List of people who have been considered deities

This is a list of those notable human beings who were considered deities by themselves or others. The list distinguishes people who claimed divinity or were worshipped as deities during their lifetimes, and examples of individuals who were deified posthumously (hero cult). For people considered avatars in Hinduism, see list of people who have been considered avatars.

Contents 1 Relevant distinctions 2 Imperial cults 3 Posthumous deification 4 Involuntary deification 5 Self-deification 6 See also 7 References 8 Bibliography 9 External links

[edit] Relevant distinctions

• Apotheosis means divinization or deification, usually posthumously.
  • Imperial cults are religions in which an Emperor, or a dynasty of emperors (or rulers of another title), are worshiped as demigods or deities.
  • Hero cults involved the deification of selected historical individuals.
  • Personality cults, modern-day versions of Imperial cults most often used by dictatorships.
  • Other contemporary religions with a following larger than one million which deify historical individuals include Tibetan Buddhism (Lamas) and Shinto (Tennos). Although this is controversial as Buddhism technically advocates against any deification.
• Euhemerism is the historical position that all gods were human, reducing theism to ancestor worship.
• Ancestor worship involves the elevation of all deceased ancestors to the status of deities. In Ancient Egyptian religion, by the New Kingdom, all deceased (not just pharaohs) were held to become the god Osiris.
• Culture heroes are gods or demi-gods that may or may not have a historical individual as their nucleus (e.g. Gilgamesh, Fu Xi or Rama).
• Theosis, Advaita, Unio Mystica is the state of being in perfect union with the Godhead (Brahman) in mysticism (see Mahāvākyas, Thou Art God).

[edit] Imperial cults

Who	Image	When	Notability
Egyptian pharaohs		3050 - 30 BC	Egyptian pharaohs were kings of Ancient Egypt, and were considered by their culture to be gods. Their titles equated them with aspects of the likes of the hawk god Horus, the vulture goddess Nekhbet and the cobra-goddess Wadjet. The Egyptians believed that when their Pharaoh had died, he would continue to lead them in the next life, which is why his burial was grand and completed to perfection, to please him in the next life and ensure his immortality to protect his people. See List of pharaohs.[1][2]
Naram-Sin		2255-2119 BC	The first Mesopotamian king to claim divinity.[citation needed]
Chinese Emperors		221 BC - AD 1911	Deified as "Son of Heaven" since the Qin Dynasty under Qin Shi Huang.[citation needed]
Roman Emperors		42 BC - AD 363	Following Julius Caesar who in 42 BC was formally deified as "the Divine Julius" (Divus Iulius), and Caesar Augustus henceforth became Divi filius ("Son of the Divine One"), some (not all) Roman Emperors of the 1st to 4th centuries claimed divinity, including Tiberius 14-37, Caligula 37-41, Claudius 41-54, Hadrian 117-138, Commodus 161-192, Constantine I 306-312, Julian the Apostate 361-363 Further information: Imperial cult (ancient Rome), Augustus (honorific), and Augusta (honorific)
Japanese emperors		? -	Claimed, at least by some Shintoists, including government officials, to be divine descendants of the goddess Amaterasu. Hirohito, the Showa emperor, repudiated this claim in the Ningen-sengen in 1945.[citation needed]
Natchez rulers		700	The Natchez were a theocracy ruled by "The Great Sun." This ruler has sometimes been deemed a God-king.[3]
The Sailendras		700	The Sailendra dynasty of Java were active promoters of Mahayana Buddhism and covered the plains of Central Java with Buddhist monuments, including the world famous Borobudur.[4]
Dalai Lamas		1391-	considered re-incarnations of Avalokiteśvara in Tibetan Buddhism. Panchen Lamas are incarnations of Amitabha Buddha.[citation needed]
Inca Emperors		1438	The Inca Emperors had a status very similar to that of the Pharaohs of Egypt.[citation needed]
Ismail I of Persia			Considered an emanation of God by the Safaviya order.[citation needed]
Nepalese monarchs		1768–2008	Although Nepal was the birthplace of the Buddha, the kings of the Shah dynasty were held to be incarnations of Vishnu.[citation needed]

[edit] Posthumous deification

Who	Image	When	Notability
Imhotep		2600 BC	Ancient Egyptian architect and physician, who two thousand years after his death, was raised to that of a god, becoming the god of medicine and healing.
Dido		814 BC	Founder and first queen of Carthage, after her death, she was deified by her people with the name of Tanit and assimilated to the Great Goddess Astarte (Roman Juno).[5] The cult of Tanit survived Carthage's destruction by the Romans; it was introduced to Rome itself by Emperor Septimius Severus, himself born in North Africa. It was extinguished completely with the Theodosian decrees of the late 4th century.
Homer (hero cult)		8th century BC	Venerated at Alexandria by Ptolemy IV Philopator
Romulus (hero cult)		771-717 BC	Founders of Rome, sons of Mars, Romulus served as first king. After his death, Romulus was defined as the god, Quirinus, the divine persona of the Roman people. He is now regarded as a mythological figure, and his name a back-formation from the name Rome, which may ultimately derive from a word for "river". Some scholars, notably Andrea Carandini believe in the historicity of Romulus, in part because of the 1988 discovery of the Murus Romuli on the north slope of the Palatine Hill in Rome.[6]
Gautama Buddha		563 BC(?)	Believed to be a god by some Mahayana sects, and worshipped as an avatar of Vishnu by some Vaishnavas.
Hephaistion		356-324 BC	Deified by Alexander the Great
Alexander the Great (hero cult)		356-323 BC	Some believe he implied he was a demigod by actively using the title "Son of Ammon–Zeus". The title was bestowed upon him by Egyptian priests of the god Ammon at the Oracle of the god at the Siwah oasis in the Libyan Desert.[7]
Jesus of Nazareth		~4 BC - ~33 AD	Considered to be God in most Christian views of Jesus, God the Son in Trinitarian Christianity. See Christology for details.
Simon Magus		1st century	Considered a god in Simonianism. Apocryphal accounts of self-deification: "There was a Samaritan, Simon, a native of the village called Gitto, who in the reign of Claudius Caesar, and in your royal city of Rome, did mighty acts of magic, by virtue of the art of the devils operating in him. He was considered a god, ..."[8]
Antinous		111-130	Deified by Hadrian. He is the last non-Imperial human to be formally deified in Western Civilization.
Guan Yu		581-618	Guan Yu has been deified as early as the Sui Dynasty and is still popularly worshipped today among the Chinese people variedly as an indigenous Chinese deity, a bodhisattva in Buddhism and a guardian deity in Taoism. He is also held in high esteem in Confucianism. In Hong Kong both police and gangsters consider him to be a divine object of reverence. In certain schools of Taoism and Chinese Buddhism he has been deemed divine or semi-divine status. The reverence for him may date back to the Sui dynasty.[9]
Ali		599-661	According to the Alawite faith, Ali is one member of a trinity corresponding roughly to the Christian Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.[10]
Sugawara no Michizane		845-903	Japanese Imperial courtier banished from the capital and deified upon his death to appease his angry spirit. Worshipped as Tenjin, kami of scholarship.
Al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah		985	Sixth Fatimid Caliph in Egypt, ruling from 996 to 1021. Many of the druze believe he is an incarnation of God and that he will come back as the Mahdi
L. L. Zamenhof		1859–1917	Considered a god by members of the Oomoto religion.
Jose Rizal		1861–1896	Deified by some people in the Philippines due to his contributions to the Philippine Revolution.[11][12]
Wallace D. Fard		~1877 - ~1934	Posthumously (?) deified by Elijah Muhammad . He is also given other titles by the Nation of Islam.[13]
Kanichi Otsuka		1891	Shinreikyo states of its founder "God became one with a human body, appeared among humanity, and founded Shinreikyo."[14]
George Washington		1732-1799	Worshiped as a kami in Hawaiian Shinto shrines.[15]

[edit] Involuntary deification

Who	Image	When	Notability
Antiochus II Theos		286-246 BC	Seleucid ruler. The younger son of Antiochus I and Stratonice, succeeded his father in 261. He liberated Ephesus, Ionia, Cilicia and Pamphylia from Egyptian domination, and in return for their autonomy the cities of Asia Minor gave him the title Theos ("God").[16]
Hernán Cortés		1471–1541	Identified as Quetzalcoatl by Moctezuma II
Jiddu Krishnamurti		1895–1986	Renounced the status of messiah and Maitreya incarnation given him by the Theosophical Society.
Haile Selassie I		1892–1975	Among most followers of the Rastafari movement, Haile Selassie is seen as God incarnate, the Black Messiah and "Earth's Rightful Ruler" who will also lead African peoples to freedom. Rastas say that his royal titles (i.e. King of Kings, Conquering Lion of the Tribe of Judah, and Root of David) were prophesied as belonging to the returned Messiah in Revelation 5:5. Their faith in his divinity first appeared in Jamaica, soon after his 1930 coronation in Addis Ababa..[17] Before his coronation he was called Ras (meaning Prince) Tafari.
Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh		1921-	Considered a god in the village of Yaohnanen, a cargo cult in Vanuatu[18]. See Prince Philip Movement.
Kumari		?-	These are little girls who are worshipped by both Hindus and Buddhists as the incarnation of the Hindu Goddess Durga (in Nepal, Taleju). They are picked when they are prepubescent. and are worshipped until they reach puberty. Their cult is in South Asian countries, such as Nepal. See Kumari (children)

[edit] Self-deification

Who	Image	When	Notability
Veleda		1st century	Germanic prophetess considered a deity during her lifetime.
Danila Filippovich		1700	He believed that he was God and started the Khlysts. (There are various transliterations of his name including Danila Filipov, Danila Filipich, and Daniil Filippovich)[19]
Hong Xiuquan		1814–1864	Chinese man who claimed to be the younger brother of Jesus and thus a son of God. Led the Taiping Rebellion, conquering a large part of China before defeat and suicide.
Antiochus IV Epiphanes		215–164 BC	Seleucid ruler (reigned 175-164); the only Seleucid king to claim divine honors, calling himself Theos Epiphaneus "God Manifest" and Nikephoros "Bringer of Victory." Nearly conquered Ptolemaic Egypt, the primary rival of the Seleucids among the Diadochi states. Famously attempted to impose ancient Greek religion on the Jews by persecution, leading to the Maccabean Revolt; remembered as a major persecutor in Jewish tradition.[16]
Jehovah Wanyonyi		1924-	"I am the one who created Adam and Eve. I made their bodies and their blood", […] "I still use human beings by speaking through them, like I spoke through Jesus Christ until he went to Heaven." There are between 120 and a 1000 followers who consider him God.[20][21]
Father Divine		~1880-1965	Was considered by his followers to be "God in the flesh"[22]
Juanita Peraza (Mita)		1897	According to the Mita faith, Mita (Peraza) was the incarnation of the Holy Ghost on earth.[23]
Lou de Palingboer		1898–1968	A divorced Dutchman named Louwrens Voorthuijzen who proclaimed himself "Lou the Eel Vendor", this being the translation of his proclaimed name "Lou de Palingboer". He was a figure who mixed marketing European eels with proselytism. His followers also considered him a living God on a mission against evil.[24]
Kim Il-Sung & Kim Jong-Il	70px	1912-1994 & 1942-	Kim Il-Sung self-developed the Juche idea and established a cult of personality so pervasive and entrenched that North Koreans frequently ascribe "supernatural" qualities to the late leader (even though Marxism rejects the supernatural and paranormal, seeing it as a form of false consciousness and an inadequate explanation for phenomena). North Korea officially refers to him as the "Great Leader" and he is designated in the constitution as the country’s "Eternal President".[25] Kim Jong-Il succeeded his father in 1994. North Korea officially refers to him as the "Great Leader" or "Dear Leader".
Jim Jones[citation needed]		1931–1978	Founder of Peoples Temple
Yahweh ben Yahweh		1935–2007	He was born as Hulon Mitchell, Jr. and his self-proclaimed name means "God, Son of God." He could have only been deeming himself to be "son of God", not God, but many of his followers clearly deem him to be God Incarnate.[26][27]
Matayoshi Jesus		1944-	In 1997 he established the World Economic Community Party (世界経済共同体党) based on his conviction that he is the God and Christ.[28]
Claude Vorilhon		1946-	Claims to be Maitreya, messenger of the "Elohim" (who are in fact ancient astronauts)
Vissarion		1961-	Claims to be Jesus Christ returned, which makes him not "God" but the "word of God"
Nirmala Srivastava		1923-	Guru and goddess of Sahaja Yoga, has proclaimed herself to be the incarnation of the Holy Ghost (Adi Shakti), claims that all other incarnations (e.g. Krishna, Christ, etc.) are mere aspects of her.[29][30]
Mata Amritanandamayi		1953-	An Indian spiritual leader revered as a saint by her followers

[edit] See also

• Arahitogami
• Divinity and Mortality
• Divine king
• Godman (Hindu ascetic)
• List of Buddha claimants
• List of demigods
• List of messiah claimants
• List of avatar claimants
• List of people who have claimed to be Jesus
• Mahdi claimants
• Maitreya claimants
• Messiah complex (self-concept)
• Suitheism
• Tat Tvam Asi
• Thou Art God

[edit] References

[edit] Bibliography

• Hogue, John Messiahs: The Visions and Prophecies for the Second Coming (1999) Elements Books ISBN 1-86204-549-6

[edit] External links

Look up Deity in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

• Unknown (January 24, 2006) Heritage: Living gods face purge The Asian News