euhemerism
gods as deified mortals
Today this word meansThe reading that the gods of myth were really remarkable historical people, deified.
Around 300 BC, Euhemerus argued exactly this in his Sacred History — Zeus, he claimed, had been an ancient king of Crete.
Christian writers loved to cite the theory as an argument against the pagan gods.
Discussions like the excavation of Troy — "there are real events mixed into the myths" — still belong to this lineage.