AHC:Most interesting Apotheosis?

Clarior

So I find the idea of declaring a leader or other celebrity a god after their death very interesting, especially when one considers possible butterflies. Homer was apparently dared a "divus"(Divine human) quite long after his death, and a cult of Homer sounds fascinating.

What pod's can you make up involving the deification of a real person? I put this in pre-1900 because that seemed most likely, but post-1900 answers I think should be acceptable, especially as they could be really obscure. Beutification counts too, but the more challenging the better (Making Ghandi a saint would be more impressive than Martin Luther King Jr for instance)

-Beautification of Christopher Columbus, making the "terra nullis" policy seem more legitimate longer
-Deification of Shaka Zulu as a warrior God who came to Earth to defend his people from "white devils"
-Deification of Ghengis Khan amongst the Mongols, who see him as a deity of the nomads and horse-oriented lif style as well as "The bane of cities"(with urban life being seen as sinful)
-Perhaps an evolution of Christianity that takes the opposite approach to Islam? I.e. rather than saying none of the prophets "were/are" an aspect of God, say that all of them were (Moses, David, Aaron, Abraham, etc.) And therefore create a pantheon of "Divine Prophets" whom are looked at similar as the Hindu Gods (All are one God with different faces) but also viewed as historical ancestors?

Got any ideas? Any fascinating cults you can come up with?
 
Jonathan Edelstein

Jonathan Edelstein

Clarior said:
As well as Joan d'Arc, Lenin, Moses, and Muhammad. Yeah that's definelty the most creative I've heard of so far, an apparently they have at least 4 million followers. Huh.
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I suspect, BTW, that historical figures stand the best chance of being deified in cultures that are tangentially connected to theirs - French people like Hugo and Joan of Arc in Vietnam, Prince Philip in the former Anglo-French condominium of Vanuatu, or Haile Selassie among the Rastafarians. Their own cultures know them too well. So if you want Shaka worshiped, the best bet might be a New World religion similar to Rastafarianism, because, given what happened after his death, the Mfecane peoples aren't likely to worship his memory.
 

Booster Gold

Clarior said:
So I find the idea of declaring a leader or other celebrity a god after their death very interesting, especially when one considers possible butterflies. Homer was apparently dared a "divus"(Divine human) quite long after his death, and a cult of Homer sounds fascinating.

What pod's can you make up involving the deification of a real person? I put this in pre-1900 because that seemed most likely, but post-1900 answers I think should be acceptable, especially as they could be really obscure. Beutification counts too, but the more challenging the better (Making Ghandi a saint would be more impressive than Martin Luther King Jr for instance)

-Beautification of Christopher Columbus, making the "terra nullis" policy seem more legitimate longer
-Deification of Shaka Zulu as a warrior God who came to Earth to defend his people from "white devils"
-Deification of Ghengis Khan amongst the Mongols, who see him as a deity of the nomads and horse-oriented lif style as well as "The bane of cities"(with urban life being seen as sinful)
-Perhaps an evolution of Christianity that takes the opposite approach to Islam? I.e. rather than saying none of the prophets "were/are" an aspect of God, say that all of them were (Moses, David, Aaron, Abraham, etc.) And therefore create a pantheon of "Divine Prophets" whom are looked at similar as the Hindu Gods (All are one God with different faces) but also viewed as historical ancestors?

Got any ideas? Any fascinating cults you can come up with?
Click to expand...

What about a more religious America deifying the founding fathers? Not sure what specific POD, but it wouldn't be too hard, given current strains of thought in American culture. Maybe after a Cuban Missile War left America crippled but not destroyed?

Then again, I'm not sure how strong that trend was in the 60s. You might need a POD in the 90s. Maybe a Russian nationalist comes to power after Yeltsin and triggers an exchange? I think disarmament will, by then, have reached a level to make a nuclear war devastating but survivable.
 

zoomar

Booster Gold said:
What about a more religious America deifying the founding fathers? Not sure what specific POD, but it wouldn't be too hard, given current strains of thought in American culture. Maybe after a Cuban Missile War left America crippled but not destroyed?
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Well, since the constitution clear prohibits this, "America" could never officially deify the Foundng Fathers or anyone else. Nothing would prohibit a church doing this on its own, however.

Of course the US has always had a sort of civic religion that does create what are in fact cults around the Founders, the Flag, the Constitution, the Declaration of Independence, and other symbols of American national identity. Couple this with widespread loss of faith in traditional religions, I could see this evolving into a true religion in all but name. Rather like, to all intents and purposes, the USSR had a religion that deified Marx, Lenin and communist ideology.
 
Alex Richards

Alex Richards

Donor
Had Bede died a few days either side so as to not share a feast day with Augustine of Canterbury you might have had a better chance at the cult that grew up about him getting more success- especially if it gets some powerful Royal Patrons. It could lead to Bede being adopted as the patron of Scholasticism which could have very interesting effects (including the possibility of having England's first University in Durham come to think of it...)
 

Armot

Thales of Miletus, Aristarchus of Samos and lots of other underrated Ancient Greek philosophers can get the mythical status of Chinese philosophers, even Euclid, Hypatia and Archimedes for engineering and masonry. And of course, Alexander the Great.

On the other hand, it's kind of difficult for me to deify Leonardo, because Humanism, but maybe someone can elaborate on him.

In modern times, you have Carl Sagan. And finally Elon Musk in future Mars, if he succedes.
 
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