In 42 BC, the Roman Senate voted to deify Julius Caesar after his assassination. This decree came from his adopted son Octavian, who later became Augustus. The process transformed a dead ruler into a divine figure known as divus. Before this moment, only Quirinus held that status among Romans. He was identified with Romulus, the city's founder.
The ceremony included an eagle released into the sky. It represented the soul of the deceased ascending to heaven. Coins and reliefs depicted eagles or chariots carrying figures upward. A relief on the Column of Antoninus Pius shows the emperor and his wife Faustina being lifted by a winged figure named Eternity. Below them sit Roma and personifications of the provinces.
Julian Caesar's deification set a precedent for future emperors. Successors often honored popular predecessors to legitimize their own rule. In 193 AD, Septimius Severus ordered a lavish funeral for Pertinax. Historian Dio Cassius witnessed the event and described its scale. The ritual involved public ceremonies and official decrees confirming imperial divinity.
Eastern Religious Traditions
Guan Yu stands as one of many mortals elevated within the Taoist pantheon. Iron-crutch Li and Fan Kuai share similar status in Chinese folk religion. Song dynasty general Yue Fei received deification during the Ming dynasty. Some practitioners rank him among three highest-ranking heavenly generals.
In Buddhism, Gautama Buddha began as a normal human before achieving Buddhahood. Many significant deities are viewed as avatars or rebirths of earlier figures. Rama, a major Hindu deity, was born as a human and seen as an avatar of Vishnu. Swaminarayan lived from 1781 to 1830 and is regarded by some Hindus as an avatar of Krishna.
Bharat Mata emerged as a national personification created by Bengali intellectuals in the late 19th century. She now receives worship across India. Jayavarman VII ruled the Khmer Empire between 1181 and 1218. His features appear on statues of Buddha and Avalokitesvara erected throughout Cambodia. The Druze faith considers Imam Al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah God incarnate. Hamza ibn Ali ibn Ahmad proclaimed that God assumed human form in al-Hakim's body.