Online Encyclopedia

Search over 40,000 articles from the original, classic Encyclopedia Britannica, 11th Edition.

APOTHEOSIS (Gr. aaoOeou)

Online Encyclopedia
Originally appearing in Volume V02, Page 207 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
» Make a correction to this article.
» Add information or comments to this article.
Spread the word: del.icio.us del.icio.us it!

See also:

APOTHEOSIS (Gr. aaoOeou) , to make a See also:god, to deify), literally deification. The See also:term properly implies a clear polytheistic conception of gods in contrast with men, while it recognizes that some men See also:cross the dividing See also:line. It is characteristic of poly-See also:theism to blur that line in several ways. Thus the See also:ancient See also:Greek See also:religion was especially disposed to belief in heroes and demigods. Founders of cities, and even of colonies, received See also:worship; the former are, generally speaking, mythical personages and, in strictness, heroes. But the worship after See also:death of See also:historical persons, such as See also:Lycurgus, or worship of the living as true deities, e.g. See also:Lysander and See also:Philip II. of Macedon, occurred sporadically even before See also:Alexander's conquests brought Greek See also:life into contact with See also:oriental traditions. It was inevitable, too, that ancient monarchies should enlist polytheistic conceptions of divine or See also:half-divine men in support of the dynasties; " Seu deos regesve canit deorum Sanguinem," See also:Horace (Odes, iv. 2, 11. 12, 13) writes of See also:Pindar; though the reference is to myths, yet the phrase is significant. In the See also:East all such traits are exaggerated, a result perhaps rather of the statecraft than of the religions of See also:Egypt and See also:Persia. Whatever See also:part vanity or the flattery of courtiers may have played with others, or with Alexander, it is significant that the dynasties of Alexander's various successors all claim divine honours of some sort (see See also:PTOLEMIES, SELEUCID See also:DYNASTY, &c.).

See also:

Theocritus (Idyll 17) hails See also:Ptolemy Philadelphus as a demigod, and speaks of his See also:father as seated among the gods along with Alexander. Ancestor worship, or reverence for the dead, was a third See also:factor. It may See also:work even in See also:Cicero's determination that his daughter should enjoy " afro wocc "—as he writes to Atticus—or receive the " See also:honour " of consecratia (fragment of his De Consolatione). Lastly, we need not speak of See also:mere sycophancy. Yet it was See also:common; See also:Verres was worshipped before he was impeached ! The See also:Romans had, up to the end of the See also:Republic, accepted only one See also:official apotheosis; the god See also:Quirinus, whatever his See also:original meaning, having been identified with See also:Romulus. But the See also:emperor See also:Augustus carried on the tradition of ancient statecraft by having See also:Julius See also:Caesar recognized as a god (divus Julius), the first of a new class of deities proper (divi). The tradition was steadily followed and was extended to some ladies of the imperial See also:family and even to imperial favourites. Worship of an emperor during his lifetime, except as the worship of his See also:genius, was, See also:save in the cases of Caligula and See also:Domitian, confined to the provinces. Apotheosis after his death, being in the hands of the See also:senate, did not at once cease, even when See also:Christianity was officially adopted. The Latin term is consecratio, which of course has a variety of senses, including See also:simple See also:burial. (Inscription in G.

See also:

Boissier, La Religion romaine; Renier, See also:Inscriptions d' See also:Algiers, 2510.) The Greek term Apotheosis, probably a coinage of the Hellenistic See also:epoch, becomes more nearly technical for the deification of dead emperors. But it is still used simply for the erection of tombs (clearly so in some Greek inscriptions, Corpus Inscripi. Graec. 2831, 2832, quoted in Pauly-Wissowa, s.v. Apotheosis). Possibly there is a trace of ancestor worship even here; but the two usages have diverged. The See also:squib of the philosopher See also:Seneca on the memory of See also:Claudius (d. A.D. 54), Apocolocyntasis (" pumpkinification "), is See also:evidence that, as See also:early as Seneca's lifetime, apotheosis was in use for the recognition of a departed emperor as a god. It also indicates how much contempt might be associated with this pretended worship. The See also:people. sans Suetonius (Jul. Caes. c.

88), fully believed in the divinity of Julius Caesar, hinting at the same See also:

time that this was by no means the See also:case with the See also:majority of the apotheoses subsequently decreed by the senate. Yet we learn from Capitolinus that See also:Marcus Aurelius was still worshipped as a See also:household divinity in the time of See also:Diocletian, and was believed to impart revelations in dreams (Vit. M. See also:Ant. c.18). See also:Antinous, the favourite of See also:Hadrian, was adored in Egypt a See also:century after his death (See also:Origen, Contra Celsum, iii. 36), though, according to Boissier, his worship never had official See also:sanction. The ceremonies attendant on an imperial apotheosis are very fully described by See also:Herodianus (bk. iv. c. 2) on occasion of the See also:obsequies of See also:Severus, which he appears to have witnessed. The most significant was the liberation, at the moment of kindling the funeral pyre, of an See also:eagle which was supposed to See also:bear the emperor's soul to See also:heaven. See also:Sharp-sighted persons had actually beheld the See also:ascension of Augustus (See also:Suet. See also:August. c. zoo), and of Drusilla, See also:sister of Caligula. Representations of apotheoses occur on several See also:works of See also:art; the most important are the apotheosis of See also:Homer on a See also:relief in the See also:Townley collection of the See also:British Museum, that of See also:Titus on the See also:arch of Titus, and that of Augustus on a magnificent See also:cameo in the Louvre.

In See also:

China at the See also:present See also:day many Taoist gods are (or are given out as) men deified for service to the See also:state. This again may be statecraft. In See also:India, the (still unexplained) rise of the See also:doctrine of transmigration hindered belief. Apotheosis can mean nothing to those who hold that a See also:man may be reborn as a god, but still needs redemption, and that men on See also:earth may win redemption, if they are brave enough. Curiously, See also:Buddhism itself is ruled by the See also:ghost or shadowy See also:remainder of belief in transmigration—Karma. Apotheosis may also be used in wider senses. (a) Some (e.g. See also:Herbert See also:Spencer) hold that most gods are deified men, and most myths historical traditions which have been grotesquely distorted. This theory is known as Euhemerism (see See also:EUHEMERUS). It is needless to say that the attitude of those holding the Euhemerist theory is at the farthest See also:pole from belief in apotheosis. According to the latter, some men may become gods. According to the former, all gods are but men; or, some men have been erroneously supposed to4ecome gods.

The Euhemerist theory mainly appeals to ancestor worship — a fact of undoubted importance in the See also:

history of religion, especially in China and in ancient See also:Rome. In India, too, a dead See also:person treated with funeral honours becomes a See also:guardian spirit—if neglected, a tormenting demon. But whether the See also:great gods of polytheism *ere really transfigured ancestors is very doubtful. (b) Again, there is a tendency to offer something like worship to the founders of religions. Thus more than human honour is paid to Zoroaster and See also:Buddha and even to the founders of systems not strictly religious, e.g. to See also:Confucius and Auguste See also:Comte. It is noticeable that this See also:kind of worship is not accorded in rigidly monotheistic systems, e.g. to See also:Moses and See also:Mahomet. Nor is it accurate to speak of apotheosis in cases where the founder is in his lifetime regarded as the incarnation of a god (cf. All among Shiite Mahommedans; the Bab in Babism; the Druse Hakim). Most Christians on this ground repudiate the application of the term to the worship of Jesus See also:Christ. Curiously, Apotheosis is used by the Latin See also:Christian poet, See also:Prudentius (c. 400), as the See also:title of a poem defending orthodox views on the person of Christ and other points of doctrine—the affectation of a decadent See also:age. (c) The worship paid to See also:Saints, in those Christian churches which admit it, is formally distinguished as dulia (t ovXeta) from true worship or latria Xarpeia).

Even the Virgin See also:

Mary, though she is styled See also:Mother of God and See also:Queen of Heaven, receives only dulia or at most hyperdulia. (R. G.; R.

End of Article: APOTHEOSIS (Gr. aaoOeou)

Additional information and Comments

There are no comments yet for this article.
» Add information or comments to this article.
Please link directly to this article:
Highlight the code below, right click, and select "copy." Then paste it into your website, email, or other HTML.
Site content, images, and layout Copyright © 2006 - Net Industries, worldwide.
Do not copy, download, transfer, or otherwise replicate the site content in whole or in part.

Links to articles and home page are always encouraged.

[back]
APOTHECARY (from the Lat. apothecarius, a keeper of... 		[next]
APPALACHIAN MOUNTAINS

Site © 2006 - Net Industries