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 Bibliography 7 See also 8 References 9 External links

Relevant distinctions Edit

• 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).

Imperial cults Edit

Who	Image	When	Notability
Egyptian pharaohs	70px	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	70px	2255–2119 BC	The first Mesopotamian king to claim divinity.[citation needed]
Chinese Emperors	70px	221 BC – AD 1911	Deified as "Son of Heaven" since the Qin Dynasty under Qin Shi Huang.[citation needed]
Roman Emperors	70px	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	70px	660 BC –	Claimed, at least by some Shintoists, including government officials, to be divine descendants of the goddess Amaterasu. Hirohito, the Showa emperor, repudiated this "false conception" in the Ningen-sengen in 1945.[3]
Natchez rulers	70px	700	The Natchez were a theocracy ruled by "The Great Sun." This ruler has sometimes been deemed a God-king.[4]
The Sailendras	70px	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.[5]
Dalai Lamas	70px	1391-	Considered re-incarnations of Avalokiteśvara in Tibetan Buddhism. Panchen Lamas are incarnations of Amitabha Buddha.[citation needed]
Inca Emperors	70px	1438	The Inca Emperors had a status very similar to that of the Pharaohs of Egypt.[citation needed]
Ismail I of Persia	70px	1502–1524	Considered an emanation of God by the Safaviya order.[citation needed]
Nepalese monarchs	70px	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]

Posthumous deificationEdit

Who	Image	When	Notability
Imhotep	70px	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.
Queen Dido of Carthage	70px	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).[6] 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)	70px	8th century BC	Venerated at Alexandria by Ptolemy IV Philopator
Romulus and Remus (hero cult)	70px	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.[7]
Gautama Buddha		563 BC(?)	Believed to be a god by some Mahayana sects, and worshipped as an avatar of Vishnu by some Vaishnavas.
Hephaistion	70px	356–324 BC	Deified by Alexander the Great
Alexander III of Macedon the Great (hero cult)	70px	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.[8]
Jesus Christ of Nazareth		~4 BC – ~33 AD	In Romans 1 St. Paul the Apostle of Tarsus described Jesus as being the Son of God and the Lord. Bishop Athanasius of Alexandria wrote in defence of the divinity of the Holy Spirit, orthodox Christianity adopted his teachings at the First Council of Nicaea in a Synod assembly of bishops in 325 AD called by the Roman emperor Constantine I the Great. The Nicene Creed was formulated rejecting Arianism (one of two major strains of Christian thought) and established Athanasianism (Trinitarianism, the other strain) as "official doctrine." Jesus was declared to be God Incarnate, and is now considered to be God in most Christian views of Jesus, God the Son in Trinitarian Christianity. See History of early Christianity, Constantine the Great and Christianity and Christology for details.
Simon Magus	70px	1st century	Considered a god in Simonianism. According to Justin Martyr: "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, ..."[9]
Antinous	70px	111–130	Deified by Hadrian. He is the last non-Imperial human to be formally deified in Western Civilization.
Guan Yu	70px	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.[10]
Alī ibn Abī Ṭālib	70px	599–661	According to the Alawite faith, Ali is one member of a trinity corresponding roughly to the Christian Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.[11]
Sugawara no Michizane	70px	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	70px	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
Majapahit Kings	70px	1293-1597	Javanese rulers of South East Asia's largest ever kingdom, in Indonesia. After death, they were depicted as Hindu gods (see for instance Raden Wijaya).
L. L. Zamenhof	70px	1859–1917	Considered a god by members of the Oomoto religion.
Jose Rizal	70px	1861–1896	Deified by some people in the Philippines due to his contributions to the Philippine Revolution.[12][13]
Wallace D. Fard	70px	~1877 – ~1934	Posthumously (?) deified by Elijah Muhammad . He is also given other titles by the Nation of Islam.[14]
Kanichi Otsuka		1891	Shinreikyo states of its founder "God became one with a human body, appeared among humanity, and founded Shinreikyo."[15]
George Washington	70px	1732–1799	Worshiped as a kami in Hawaiian Shinto shrines.[16] In the United States Capitol dome, he is also depicted ascending into Heaven and becoming a god, in the famous painting called The Apotheosis of Washington.

Involuntary deificationEdit

Who	Image	When	Notability
Antiochus II Theos	70px	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").[17]
Hernán Cortés	70px	1471–1541	Identified as Quetzalcoatl by Moctezuma II
Jiddu Krishnamurti	70px	1895–1986	Renounced the status of messiah and Maitreya incarnation given him by the Theosophical Society.
Haile Selassie I of Ethiopia	70px	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.[18] Before his coronation he was called Ras (meaning Prince) Tafari.
Prince Philip of Greece and Denmark, Duke of Edinburgh	70px	1921–	Considered a god in the village of Yaohnanen, a cargo cult in Vanuatu.[19] See Prince Philip Movement.
Kumari	70px	-?	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)

Self-deificationEdit

Who	Image	When	Notability
Antiochus IV Epiphanes	70px	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.[17]
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)[20]
Hong Xiuquan	70px	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.
Father Divine		~1880–1965	Was considered by his followers to be "God in the flesh"[21]
Juanita Peraza (Mita)	70px	1897	According to the Mita faith, Mita (Peraza) was the incarnation of the Holy Ghost on earth.[22]
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.[23]
Jim Jones[citation needed]		1931–1978	Founder of Peoples Temple, which started off as an offshoot of a mainstream protestant sect before becoming a personality cult as time went on.
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.[24][25]
Nirmala Srivastava		1923–2011	Guru and goddess of Sahaja Yoga, has proclaimed herself to be the incarnation of the Holy Ghost (Adi Shakti), claimed that all other incarnations (e.g. Krishna, Christ, etc.) were aspects of her.[26][27]
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.[28][29]
Sathya Sai Baba		1926-2011	Hindu guru believed to be a reincarnation of an avatar of Dattatreya by his followers. He alleged that he had the ability to materialize objects, such as jewellery, etc.
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.[30]
Claude Vorilhon	70px	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"

BibliographyEdit

• Hogue, John Messiahs: The Visions and Prophecies for the Second Coming (1999) Elements Books ISBN 978-1-86204-549-1

See alsoEdit

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

ReferencesEdit

External linksEdit

Look up Deity in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

• Unknown (January 24, 2006) Heritage: Living gods face purge The Asian Newszh:被神化的人列表