Definition of Divine kingship

The Divine kingship is a concept that views a ruler as an incarnation,manifestation, mediator, or agent of the sacred world. Divine kingship is a natural outgrowth of societal changes in complex societies.It is a political and religious form of organization that repeatedly developed in cultures all over the world.

The Divine Kingship typically emerges as a result of the developmentof hierarchical structure. Chief who declare their leadership through kindescent become focused on control of land and resources. As a result, they seek to gain political advantage. Their position in a descent hierarchy enables them to call upon ancestors for assistance. Clan rank can typically be associated with associations of spiritual powers. This fusion of the political and social worlds with the religious world is assumed to be ordered and logical. As a result, it is relatively easy to take make a claim of divine kingship. Hierarchical structure would then evolve logically from the chiefdom into a divine kingship as population growth increased and the need for greater political authority and control developed. The issue becomes one of how much control and how far does it reach.

Various types of sacred kingship have prevailedin ancient cultures. There are three basic characteristics of sacred kings:

(1) they are the receptacle of supernatural or divine power;

(2) they descend from divine or semidivine rulers; and

(3) they are agents or mediators of the sacred.

Societies view their rulers or chiefs as inheritorsof the community's magical power. The ruler's power may be both malevolentand beneficial, and it is believed to be essential in all dimensions ofcommunal life, particularly in agriculture where the ruler's influence overthe weather and the land's fertility ensure the harvest necessary for survival.The supernatural powers of the chief may also protect the community fromenemies and calamities and so maintain welfare and order. In this sense,the power of the divine king is based on their ability to divine and

In other societies, particularly those of ancientChina, the Middle East, and South America, the ruler was identified witha particular god or as a god himself. The kings of ancient Egypt and Persiaand the ruler of the Hittites were regarded as incarnations of the sun-god;the Egyptian king was also identified with the sky-god, as was the emperorof China who drew his m"Mandate from Heaven". However, the god-kingis usually considered an individual deity independent of all others he alsocan be regarded as the son of a god, an idea found in the cultures suchas Japan, Peru (Incas), Mesopotamia, and the Greek and Roman world. Thequeen mother may then be referred to as mother of god. Finally, a king orruler may become deified after his death, butthis transformation appears more akin to ancestor worship than to sacredkingship in its fullest sense.

Sacred kingship often are viewed as ruler mediators or executive agentsof a god if they are not gods themselves outright. In this sense, it isthe institution of kingship, more than an individual ruler, that bears themark of the sacred. The deity remains the true lord, while the king seeksto do the
will of this god in the community; the king is the link between god andman, the spiritual and the material.

All types of sacred kingship share a number of basic functions that theking must fulfill to varying degrees depending on the society and culture.The king's role as bearer of magical power and his influence over the weather,fertility, and health are clear. In a sense, the king will be regarded asmore or less the good shepherd who feeds and cares for his flock. Protectingthe community from enemies is another crucial function of many sacred kingswho, as warlords, attempt to use their divine knowledge and power to makestrategic decisions and successfully carry out the proper course of action.This is particularly clear in the Mayan world where supernatural spiritcompanions such as jaguars played an important role as sources of powerand influence.

Divine kings may often be a seer or priest in a religious sense. They willfunction to mediate or divine through oracles, dreams, or prophecies thatare believed to hold the divine commands of the Gods themselves. In manycultures, however, the priestly office and its ritual may be entrusted toa special priestly class, although the sacred king is rarely excluded fromit. Because the king is believed to be in contact with the sacred, his judicialauthority is generally recognized. The ruler may mediate disputes and protectthe individual's rights, establishing laws to ensure a stable balance ofpower in the community. The king's ability to maintain social order hassometimes been extended to the cosmic order, which is thought to be influencedby the sacred ruler's earthly actions; conversely, the king can be heldresponsible for disrupting the cosmos and so causing natural calamitiesand misfortune.