Involuntary Deification
| Who | Image | When | Notability |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ezra HaSofer | 458 BC | Ezra established Second Temple Judaism and is regarded as a very important figure in Judaism. It is claimed in the Quran that Yemenite Jews believed Uzair to be the son of God. Many Jews believed that he never even died. | |
| Antiochus II Theos | 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"). | |
| Zheng He | 1371–1433 | Worshiped by some Chinese and South East Asians. | |
| Hernán Cortés | 1471–1541 | Identified as Quetzalcoatl by Moctezuma II. | |
| General John Nicholson | 1822–1857 | Inspired the cult of Nikal Seyn. | |
| Jiddu Krishnamurti | 1895–1986 | Renounced the status of messiah and Maitreya incarnation given him by the Theosophical Society. | |
| Haile Selassie I of Ethiopia | 1892–1975 | 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 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. Before his coronation he was called Ras (meaning Prince) Tafari. | |
| Prince Philip of Greece and Denmark, Duke of Edinburgh | 1921– | Considered a god in the village of Yaohnanen, a cargo cult in Vanuatu. See Prince Philip Movement. | |
| Kumari | -? | 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. |
Read more about this topic: List Of People Who Have Been Considered Deities
Famous quotes containing the word involuntary:
“It is clear that all verbal structures with meaning are verbal imitations of that elusive psychological and physiological process known as thought, a process stumbling through emotional entanglements, sudden irrational convictions, involuntary gleams of insight, rationalized prejudices, and blocks of panic and inertia, finally to reach a completely incommunicable intuition.”
—Northrop Frye (b. 1912)