Team 1 Question 1

a. According to White on page 71 the kings in Greece and Mesopotamia had a patron deity who gave the king a place above the rest of his subjects.  Although this sets the king apart and above the rest of the people in the kingdom, but the king was not thought as a god, a shift from other earlier cultures where the king was viewed as a god, or as a descendant of a god.  White describes that during the New Kingdom period of Egypt from 1465-1165 BCE the old pharaoh was the god of the dead symbolized as Osiris, and the new pharaoh was the son of Osiris.  Later on Alexander the Great went into Egypt in 332 BCE where he was not only made a king, but also a god.  After his death legends began to circulate that Alexander was born through the agency of Zeus-Ammon.  And the Ptolemies and Seleucids who succeeded Alexander the Great were a big fan of deifying the king as well.  The Seleucids who ruled in Syria-Palestine from 167-164 BCE called their king Epiphanes which meant god manifest.

b. Demetrius who liberated the city of Athens was given the status of a deity. Athens went to great lengths which to honor Demetrius which he found to be somewhat annoying. First they gave them the title king, however this title was refused because both Demetrius and Antigonus believed that the title should only be for people who were descendants of Philip or Alexander.  Athens then became the only place to give them the title of savior gods.  Then they decreed that a portrait of Demetrius and Antigonus would be woven into the robe of the goddess Athena, and finally they consecrated the the spot where Demetrius stepped from the chariot with an altar, and called it the Altar of the Descending Demetrius.  Because the Athenians regarded Demetrius like a god, and because you don’t just put an altar anywhere, the term descending is likely referring to Demetrius descending to earth from above, like god coming down from heaven.

c. When welcoming Demetrius to Athens the Athenians proclaimed him as the one true god, and that he must be the son of Poseidon, and they even prayed to him.  This makes it quite clear that to the Athenians a human could be a god.  The song reiterates that Demetrius was son of Poseidon, and pays reference to the other gods who weren’t helping them while Demetrius was.  They prayed to Demetrius in the song that he has the power to create peace, and then they asked him to punish the Aetolians.

1a. The history of the Mediterranean world is tied to many kings claiming divine status. Often times kingship, creation and nationalism were tied together into an identity celebrated through ceremonies, festivals and anointing that tied the nation to God. (71). White claims that the tradition of divine kingship started after Alexander the Great went to Egypt after conquering Persia. There he was crowned as king and a god. After his death the tradition spread along with tales of his divine birth and death. Julius Caesar was also an early prototype for deification. The story goes that after his death his heir held a ceremony in honor of his apotheosis. During that ceremony a comet shone for seven days and was believed to be the soul of Caesar. Many deification ceremonies followed including Augustus, Hadrian (117-38 CE), Pius (138-60 CE). The gospels speak about Augustus. Peter says the people should honor him while John calls him a satanic beast. According to White this gives us insight into current events as the gospels of Luke and John are being written.
1b. After Demetrius conquered Athens the Athenians honored him by naming him king and giving him the title of Savior-God. They added his portrait to the sacred robe of Athena along with the other gods and savior-gods. At the spot where Demetrius left his chariot and took his first steps in Athens they built an altar called Descending Demetrius. This altar was honored almost as if Demetrius was descending to the Greece from heaven.
1c. According to the excerpt from Athenians Demetrius didn’t really agree with all the pandemonium that surrounded him. He thought that the title of king was reserved for Alexander’s bloodline. He reluctantly took the title. This says a lot about the way people of the time viewed their savior-kings. In this particular example we find evidence showing one of these individuals annoyed by his notoriety, denying his godliness despite popular opinion, and claiming that he is just a man.