divine king
Sacred crowned sovereign
A divine king is a ruler believed to possess godlike qualities or to govern by divine authority.
In ancient civilizations—Egypt, Mesopotamia, Japan—kings were sometimes considered gods incarnate or direct intermediaries between heaven and earth.
The concept justified absolute power: to challenge the king was to challenge the gods themselves.
The pharaoh ruled as a divine king, son of Ra.
- theocracyRule by religious authority
- PharaohEgyptian royal title
- living godWorshipped mortal claiming divinity
- anointedBlessed with sacred oil
- holy anointingSacred oil ceremony
deity · crown · Akhenaten · sacred · scepter · godhead · monarchy · absolutism · Mandate of Heaven · ritual · throne · Charlemagne · temple · royal regalia · celestial · coronation · royal bloodline · Alexander the Great
- Egyptian mythologyRa, Osiris, Isis, Horus, Anubis
- Egyptologypyramids, pyramid, pharaohs, pharaoh, hieroglyphs
- Alexander the GreatAlexander the Great, Bucephalus, Darius, Alexandria, Gordian knot
- sacred rulerstheocrat, pharaoh, caliph, Dalai Lama, ayatollah
- Epithetsthe Great, the Wise, the Good, the Brave, the Lionheart
- EmperorsAugustus, Nero, Caligula, Claudius, Trajan
divine kingelected leader
Official chosen by vote
elected official · prime minister · constitutional monarch · president · representative
divine, king, divinity, divinely, divineness, divination, divinatory, diviner, diva