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

WhoImageWhenNotability
Pharaohs3150 BCE–30 BCEEgyptian 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.
Japanese emperors660 BCE–1945 CEClaimed, 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.
Chinese emperors221 BCE–1911 CEDeified as "Sons of Heaven" since the Qin Dynasty under Qin Shi Huang.
Roman emperors42 BCE – 363 CEFollowing Julius Caesar who in 42 BCE was formally deified as "the Divine Julius", and Caesar Augustus henceforth became Divi filius, some 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
Natchez rulers700 CEThe Natchez were a theocracy ruled by "The Great Sun." This ruler has sometimes been deemed a God-king.
The Sailendras700 CEThe 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.
Majapahit kings1293–1597Javanese rulers of South East Asia's largest ever kingdom, in Indonesia. After death, they were depicted as Hindu gods.
Dalai Lamas1391–presentConsidered re-incarnations of Avalokiteśvara in Tibetan Buddhism. Panchen Lamas are incarnations of Amitābha.
Inca emperors1438The Inca Emperors had a status very similar to that of the Pharaohs of Egypt.
Nepalese kings1768–2008In Nepal, the kings of the Shah dynasty were considered incarnations of Vishnu.
Adolf Hitler1934–1945Upon becoming Führer, Adolf Hitler was largely glorified as a deity and saviour by Nazi propaganda. Various historians and writers have alluded to the religious aspects of Nazism, and commentators of the era have noted the Third Reich's 'cultic appeal'. Reichsminister for Propaganda Joseph Goebbels stated of Hitler: "Our Führer is the intermediary between his people and the throne of God. Everything the Führer utters is religion in the highest sense." Heinrich Himmler wrote in 1937: "We live in an era of the ultimate conflict with Christianity. It is part of the mission of the SS to give the German people in the next half century the non-Christian ideological foundations on which to lead and shape their lives." The Nazi regime had various plans to diminish and potentially replace religion in Germany with Nazi ideology, such as the Kirchenkampf and Christianity. Various movements within Nazism also existed which sought to combine Nazi ideology with Christianity and elements of Occultism.

Posthumous deification

WhoImageWhenNotability
GilgameshSometime between 2800 BCE and 2500 BCEMost historians generally agree that Gilgamesh was a historical king of the Sumerian city-state of Uruk, who probably ruled sometime during the early part of the Early Dynastic Period. It is certain that, during the later Early Dynastic Period, Gilgamesh was worshipped as a god at various locations across Sumer. In the twenty-first century BCE, Utu-hengal, the king of Uruk adopted Gilgamesh as his patron deity. The kings of the Third Dynasty of Ur were especially fond of Gilgamesh, calling him their "divine brother" and "friend". During this period, a large number of myths and legends developed surrounding him. Probably during the Middle Babylonian Period, a scribe named Sîn-lēqi-unninni composed the Epic of Gilgamesh, an epic poem written in Akkadian narrating Gilgamesh's heroic exploits. The opening of the poem describes Gilgamesh as "one-third human, two-thirds divine".
Imhotep2600 BCEAncient 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, giver of life, who bestows gifts on those he loves, who listen, 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.
Queen Dido of Carthage814 BCEFounder 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. 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.
Homer8th century BCEVenerated at Alexandria by Ptolemy IV Philopator.
Romulus and Remus771–717 BCEFounders of Rome, sons of Mars, Romulus served as first king. Romulus was, according to the book History of Rome, the son of Rhea Silvia, a Vestal Virgin which became pregnant with the twins Romulus and Remus by the god Mars. 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. Ovid depicts god Jupiter promising Mars the right to translate his son Romulus to immortality. 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.
The Buddha563 BCE Believed a god by some Mahayana sects, and worshipped as an avatar of Vishnu by some Vaishnavas.
Pythagoras of SamosPythagoras was the eponymous founder of the religion of Pythagoreanism. A posthumous legend claimed that Pythagoras was the mortal incarnation of the "Hyperborean Apollo" and that he proved his divinity to Abaris the Hyperborean by showing him his golden thigh.
Hephaestion356–324 BCEDeified by Alexander the Great
Alexander the Great356–323 BCESome 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.
Jesus of Nazareth1st century
The Pauline epistles from the early second half of the 1st century CE offer the earliest references to Jesus as the Son of God. 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.
Antinous111–130 CEDeified by Hadrian. He is the last non-Imperial human formally deified in Western civilization.
Mary, mother of Jesus300 CEIn 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 Yu581–618 CEGuan 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 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.
Ali599–661 CEAccording to the Alawite faith, Ali ibn Abi Talib is one member of a trinity ' 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.
Sugawara no Michizane845–903 CEJapanese 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 Allah985–1021 CESixth 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.
Tokugawa Ieyasu1616Deified posthumously with the name Tōshō Daigongen by his successors.
Hu Tianbao17th CenturyAccording to What the Master Would Not Discuss, written by Yuan Mei during the Qing dynasty, Tu'er Shen was a man named Hu Tianbao' 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.
Gauchito Gil1840s, allegedly 1847Venerated as a Folk saint and deity in Argentina.
George Washington1865Worshipped as a kami in Hawaiian Shinto shrines. 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 Otsuka1891Shinreikyo states of its founder "God became one with a human body, appeared among humanity, and founded Shinreikyo."
L. L. Zamenhof20th centuryConsidered a god by members of the Oomoto religion.
José Rizal20th centuryDeified by some people in the Philippines due to his contributions to the Philippine Revolution.
Wallace Fard Muhammad20th centuryPosthumously deified by Elijah Muhammad. He is also given other titles by the Nation of Islam.
Mother Teresa1997Worshipped as a Hindu goddess by some inhabitants of Kolkata.

Involuntary deification

Self-deification

WhoImageWhenNotability
Naram-Sin2255–2119 BCEThe first Mesopotamian king to claim divinity.
Empedocles of Acragas – BCEEmpedocles 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", followed by descriptions of him performing activities normally reserved for the gods. 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, a legend which is also alluded to by the Roman poet Horace.
Pharnavaz I of Iberia326–234 BCEIberian king
Antiochus IV Epiphanes215–164 BCESeleucid ruler ; 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.
Antiochus I Theos–38 BCEKing of Commagene who instituted a cult for himself and several syncretistic Graeco-Persian deities at Mount Nemrud and elsewhere.
Jesus1st centuryThe Gospel of John reports him as hinting at, or claiming to be God in passages such as John 10:30 and John 14:9.
Simon Magus1st centuryConsidered 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."
Veleda1st centuryGermanic prophetess considered a deity during her lifetime.
Ismail I16th centurySelf-claimed to be an emanation of God and was considered such by the Kızılbaş-Safaviya order, Qizilbash-Turkman subjects and Alevis.
Danila Filippovich1700He believed that he was God and started the Khlysts.
Kondratii Selivanov1780sKondraty Selivanov proclaimed himself both as the late Peter III of Russia and Christ himself, and started the Skoptsy.
Ghanshyam Pandey1781–1830Guru and God of the Swaminarayan Sect. His followers consider him to be the most supreme of all gods 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 Xiuquan19th centuryChinese 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 Crowley1904British 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~1887Philippine shaman who called himself "God Whirlwind."
Father Divine~20th centuryHis followers considered him God in the flesh.
Taher Saifuddin20th centuryClaimed to be Ilah'ul-Ard in Bombay High Court.
Lou de Palingboer20th centuryA 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.
Jehovah Wanyonyi20th 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.
Sathya Sai Baba20th centuryHindu 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 Yahweh20th centuryHe 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.
Mitsuo Matayoshi20th centuryIn 1997 he established the World Economic Community Party based on his conviction that he is the God and Christ.
Meher Baba~1930An Indian spiritual master who said he was the Avatar, God in human form.
Mita~1940According to the Mita faith, Mita was the incarnation of the Holy Ghost on earth.
Jim Jones1955Founder 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"; however Jones also described himself as atheist.
Vissarion1961Claims to be Jesus Christ returned, which makes him not "God" but the "word of God".
Nirmala Srivastava1970Guru and goddess of Sahaja Yoga, has proclaimed herself the incarnation of the Holy Ghost, claimed that all other incarnations were aspects of her.
Francisco Macías Nguema1978In 1978, he changed the motto of Equatorial Guinea to "There is no other God than Macias Nguema."
Apollo Quiboloy1985Calls himself as the "Appointed Son of God" in his own Restorationist church called the Kingdom of Jesus Christ.
Joseph Kony1987Proclaims 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.