Editing Interpretatio graeca (section)

===Application to the Jewish religion===
Roman scholars such as [[Varro]]{{citation needed|date=January 2020}} interpreted the monotheistic god of the Jews into Roman terms as [[Caelus]] or [[Jupiter Optimus Maximus]]. Some Greco-Roman authors seem to have understood the Jewish invocation of [[Yahweh]] [[Sabaoth]] as [[Sabazius]].<ref>[http://www.fh-augsburg.de/~harsch/Chronologia/Lspost01/Valerius/val_fac1.html#03 (Valerius Maximus), epitome of ''Nine Books of Memorable Deeds and Sayings'', i. 3, 2], see ''EXEMPLUM 3''. [Par.]</ref>
In a similar vein, [[Plutarch]] gave an example of a symposium question "Who is the god of the Jews?", by which he meant: "What is his Greek name?" as we can deduce from the first speaker at the symposium, who maintained that the Jews worshiped [[Dionysus]], and that the day of [[Shabbat|Sabbath]] was a festival of Sabazius. [[Lacuna (manuscripts)|Lacunae]] prevent modern scholars from knowing the other speakers' thoughts.<ref>Plutarch. ''Symposiacs'', iv, 6.</ref> [[Tacitus]], on the topic of the [[Sabbath]], claims that "others say that it is an observance in honour of [[Saturn (mythology)|Saturn]], either from the primitive elements of their faith having been transmitted from the [[Mount Ida|Idæi]], who are said to have shared the flight of that God, and to have founded the race",<ref>Tacitus, [https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Histories_(Tacitus)/Book_5#4 ''Histories'' 5.4]</ref> implying Saturn was the god of the Jews.

From the Roman point of view, it was natural to apply the above principle to the [[Jew]]ish God. However, the Jews, unlike other peoples living under Roman rule, rejected any such attempt out of hand, regarding such an identification as the worst of [[sacrilege]]. This complete divergence of views was one of the factors contributing to the frequent friction between the Jews and the Roman Empire; for example, the Emperor [[Hadrian]]'s decision to rebuild [[Jerusalem]] under the name of [[Aelia Capitolina]], a city dedicated to Jupiter, precipitated the bloodbath of the [[Bar Kokhba revolt]].

Emperor [[Julian (emperor)|Julian]], the 4th century pagan emperor, remarked that "these Jews are in part god-fearing, seeing that they revere a god who is truly most powerful and most good and governs this world of sense, and, as I well know, is worshipped by us also under other names".<ref>Julian, [https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Letters_of_Julian/Letter_20 Letter XX to Theodorus], translated by [[Wilmer Cave Wright]] (1913)</ref> However, Julian specifies no "other names" under which the Jewish god was worshiped.

In late-antique mysticism, the sun god [[Helios]] is sometimes equated to the Judeo-Christian God.<ref>Eleni Pachoumi, [http://grbs.library.duke.edu/article/viewFile/15325/6623 ''The Religious and Philosophical Assimilation of Helios in the Greek Papyri'']</ref>