An ancient Roman practice of identifying foreign deities with equivalent Roman gods; under the assumption that polytheistic cultures across Europe and the Mediterranean were fundamentally worshiping the same gods, just by different names.
First coined by Tacitus [Germania 43] who identified the German god to be Mercury [Germania 9] and Romans apply to Greek Hermes [Hyginus Fabulae 143]. Mercury would be used for Odin-equivalents until the 6th century.
This Interpretatio Romana tradition was also preserved in Acts, where the Greeks of Lystra identified Saint Paul to be Ἑρμῆν after he performed a miracle:
“And they called — Paul, Mercurius (Hermes)”
The Romans identified Mercury 🇮🇹 to be: Odin 🇳🇴 Wotan 🇩🇰 Wodan 🇩🇪 Lugus 🇫🇷 Thoth 🇪🇬 and Saint Paul ✝️; and all to be the same figure.
Paul is no god and only performed his miracle by the power of Jesus Christ; it is however an interesting thought that Saint Paul was the only archetype of Odin that actually historically existed.