List of people who have been considered deities

This is a list of notable people who were considered deities by themselves or others.

Imperial cults and cults of personality
Main articles: Imperial cult and Cult of personality
Who Image When Notability
Pharaohs
3150 BCE–30 BCE Egyptian pharaohs were kings of Ancient Egypt, and were considered gods by their culture. 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 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]
Japanese emperors
??? - 1945[3] Claimed, at least by some Shintoists, including government officials, to be divine descendants of the goddess Amaterasu. Hirohito, the Shōwa emperor, repudiated the "false conception" of his divinity in the Humanity Declaration in 1945.[4]
Chinese emperors
221 BCE–1911 CE Deified as "Sons of Heaven" since the Qin Dynasty under Qin Shi Huang.[5]
Roman emperors
42 BCE – 363 CE Following Julius Caesar who in 42 BCE was formally deified as "the Divine Julius", 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)
Natchez rulers
700 CE The Natchez were a theocracy ruled by "The Great Sun." This ruler has sometimes been deemed a God-king.[6]
The Sailendras
700 CE 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.[7]
Majapahit kings
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).
Dalai Lamas
1391–present Considered re-incarnations of Avalokiteśvara in Tibetan Buddhism. Panchen Lamas are incarnations of Amitābha.[8][9][10]
Inca emperors
1438 The Inca Emperors had a status very similar to that of the Pharaohs of Egypt.
Nepalese kings
1768–2008 In Nepal, the kings of the Shah dynasty were considered incarnations of Vishnu.[11]

Posthumous deification
Main article: Apotheosis
Who Image When Notability
Gilgamesh
Sometime between 2800 BCE and 2500 BCE[12] Most historians generally agree that Gilgamesh was a historical king of the Sumerian city-state of Uruk,[13][12] who probably ruled sometime during the early part of the Early Dynastic Period (c. 2900–2350 BCE).[13][12] It is certain that, during the later Early Dynastic Period, Gilgamesh was worshipped as a god at various locations across Sumer.[13] In the twenty-first century BCE, Utu-hengal, the king of Uruk adopted Gilgamesh as his patron deity.[13] The kings of the Third Dynasty of Ur were especially fond of Gilgamesh, calling him their "divine brother" and "friend".[13] During this period, a large number of myths and legends developed surrounding him.[13] Probably during the Middle Babylonian Period (c. 1600 BCE – c. 1155 BCE), a scribe named Sîn-lēqi-unninni composed the Epic of Gilgamesh, an epic poem written in Akkadian narrating Gilgamesh's heroic exploits.[13] The opening of the poem describes Gilgamesh as "one-third human, two-thirds divine".[13]
Imhotep
2600 BCE Ancient Egyptian architect and physician whose status, two thousand years after his death, was raised to that of a god, becoming the god of medicine and healing. He was an Egyptian chancellor to the pharaoh Djoser, probable architect of the Djoser's step pyramid, and high priest of the sun god Ra at Heliopolis. The gradual deification of Imhotep seems to have been completed about 525 BCE. His divinity is clearly attested an inscription, adjancent to his picture in the Ptolemeic temple at Kasr el-Agouz, near Luxor: „Son of Ptah, beneficient god, begotten by the god of the south wall (Ptah), giver of life, who bestows gifts on those he loves, who listen (to those who call upon him), who provides remedies for all diseas“. Imhotep's deification led to the deification of his mother named Kheredu-ankh and his wife Renpetnefert. In Memphis and on the sacred Island of Philae existed temples dedicated to him. The Greeks identified Imhotep with their own divine healer and physician, Asclepios (which also healed people in their dreams).[14]
Queen Dido of Carthage
814 BCE 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).[15] 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
8th century BCE Venerated at Alexandria by Ptolemy IV Philopator.
Romulus and Remus
771–717 BCE Founders of Rome, sons of Mars, Romulus served as first king. Romulus was, according to the book History of Rome (written between 27 and 9 BC by the historian Titus Livius), the son of Rhea Silvia, a Vestal Virgin which became pregnant with the twins Romulus and Remus by the god Mars.[16] After his death, Romulus was defined as the god Quirinus, the divine persona of the Roman people. Romulus ascension to heaven and deification as god Quirinus is mentioned in Ovid’s poem Metamorphoses, Book 14 (written shortly before 8 AD). Ovid depicts god Jupiter promising Mars the right to translate his son Romulus to immortality.[17] 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.[18]
The Buddha
563 BCE (?) Worship as God by some Mahayana sects, and also treated as an avatar of Vishnu by some Vaishnavas.
Pythagoras of Samos
c. 570–495 BCE Pythagoras was the eponymous founder of the religion of Pythagoreanism.[19] A posthumous legend claimed that Pythagoras was the mortal incarnation of the "Hyperborean Apollo"[20][21] and that he proved his divinity to Abaris the Hyperborean by showing him his golden thigh.[20]
Hephaestion
356–324 BCE Deified by Alexander the Great
Alexander the Great
356–323 BCE 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.[22]
Jesus of Nazareth
1st century
Further information: History of early Christianity, Pauline Christianity, Christology, and Dating the Bible § Table IV: New Testament

The Pauline epistles from the early second half of the 1st century CE offer the earliest references to Jesus as the Son of God (See Romans 1 for example). The First Council of Nicaea of 325 CE crystallized this notion in the Nicene creed and declared Jesus God Incarnate. Early Christian denominations with different christologies such as the Ebionites fell in popularity, and he is now considered divine in most Christian views of Jesus (God the Son in Trinitarian Christianity).

See also: § Self-deification
Antinous
111–130 CE Deified by Hadrian. He is the last non-Imperial human formally deified in Western civilization.
Mary, mother of Jesus
300 CE In 300 CE she was worshipped as a Mother Goddess in the Christian sect Collyridianism, which was found throughout Thrace. Collyridianism was made up mostly of women followers and female priests. Followers of Collyridianism were known to make bread and wheat offerings to the Virgin Mary, along with other sacrificial practices. The cult was heavily condemned as heretical and schismatic by other Christians and was preached against by Epiphanius of Salamis, who discussed the group in his recollective writings titled Panarion.
Guan Yu
581–618 CE 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 dharmapala 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 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.[23]
Ali
599–661 CE According to the Alawite faith, Ali ibn Abi Talib is one member of a trinity (Ali-Muhammad-Salman the Persian) corresponding roughly to the Christian Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. He is considered the second emanation of God by Yarsan and the supreme deity in Ali-Illahism.
Tan Goan-kong 657–711 CE Also known as Chen Yuanguang, he was a general and official in the Tang dynasty. He was deified and worshipped by the descendants of immigrants from Zhangzhou to Taiwan, Singapore and Malaysia, all refer to him as the "Sacred Duke, Founder of Zhangzhou" (開漳聖王; Kāi Zhāng shèngwáng; Khai Chiang Sèng-ông).[24]
Sugawara no Michizane
845–903 CE 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
985–1021 CE Sixth Fatimid Caliph in Egypt, ruling from 996 to 1021. The members of the Druze faith believe that the Fatimid Caliph Al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah is the Mahdi. The Muslim scholar and early preacher Nashtakin ad-Darazi claimed that the Caliph was God incarnate. Because of that he was executed by Al-Hakim who did not proclaim he that he was God. The druze today do reject Ad-Darazi's preaching completely.[25][26][27][28][29]
Tokugawa Ieyasu
1616 Deified posthumously with the name Tōshō Daigongen by his successors.
Hu Tianbao 17th Century According to What the Master Would Not Discuss (Chinese: 子不語), written by Yuan Mei (Chinese: 袁枚) during the Qing dynasty, Tu'er Shen was a man named Hu Tianbao (胡天保) who fell in love with a very handsome imperial inspector of Fujian Province. One day he was caught peeping on the inspector through a bathroom wall, at which point he confessed his reluctant affections for the other man. The imperial inspector had Hu Tianbao sentenced to death by beating. One month after Hu Tianbao's death, he appeared to a man from his hometown in a dream, claiming that since his crime was one of love, the underworld officials decided to right the injustice by appointing him the god and safeguarder of homosexual affections.[30]
Gauchito Gil
1840s, allegedly 1847 Venerated as a Folk saint and deity in Argentina.
George Washington
1865 Worshipped as a kami in Hawaiian Shinto shrines.[31] 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.
Kanichi Otsuka 1891 Shinreikyo states of its founder "God became one with a human body, appeared among humanity, and founded Shinreikyo."[32]
L. L. Zamenhof
20th century Considered a god by members of the Oomoto religion.
José Rizal
20th century Deified by some people in the Philippines due to his contributions to the Philippine Revolution.[33][34]
Wallace Fard Muhammad 20th century Posthumously (?) deified by Elijah Muhammad. He is also given other titles by the Nation of Islam.[35]
Mother Teresa
1997 Worshipped as a Hindu goddess by some inhabitants of Kolkata.[36]
Diego Maradona
1998 Iglesia Maradoniana was formed by an Argentinian group of fans of the association football player Diego Armando Maradona. The adherents will baptize themselves by slapping a football, this being a reference to the 1986 "Hand of God" goal.[37]

Involuntary deification
Who Image When Notability
Ezra
458 BC Ezra established Second Temple Judaism[38] and is regarded as a very important figure in Judaism.[39] The Quran claims that a group of Jews, often interpreted as the Yemenite Jews, believed Uzair was the son of God.[Quran 9:30][40]
Antiochus II Theos
286–246 BCE 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").[41]
Paul the Apostle and Barnabas
Autumn 49 CE[42] According to a story recorded in the Book of Acts 14:8–18, the apostle Paul and his companion Barnabas healed a crippled man in the street in the town of Lystra in Asia Minor, during Paul's second missionary journey.[43] The townsfolk immediately mistook them for the Greek gods Hermes and Zeus respectively and attempted to offer sacrifices to them.[43]
Master Qing Shui
1047-1101 Chan Buddhist monk during the Northern Song in Anxi County, Quanzhou. He is said to have saved the town of Anxi during a period of drought, bringing rain as he went from place to place. In reverence, the villagers built tempples dedicated to him and hence became a Deity in Chinese folk religion.[44]
Zheng He
1371–1433 Worshipped by some Chinese and South East Asians.[45]
Kumari
~17th century–present These are little girls who are worshipped by both Hindus and Buddhists as the incarnation of the Hindu Goddess Durga (Nepali Taleju) in Nepal. They are picked when they are prepubescent and are worshipped until they reach puberty. Their cult is in South Asian countries, especially in Nepal.
John Nicholson
Brigadier-General John Nicholson
 19th century Inspired the cult of Nikal Seyn.
Jiddu Krishnamurti
1909 Renounced the status of messiah and Maitreya incarnation given him by the Theosophical Society.
Haile Selassie I
1930s Among most followers of the Rastafari movement, Haile Selassie is seen as the second coming of Jesus Christ, God incarnate, the Black Messiah and "Earth's Rightful Ruler" who will also lead African peoples to freedom. Rastas say that his imperial 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.[46] Before his coronation he was called Ras (meaning Prince) Tafari.
Mary Baker Eddy
1947 Founder of Christian Science, Eddy was first deified with the private publication of The Destiny of The Mother Church by Bliss Knapp. Although the book is distributed in Christian Science reading rooms, it is not considered authorised literature, and Eddy herself denied any comparison to Jesus and allegations of her being the Second Christ.
Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh
1950s~1960s Considered a god in the village of Yaohnanen, a cargo cult in Vanuatu.[47] See Prince Philip Movement.
Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson
1990s While considered the messiah by most of his followers following his death in 1994, one group has deified him.[48]
Raj Patel
2010 In January 2010 some adherents of Share International, following an announcement by Benjamin Creme, concluded that Patel could be the Maitreya.[49] Patel has denied being the Maitreya.[49]

Self-deification
Main article: Self-deification
Further information: Maitreya claimants, Buddha claimants, and Messiah claimants
Who Image When Notability
Naram-Sin
2255–2119 BCE The first Mesopotamian king to claim divinity.[50]
Empedocles of Acragas
c. 490 – c. 430 BCE Empedocles of Acragas was a Pre-Socratic philosopher from the island of Sicily, who, in one of his surviving poems, declares himself to have become a "divine being... no longer mortal",[51] followed by descriptions of him performing activities normally reserved for the gods.[51] The later historian Diogenes Laërtius claimed that Empedocles committed suicide by jumping into Mount Etna in order to persuade people that he was an immortal god,[52] a legend which is also alluded to by the Roman poet Horace.[53]
Pharnavaz I of Iberia
326–234 BCE Iberian king (r. 299–234 BCE)
Antiochus IV Epiphanes
215–164 BCE Seleucid ruler (r. 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.[41]
Antiochus I Theos
c. 86 BCE–38 BCE King of Commagene who instituted a cult for himself and several syncretistic Graeco-Persian deities at Mount Nemrud and elsewhere.[54]
Simon Magus
1st century Considered a god in Simonianism. According to Irenaeus, he "was glorified by many as if he were a god; and he taught that it was himself who appeared among the Jews as the Son, but descended in Samaria as the Father while he came to other nations in the character of the Holy Spirit. He represented himself, in a word, as being the loftiest of all powers, that is, the Being who is the Father over all, and he allowed himself to be called by whatsoever title men were pleased to address him."[55]
Veleda
1st century Germanic prophetess considered a deity during her lifetime.
Ismail I
16th century Self-claimed to be an emanation of God and was considered such by the Kızılbaş-Safaviya order, Qizilbash-Turkman subjects and Alevis.[56][57][58]
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.)[59]
Kondratii Selivanov
1780s Kondraty Selivanov proclaimed himself both as the late Peter III of Russia and Christ himself, and started the Skoptsy.
Ghanshyam Pandey
1781–1830 Guru and God of the Swaminarayan Sect. His followers consider him to be the most supreme of all gods (Sarvopari) and the original god who gives Powers to All including the prime Hindu gods:- Krishna, Shiva, Durga, Ganesh and Surya.

Some of his major disciples are accused of interpolating the original Sanskrit texts and for deliberate mistranslations of ancient Hindu scriptures inorder to prove Ghanshyam Pandey as the supreme god; degrading the original Hindu gods.

Hong Xiuquan
19th century Chinese man who claimed he was 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.
Aleister Crowley
1904 British ceremonial magician who created the religion of Thelema and presented himself as the avatar of Heru-ra-ha. Claimed that Christianity would be replaced by "Crowleyanity".
Dios Buhawi ~1887 Philippine shaman who called himself "God Whirlwind."
Father Divine ~20th century His followers considered him God in the flesh.[60]
Taher Saifuddin
20th century Claimed to be Ilah'ul-Ard (God on Earth) in Bombay High Court.[61][62]
Lou de Palingboer
20th century 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.[63]
Jehovah Wanyonyi 20th century "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.[64][65]
Sathya Sai Baba
20th century Hindu guru that followers believed was a reincarnation of an avatar of Dattatreya. He alleged that he had the ability to heal, raise the dead, appear in more than one location at the same time, materialize objects, such as jewellery, etc.
Yahweh ben Yahweh 20th century He was born as Hulon Mitchell, Jr. and his self-proclaimed name means "God, Son of God." He could have only been deeming himself son of God, not God, but many of his followers clearly consider him God Incarnate.[66][67]
Mitsuo Matayoshi
20th century 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.[68]
Meher Baba
~1930 An Indian spiritual master who said he was the Avatar,[69][70][71] God in human form.[72][73]
Mita
~1940 According to the Mita faith, Mita (Peraza) was the incarnation of the Holy Ghost on earth.[74]
Jim Jones
1955 Founder of Peoples Temple, which started off as a part of a mainstream Protestant denomination before becoming a personality cult as time went on. One of Jones's devotees claimed that Jones said "If you see me as your savior, I'll be your savior. If you see me as your God, I'll be your God";[75] however Jones also described himself as atheist.[76]
Vissarion 1961 Claims to be Jesus Christ returned, which makes him not "God" but the "word of God".
Nirmala Srivastava
1970 Guru and goddess of Sahaja Yoga, has proclaimed herself the incarnation of the Holy Ghost (Adi Shakti), claimed that all other incarnations (e.g., Krishna, Christ, etc.) were aspects of her.[77][78]
Francisco Macías Nguema 1978 In 1978, he changed the motto of Equatorial Guinea to "There is no other God than Macias Nguema."[79]
Apollo Quiboloy
1985 Calls himself as the "Appointed Son of God" in his own Restorationist church called the Kingdom of Jesus Christ.[80]
Joseph Kony 1987 Proclaims himself the spokesperson of God and a spirit medium, and has been considered by some as a cult of personality, and claims he is visited by a multinational host of 13 spirits, including a Chinese phantom.

See also

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, a 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. ISBN 978-1-931412-75-9. 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 BCE), 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."Merriam-Webster (1999). Encyclopedia of World Religions (Hardcover). Merriam Webster, Incorporated. ISBN 978-0-87779-044-0.
  3. Hirohito denied being himself a living god, but the mythical ancestry is still the foundation of the Shinto worship, including the ceremonies and prayers done by the current emperor.
  4. Hirohito's 1945 Declaration in Japanese and English: "The ties between Us and Our people have always stood upon mutual trust and affection. They do not depend upon mere legends and myths. They are not predicated on the false conception that the Emperor is divine, and that the Japanese people are superior to other races and fated to rule the world."
  5. Mote, F.W. (1999). Imperial China: 900–1800. Harvard University Press. ISBN 0-674-01212-7.
  6. 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
  7. "Patrons of Buddhism, the Sailendras during the height of their power in central Java constructed impressive monuments and temple complexes, the best known of which is the Borobudur on the Kedu Plain" (quoted from Hall 1985:109).
  8. Stein 1972, p. 84
  9. Das, Sarat Chandra. Contributions on the Religion and History of Tibet (1970), p. 82. Manjushri Publishing House, New Delhi. First published in the Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, Vol. LI (1882).
  10. Геше Джампа Тинлей. Практика необычной Гуру-Йоги, 2003, с. 76 (in Russian)
  11. Charles Haviland (9 May 2005). "Nepal and the divine monarchy". BBC. Retrieved 3 July 2017.
  12. Dalley, Stephanie (1989), Myths from Mesopotamia: Creation, the Flood, Gilgamesh, and Others, Oxford, England: Oxford University Press, p. 40, ISBN 0-19-283589-0
  13. Black, Jeremy; Green, Anthony (1992), Gods, Demons and Symbols of Ancient Mesopotamia: An Illustrated Dictionary, The British Museum Press, pp. 89–71, ISBN 0714117056
  14. Brandon, S. G. F. (Samuel George Frederick), 1907-1971., page 54 (January 2014). Beliefs, rituals, and symbols of ancient Egypt, Mesopotamia, and the Fertile Crescent. ISBN 978-1-62712-569-7. OCLC 862222059.CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  15. Virgil, Aeneid 1.446f, Silius Italicus, Punica 1.81f
  16. Livy i.4.2. From the Founding of the City.
  17. Bk XIV:805-828 The deification of Romulus. "Metamorphoses (Kline) 14, the Ovid Collection, Univ. of Virginia E-Text Center". ovid.lib.virginia.edu. Retrieved 2020-02-16.
  18. 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)
  19. Zhmud, Leonid (2012). Pythagoras and the Early Pythagoreans. Translated by Windle, Kevin; Ireland, Rosh. Oxford, England: Oxford University Press. pp. 1–3. ISBN 978-0-19-928931-8.
  20. Riedweg, Christoph (2005) [2002]. Pythagoras: His Life, Teachings, and Influence. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press. p. 2. ISBN 978-0-8014-7452-1.
  21. Porphyry, Vit. Pyth. 20; Iamblichus, Vit. Pyth. 31, 140; Aelian, Varia Historia, ii. 26; Diogenes Laërtius, viii. 36.
  22. "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."Cartledge, Paul (2004). "Alexander the Great". History Today. 54: 1.
  23. "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…"Emperor Guan
  24. "Po Chiak Keng: Only Tans could pray here before 1982". straitstimes.com. 2017-02-16. Retrieved 2021-01-03.
  25. Brett, Michael (2001). The Rise of the Fatimids: The World of the Mediterranean and the Middle East in the Tenth Century CE. Leiden, The Netherlands: Koninklijke Brill NV. p. 470.
  26. Frischauer, Willi (1970). The Aga Khans. Bodley Head.
  27. Ismail K. Poonawala (1999). "Review – The Fatimids and Their Traditions of Learning". Journal of the American Oriental Society. 119 (3): 542. doi:10.2307/605981. JSTOR 605981.
  28. Gamal Nkrumah (10 December 2009). "The crazed caliph". Al-Ahram Weekly Online. Archived from the original on 27 March 2013. Retrieved 2013-03-16.
  29. Elkamel, Sara (24 August 2010). "Caliph of Cairo: The rule and mysterious disappearance of Al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah". Egypt Independent. Retrieved 2013-03-16.
  30. Szonyi 1998, pp. 1–25
  31. "Encyclopedia of Shinto : Special Topics : Shrines and Hawaiians of Japanese descent". Eos.kokugakuin.ac.jp. Retrieved 2014-04-20.
  32. "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.
  34. "Rizalist cult (Filipino religion)". Britannica.com. Retrieved 2014-04-20.
  35. "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
  36. "In India, Mother Teresa Draws Devotees of all Faiths". The Wall Street Journal. 3 September 2016.
  37. "Diego Maradona's 48th birthday celebrated by Church of Maradona". The Telegraph. London. 30 October 2008. Retrieved 3 October 2013.
  38. Brueggemann 2002, pp. 75, 144.
  39. The New Encyclopedia of Judaism, Ezra
  40. Encyclopaedia Judaica, Volume 6, Encyclopedia Judaica Jerusalem, p. 1108
  41. Harper’s Bible Dictionary, San Francisco: Harper and Row, 1985
  42. Köstenberger, Andreas J.; Kellum, L. Scott; Quarles, Charles (2009). The Cradle, the Cross, and the Crown: An Introduction to the New Testament. Nashville, Tennessee: B&H Academic. p. 400. ISBN 978-0805443653.
  43. Barclay, William (2003). The Acts of the Apostles. The New Daily Study Bible. Louisville, Kentucky and London, England: Westminster John Knox Press. pp. 126–128. ISBN 978-0-664-22675-6.
  44. "Chin Swee Caves Temple - The Founder". chinswee.org. Retrieved 2021-01-03.
  45. "郑和研究专题". Jllib.cn. Archived from the original on 2013-05-18. Retrieved 2014-04-20.
  46. 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
  47. "Is Prince Philip an island god?". BBC News. June 10, 2007. Retrieved May 8, 2010.
  48. "The Lubavitcher Rebbe as a God". Haaretz. 2007-02-11. Retrieved 2018-10-10.
  49. Scott James (4 February 2010). "In Internet Era, an Unwilling Lord for New Age Followers". New York Times. Retrieved 30 May 2010.
  50. Kleiner, Fred (2005). Gardner's Art Through The Ages. Thomson-Wadsworth. p. 41. ISBN 0-534-64095-8.
  51. Gregory, Andrew (2013). The Presocratics and the Supernatural: Magic, Philosophy and Science in Early Greece. New York City and London: Bloomsbury Academic. p. 178. ISBN 978-1-4725-0416-6.
  52. Diogenes Laërtius, viii. 69
  53. Horace, Ars Poetica, 465–466
  54. International Nemrud Foundation (2015). "The Nomos: The Holy Law of King Antiochos". Retrieved 2015-11-27.
  55. Irenaeus, Against Heresies Book I Chapter XXIII. Justin Martyr states: "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, ..." Justin Martyr, First Apology Chapter XXVI.
  56. The Dervish lodge: architecture, art, and Sufism in Ottoman Turkey, Raymond Lifchez, p. 35
  57. The Shiites of Lebanon under Ottoman rule, 1516–1788, Stefan Winter, p. 13
  58. The Kurds: a concise handbook Mehrdad R. Izady, p. 48
  59. 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 Archived 2012-07-09 at Archive.today(A bit of dispute here as there are sites that indicate he taught any and all Khlysts could mystically become God incarnate through him)
  60. "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."
  61. The Milli Gazette. "Bohra: an Islamic sect reduced to a cult". Milligazette.com. Retrieved 2014-04-20.
  62. "Bohra dissenters challenge oppressive priesthood". Rediff.com India News. 2011-03-05. Retrieved 2014-04-20.
  63. De God die Lou heette (Dutch language) "The God that was called Lou" VPRO TV programme.
  64. International Cultic Studies Association (2001). "Kenya-"God" and 400 Followers Living in Kenya". Cultic Studies Journal. 18 (4).
  65. BBC News (November 12, 2001). "Kenyan 'God' sent Aids as 'punishment'". Retrieved December 29, 2004.
  66. "He identified himself as the 'grand master of the celestial lodge, the architect of the universe'."Crimelibrary Archived 2008-04-17 at the Wayback Machine
  67. 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."
  68. "After the Upper House Election, Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi should hand the seat of the Prime Minister to Jesus Matayoshi, the one true God."::: cgunson.com ::: MATAYOSHI Archived 2005-11-25 at the Wayback Machine
  69. Awakener Magazine, Volume 9, Number 4, 1964, p. 15
  70. Awakener Magazine, Volume 4, Number 2, 1956, p. 27
  71. Kalchuri (1986) p. 2324
  72. Baba (1987) p. 269
  73. Awakener Magazine, Volume 11, Number 1, 1966, p. 9
  74. 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."
  75. Jonestown: The Life and Death of Peoples Temple. American Experience, PBS.org.
  76. Jones, Jim in conversation with John Maher, "Transcript of Recovered FBI tape Q 622." Alternative Considerations of Jonestown and Peoples Temple. Jonestown Project: San Diego State University.
  77. Judith Coney, Sahaja Yoga: Socializing Processes in a South Asian New Religious Movement (1999) p. 27 "She began her mission of salvation in earnest, establishing a reputation as a faith healer ... Then, on December 2nd 1979, in London, she unequivocally declared her divinity to her followers: '[Today] is the day I declare that I am the One who has to save the humanity. I declare, I am the one who is Adi Shakti, who is the Mother of all the mothers, who is the Primordial Mother, the Shakti, the purest desire of God, who has incarnated on this Earth to give meaning to itself...' Since then, she is most often understood by her followers to be the Devi, the Goddess of Indian mythology, returned to save the world."
  78. ::Sahaja Yoga-Tamil:: Adi Sakthi By Thirumoolar
  79. "Macias Nguema: Ruthless and bloody dictator". Afroarticles.com. Archived from the original on 2016-03-13. Retrieved 2014-04-20.
  80. "Evangelist Quiboloy backs Duterte". The Philippine Star. February 8, 2016. Retrieved February 9, 2016.
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