“... Two different explanations are adduced for its origins. The first, based to some extent on a widespread religious phenomenon of the Greco-Roman world, refers to a father, who, stricken with grief for the untimely death of his child, sets up an image of it to be accorded divine honors. The second refers to the statues of rulers whose beauty has been enhanced by skillful artists intent on flattery, and subsequently become objects of divine worship by the masses. [...] Although they are somewhat reminiscent of Euhemerus' theory of the origin of the gods [expounded in his Hiera Anagraphe or Sacred Record, ca. 300 BCE], which held that Uranus, Cronus, and Zeus had been great kings in their day who were later worshiped as gods by their grateful subjects, they do not derive directly from it, but probably from a later "Euhemeristic" source (see NOTE on v. 15 below), for the author of Wisd is more narrowly interested in explaining the origins of idolatry, whereas Euhemerus was concerned with the larger question regarding the origins of the gods of Greek mythology. [...] A more direct use of Euhemerus' theory by Jewish writers, on the other hand, may be found in the so-called Letter of Aristeas and in the Sibylline Oracles. ...”