Submitted by Khysamgathys t3_124n0s0 in todayilearned
Didn't the Ancient Greeks do the same thing with some Olympian athletes?
Hercules as an excellent example Achilles Pretty much any of the half-gods really
I'd hesitate to say any of the half gods just because Zeus got around so much, but certainly more than half. The rest tend to end up as constellations
Zeus getting around so much could also be a retcon. See Hercules.
So if someone is worshipped in Ancient Greece, you could just claim that Zeus was the daddy.
That is a great loophole for the priesthood to use.
"No, he was not a normal name, he was the son of Zeus"
need that pic of the astronaut meme
“wait they’re all sons of zeus ?”
points gun
“always have been”
Popular belief driving an official response is pretty much the system that drives many aspects of religious doctrine
The Chinese case is very informal and relies solely on popular praise for a dead person. Plus you become a fully developed god.
Yes obviously this throw a bit of a loophole in, but the overall premise remains the same. Wherein communities celebrating an individual within that community leads to a revered status akin to god-hood for the individual whether it be before or after their death.
Chinese it has to be after death.
Also the Taoist and Confucian clergy will not acknowledge people who had led horrible lives or caused more harm than good. There is one person who some people alleges is now a God who has not been elevated at all ( after all how can a person who caused the Cultural Revolution be elevated ).
Genghis Khan is also not elevated for the same reason, as is Qin Shih Huang.
This is despite people actually reporting supernatural interventions. Some beings are simply never acknowledged.
Is the approval by a formal council or does a thought leader just refer to the deceased as divine and it becomes generally accepted?
Those guys were born half gods and stayed half god though.
In the stories. It's not unlikely that those stories were based on regular people who did incredible things in their lives, and were remembered as demigods after their deaths like the post says
Theseus and Hercules were real people. They probably didn't go by those names, and definitely didn't fight off Minotaurs and Demons, but there are key historical events that definitely happened that are attributed to the demi-gods.
Whichever Mycenean King unified the five cities of Attica into Athens is Theseus. Whichever Mycenean King of this unified Athens reversed the Minoan hegemony (from paying tribute to Crete to receiving tribute from Crete) is also Theseus. They might even be the same guy.
What do you mean "not unlikely"? What would you base that likelihood on?
Loewen, Nancy: Hercules, p. 15
Nothing, I haven't researched Greek archeology but I know these stories are usually word of mouth things passed down and embellished over generations. It's pretty safe to assume that gods didn't actually exist back then but these stories must have had some origin so I think it's reasonable to assume they're at least loosely based on real people
>It's pretty safe to assume that gods didn't actually exist back then but these stories must have had some origin
Right that makes sense, wonder who the real Batman is, think he lives in New York with Superman?
Fair enough, but even completely fictional characters are based on the author's experiences and previous literature (which there wasn't much of at the time and even what did exist wasn't very accessible due to literacy rates). This can go back and forth forever and unless a Greek history scholar comes in idk if there's gonna be a real answer, I was just proposing one possiblity
>but even completely fictional characters are based
Come the hell on.
Your adamant opposition to their claim is just as evidence based as the claim itself.
You're supporting my position, you just don't understand what you're saying.
Given that basically all fiction is a mix of the experiences of the author and older fiction, both embellished, yeah, pretty much. Science fiction adds on embellished scientific theories.
Sure, there's imagination at play, but that's generally sourced from centuries of embellishments.
The 13th Warrior (movie) is a decent random example of where these sorts of things can come from. The grendel were dudes in bear hides and the firewyrm was just a column of riders with torches snaking in from the distance. As long as they kept winning, the truth would never get out.
Yeah yeah I get it, if you stretch your imagination enough you can't ever be wrong.
But gosh maybe this post about a Confucian/Taoist practice does not really say anything at all about Greek practices.
Perhaps. I don't really see a difference between this and the Greeks, or even the Catholics and their saints. People decide a person is extra awesome and designate them as such.
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>I haven't researched Greek archeology
So shut the fuck up
No u
u rude
It's also likely it is fanfiction that was later added to the canon. Back then even the concept of fiction wasn't fully understood.
but Hercules wasn't a real person?
Modern people do it with fame. It essentially leads to godhood. Look at what rock stars have gotten away with.
Yep. This practice is still very much alive in modern Western culture, it’s just got different names now because monotheism is pretty strict about the definition of a god.
Tom Brady is worshiped and hated like a god
Gaiman’s concept of the new gods in “American gods” was fascinating to me. Where we invest our time/focus/energy/worship we create our own gods. Money, TV, internet, etc.
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It was common in ancient cultures of the Europe/West Asia/North Africa until monotheistic beliefs changed things.
Still common in Cristianity throughout its history, all the people who got annointed as Saints for varies works, basically became demi-gods.
Patron Saint of.... is basically the same as God of...
They also retconned the Old Gods as Saints
And this is often why some protestants call the catholics polytheists as they have not cast off the relics of paganism yet. As the bible absolutely must be taken literally except for the part where Jesus says that this wine is his blood and this bread is his body. That's metaphorical.
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Shout outs to the Greeks for recognizing the (distinctly black sub-saharan featured) Warrior Amemnon's skill and raising him to God hood post-humously. As the child of Eos/Arora, he can even technically be called the "the son of dawn" which is kinda badass all things considered.
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