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An Imperial cult is a cult in which an Emperor, or a dynasty of emperors, are worshipped as demigods or deities.
Ancient Rome
- ''Main article: Imperial cult (Ancient Rome)
The cult spread over the whole Empire within a few decades, more strongly in the east than in the west. It was gradually abandoned when the emperor Constantine I started supporting Christianity.
Ancient China
In ancient China, the emperor (皇帝) was considered the Son of Heaven (天子). The scion and representative of heaven on earth, he was the ruler of all under heaven (天下), the bearer of the Mandate of Heaven (天命), his commands considered sacred edicts (聖旨). A number of legendary figures preceding the proper imperial age of China also hold the honorific title of emperor, such as the Yellow Emperor (黃帝) and the Jade Emperor (玉帝).
Japan
Before the end of World War II, the Japanese Emperor made similar claims to deity; see:
- Shinto - general article about Japan's religion.
- Arahitogami - the concept of a god who is a human being applied to Emperor Hirohito, up till the end of World War II.
- Ningen-sengen, the declaration with which Emperor Hirohito, on New Year's Day 1946, (formally) declined claims of divinity, keeping with traditional family values as expressed in the Shinto religion.
Egypt
The Story of Isis and Sarapis also is the worshipping of the ruler as Divine. Sarapis represents the deceased Pharoh who mates with Isis, the Queen of Nature. Their child is the current Pharoh and therefore is considered Divine to the egyptians. This cult myth starts in Egypt, but finds its way into Athens around the 6th century BCE, where is becomes a foreign mystery cult that represents immortality and the changing of the seasons.
Haile Selassie and the Rastafari
An imperial cult of a totally different dimension occurred also in the 20th century. Thousands of miles from where the Ethiopian Emperor Haile Selassie lived, a new religion developed in the Caribbean, stating the Ethiopian Emperor to be a manifestation of Jah. Note that there was no explicit connection to the fact he was Emperor, he was considered to be an earthly aspect of the God that was also identified with the Christian God. That the Emperor was a secular ruler too was no essential part of the definition of his god-like status.
He was exiled in Britain during Italian occupation of his country (1935-1941), but basically he was the only Emperor who survived the second world war with his godhead status still rising: the Rastafari belief was still far from its peak, which occurred in the 1970s and 1980s, when it was spread around the world with Reggae music as its best known carrier.
Fiction
In the book Dune by Frank Herbert, after Paul Atreides subverts Emperor Shaddam IV and becomes Emperor of the known universe, and even before that, the native Fremen of the planet Dune worship him as a Prophet, a Messiah, and even a God.
In the game Warhammer 40,000, the Emperor of Humanity, though at times clearly states he is not a god ('I want warriors, not worshippers'), but rather chosen by the Gods to lead humanity, is worshipped as a god by billions of his subjects and thousands of his troops.
Imperial cult appears in a fictional Empire of Tamriel from The Elder Scrolls games, which has much resemblance to the historical Roman Empire. In Tamriel, Imperial Cult is an organization worshipping the Nine Divines and the Emperor Tiber Septim.
External links
"Imperial cult"