The terms "hypocrite" and "hypocrisy" are commonly associated today with someone who preaches certain values but acts contrary to what they advocate. However, the history of the Greek terms ὑπόκρισις and ὑποκριτής reveals different origins and meanings. In archaic and classical Greek, these terms had connotations connected to two distinct domains. First, the ὑποκριτής referred to someone who interpreted divine messages, discerning and conveying the will of the gods. For this reason, the term (and its derivatives) was frequently used in the oracular context. Second, from the 5th century BCE onwards, the ὑποκριτής came to denote the actor, who, hiding behind a mask, "interpreted" a character. These meanings persisted into the Hellenistic period, although a new nuance emerged during this time: the term started to describe a person who, like an actor, presented himself differently from how he truly was (that is, a "hypocrite"). An important witness to the evolution of this term and the interplay of its various meanings is the Septuagint.