptions of original religion (146-154).

But this effort eventually led Newton into the difficulty of explaining how the population of the world could grow fast enough between Noah to Babel to account for the events recorded in Genesis. And that difficulty led him to a wide-ranging revision of the chronology of ancient history (163).