LIST OF PEOPLE WHO HAVE BEEN CONSIDERED DEITIES

(Redirected from List of people considered to be deities)
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The 'list of people considered to be deities' consists of those notable human beings who were considered deities by themselves or others. It also contains a few, sufficiently noteworthy, examples where the historicity of the person is disputed. Such people will be listed in italics.
This list is not intended to make claims about the validity of any person's godhood.
An asterisk (
★ ) indicates a significant number of followers, while a double dagger (‡) marks those referring to a royal line of deification rather than an individual.

Who	Image	When	Notability
''Krishna'' ★		4000 BC	Krishna is believed by Hindus to have been a man born in Mathura, and the 8th avatar of Vishnu. In Gaudiya Vaishnavism he is believed to be the supreme being.
Egyptian pharaohs ‡		3050 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]
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.
Gilgamesh		2650 BC	King of Uruk, 1/3 human, 2/3 god, Epic of Gilgamesh
Naram-Sin		2255-2119 BC	The first Mesopotamian king to claim divinity
''Fu Hsi'' ★		2000 BC	Brought civilization from heaven to China.
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) [3]. 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.
''Romulus and Remus''		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.[4]
Japanese emperors ‡		? - 1945	Claimed, at least by some Shintoists, including government officials, to be divine descendants of the goddess Amaterasu. Hirohito, the Showa emperor, allegedly repudiated this claim in the Ningen-sengen in 1945.
Alexander the Great		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. [5]
Julius Caesar		100-44 BC	In 42 BC, Caesar was formally deified as "the Divine Julius" (Divus Iulius), and Caesar Augustus henceforth became Divi filius ("Son of a God"), see also Imperial cult (ancient Rome)
''Jesus of Nazareth'' ★		~4 BC - ~33 AD	Considered to be God in most Christian views of Jesus. This is based on interpretations of the Canonical Gospels where he may have said he was God Incarnate, who took on human nature and human flesh and is the second person of the Holy Trinity. One commonly cited statement attributed to Jesus on his godhood is John 10:30 — "I and the Father are one." His followers believe that using his own power, he rose after dying by crucifixion, but see Death and Resurrection of Jesus for details.
''Simon Magus''		1st century	"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, ..."[6]
Caligula		12-41	The Roman Emperor Caligula encouraged he be worshipped as a god, although it is not known if it was Jupiter or some other god. During his lifetime he had statues of Jupiter torn down to be replaced by his own likeness, and is known to have declaimed, "Let there be one Lord, one King!" [7]
Guan Yu ★		160	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.[8]
Commodus		161-192	Like a great many other Emperors in history, going back at least to Sargon of Akkad, Commodus demanded he be seen as a god and worshipped as such[9]
Natchez rulers ‡		700	The Natchez were a theocracy ruled by "The Great Sun." This ruler has sometimes been deemed a God-king.[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
Inca Emperors ‡		1438	The Inca Emperors had a status very similar to that of the Pharaohs of Egypt.
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)[11]
Ayya Vaikundar ★		1851	According to Akilattirattu Ammanai, the religious book of Ayyavazhi and the source of Ayyavazhi mythology, Lord Vaikundar arose from the sea as the Avatar of Narayana to transform Kali Yukam to Dharma Yukam and to rule the earth.
L. L. Zamenhof ★		1859 - 1917	Considered a god by members of the Oomoto religion.
Wallace Fard Muhammad ★		~1877 - ~1934	The Nation of Islam considered, and likely still does, him to be a living God. He is also given other titles by the organization.[12]
Emiliano Zapata		1879-1919	Achieved semi-deity status as Votan-Zapata, after the Mayan god Votán.
Father Divine		~1880-1965	Was considered by his followers to be "God in the flesh"[13]
Kanichi Otsuka ★		1891	Shinreikyo states of its founder "God became one with a human body, appeared among humanity, and founded Shinreikyo."[14]
Haile Selassie ★		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 some of his royal titles (eg. 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.[15]
Juanita Peraza (Mita)		1897	According to the Mita faith, Mita (Peraza) was the incarnation of the Holy Ghost on earth.[16]
Lou de Palingboer		1898-1968	A divorced Dutchman named Louwrens Voorthuijzen who proclaimed himself "Lou the farmer of European eel", 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.[17]
Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh		1921-	Considered a god in the village of Yaohnanen, a cargo cult in Vanuatu[18]. See Prince Philip Movement.
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.[19][20]
Sathya Sai Baba ★		1926-	Sathya Sai Baba claimed to be the person who sent Jesus Christ to earth.[21][22]
Jim Jones		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.[23][24]
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.[25]

Contents

See also

References

Bibliography

External links

See also

★ Apotheosis means glorification, usually to a divine level, coming from the Greek word apotheoun, "to deify.", and refers to the deification process of deceased Roman emperors.

★ Arahitogami is a Japanese word, meaning ''a god who is a human being.''

★ Believers in Suitheism believe themselves, and usually all humans to be gods, since they declaim most traditional gods, including the God of Christianity, Judaism and Islam.

★ Godman (Hindu ascetic)

★ List of deities

★ List of demigods

★ List of Buddha claimants

★ List of charismatic leaders based on Max Weber's definition

★ List of messiah claimants

★ List of people who have been considered avatars

★ List of people who have claimed to be Jesus

★ Divinity and Mortality

★ God complex

★ Joan of Arc

★ List of charismatic leaders

★ List of people who have claimed to be Jesus

References

1. ''The rulers of Egypt, first the kings and later the pharaohs, were gods as well as men who ruled by divine right. Each king was 'the son of god', who at the point of death became one with his father, to be god in a cosmic Heaven.'' Christopher Knight, Robert Lomas (August 1, 2001). The Hiram Key: Pharaohs, Freemasons and the Discovery of the Secret Scrolls of Jesus, 100. Google Print. ISBN 1-931412-75-8 (accessed July 13, 2005). Also available in print from Fair Winds.
2. ''The king had a superhuman role, being a manifestation of a god or of various deities on earth. The king's principle original title, the Horus name, proclaimed that he was an aspect of one of the chief gods, Horus, a sky god who was depicted as a falcon. Other identifications were added to this one, notably, "Son of Re [the sun god]" and "Perfect God," both introduced during the 4th dynasty (''c.'' 2575–2465 BC), when the great pyramids were constructed. The epithet "Son of Re" placed the king in a close but dependent relation with the leading figure of the pantheon.'' Encyclopedia of World Religions (Hardcover), Merriam-Webster, , , Merriam Webster, Incorporated, 1999, ISBN 0-87779-044-2
3. Virgil, Aeneid 1.446f, Silius Italicus, Punica 1.81f
4. Carandini. ''La nascita di Roma. Dèi, lari, eroi e uomini all'alba di una civiltà'' (Torino: Einaudi, 1997) and Carandini. ''Remo e Romolo. Dai rioni dei Quiriti alla città dei Romani (775/750 - 700/675 a. C. circa)'' (Torino: Einaudi, 2006)
5. ''Not the least of the many extraordinary facts about Alexander is that both in his lifetime and after his death he was worshipped as a god, by Greeks and Ancient Macedonians as well as, for example, Egyptians (to whom he was Pharaoh). The episode that led to Callisthenes' death in 327 was connected to this fact. Greeks and Ancient Macedonians believed that formal obeisance should be paid only to gods. So the refusal of his Greek and Macedonian courtiers to pay it to Alexander implied that they, at any rate, did not believe he genuinely was a living god, at least not in the same sense as Zeus or Dionysus were. Alexander, regardless, did nothing to discourage the view that he really was divine. His claim to divine birth, not merely divine descent, was part of a total self-promotional package, which included the striking of silver medallions in India depicting him with the attributes of Zeus. Through sheer force of personality and magnitude of achievement he won over large numbers of ordinary Greeks and Macedonians to share this view of himself, and to act on it by devoting shrines to his cult.'' Alexander the Great, , Paul, Cartledge, History Today, 2004
6. Justin Martyr, ''First Apology'' [1] Chapter XXVI
7. ''Philo, Josephus, Suetonius, and Dio all report that Caligula was convinced of his own divinity and encouraged (or required) others to worship him as a god. The sources do not agree on whether he thought he was an incarnation of Jupiter, a brother of Jupiter, or some other sort of god.'' Zotti, Ed; Bibliophage (2003). Was the Roman emperor Caligula as crazy as they say?: Claim to divinity. The Straight Dope. Retrieved July 15, 2005.
8. "People worship Emperor Guan not merely as a law-protecting heavenly deity, but also as god of war, god of wealth and god of righteousness. They pray to Emperor Guan for many reasons…"[2]
9. "He allowed statues of himself to be erected with the accoutrements of Hercules; and sacrifices were performed to him as to a god."''Historia Augusta''[http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Historia_Augusta/Commodus
★ .html
10. The community leader would be called the Great Sun. Natchez social organization was based on the relationship of community members to the Great Sun. In the 17th century, French explorers and colonists met this leader, who lived in a large house on the top of a platform mound at the site that is now preserved by the State of Mississippi as the Grand Village of the Natchez. The Great Sun enjoyed the status of a living god[3]
11. His teaching of Twelve Commitments stated, "I am God predicted by the prophets; I descended on the earth to save the human souls; there is no God but me. There is no other teaching. Do not seek for it."St. Petersburg State University article(A bit of dispute here as there are sites that indicate he taught any and all Khlysts could mystically become God incarnate through him)
12. "The Honorable Elijah Muhammad identified the Master as being the answer to the one that the world had been expecting for the past 2,000 years under the names Messiah, the second coming of Jesus, the Christ, Jehovah, God, and the Son of Man."NOI.org quoting Elijah Muhammad
13. http://www.cesnur.org/testi/bryn/br_miller.htm "Father Divine: A General Overview", Timothy Miller, 1999, Retrieved June 6, 2007, "Followers of Father Divine proclaimed him God in the flesh, and for most Americans nothing could have been more ridiculous than a small African-American deity."
14. "When I sat cross-legged by myself just like the great statue of the Buddha in Nara, I felt that the earth, about the size of a watermelon, was underneath me and I could see the other me walking about on it. I experience the real "me" looking down at the other "me" on this small planet. I was and understood everything on this earth (Shinreikyo History:5). Religious movements home page on the website of the University of Virginia. This entry was written by Jeffrey Hadden.
15. Rastafarians regard Haile Selassie I as God, in part because Marcus Garvey's prophecy -"Look to Africa where a black king shall be crowned, he shall be the Redeemer" - was swiftly followed by the ascension of Haile Selassie as Emperor of Ethiopia. BBC
16. Essay in Latin American Issues Volume 13 states she taught that, "when a shooting star moving in the distance suddenly approached her and landed on her forehead, filling the room with light (Cruz). She had become the living incarnation of the Holy Spirit, who at that moment revealed to her the name of God in this new era: 'MITA'" or "Spirit of Life."
17. De God die Lou heette (Dutch language) "The God that was called Lou" VPRO TV programme.
18. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/from_our_own_correspondent/6734469.stm
19. INTERNATIONAL: Kenya-"God" and 400 Followers Living in Kenya, International Cultic Studies Association, , , Cultic Studies Journal, 2001
20. BBC News (November 12, 2001). "Kenyan 'God' sent Aids as 'punishment'". Retrieved December 29, 2004.
21. (Sathya Sai Speaks, XI, 54:346) "There is one point that I cannot but bring to your special notice today. At the moment when Jesus was merging in the Supreme Principle of Divinity, He communicated some news to his followers, which was interpreted in a variety of ways by commentators and those who relish the piling of writings on writings and meanings upon meanings, until it all swells up into a huge mess." "The statement itself has been manipulated and tangled into a conundrum. The statement of Christ is simple: 'he who sent me among you will come again!' and he pointed to a Lamb. The Lamb is merely a symbol, a sign. It stands for the Voice: Ba-Ba; the announcement was the Advent of Baba. 'His Name will be Truth,' Christ declared. Sathya means Truth. 'He will wear a robe of red, a blood-red robe.' (Here Baba pointed to the robe He was wearing.) 'He will be short, with a crown (of hair). The Lamb is the sign and symbol of Love.'"Christ did not declare that he will come again. He said, 'He who made me will come again.' That Ba-ba is this Baba and Sai, the short, curly-hair-crowned red-robed Baba, is come. He is not only in this Form, but he is in every one of you, as the dweller in the Heart. He is there, short, with a robe of the colour of the blood that fills it."
22. (Sathya Sai Speaks, XII, 38:227 - June 1974) "The power of Sai is limitless; It manifests for ever. All forms of 'power' are resident in the Sai palm."
23. "He identified himself as the 'grand master of the celestial lodge, the architect of the universe'"Crimelibrary
24. Miami Herald(October 15, 2001). "the old message of self-esteem has been crowded out by one that elevates their leader to ''Grand Master of All, the God of the Universe, the Grand Potentate, the Everlasting Father and the persecuted Messiah.''"
25. "After the Upper House Election, Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi should hand the seat of the Prime Minister to Jesus Matayoshi, the one true God."[4]

Bibliography

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

External links

★ Old Dotty Clutteredbucket (2001). ''Walking, Talking, Living Gods''. Retrieved December 29, 2004.

★ Unknown (2002). Incarnations of God. Retrieved June 20, 2005. (Satire)

★ Unknown (January 24, 2006) Living gods face purge The Asian News