The World of God Kings

Presented by the 1997 Spring Honors Class of

Buried Cities and Lost Tribes

The class chose to explore the topic of God Kings. (Definition of a Divine King.) Collaboratively, this is a study of cultural change from an anthropological perspective. The exploration begins with a look at the role of a shaman in society. The shaman serves as someone who can help society cope with the mysteries of the world. In a look at the Australian aborigines, we examine the role of ritual to help guide societies who operate at band level. The relationship of the landscape and ancestors is presented along with an introduction to how ritual links society to the world at large. At the tribal level, the Hopi serve as a view of the nature of ritual to help people cope with a harsh world. The Hopi also serve as a vantage from which to observe a people who do not require formal leadership but incorporate structure in order to help make decisions. As leadership emerges, egalitarian societies give way to more structured and hierarchical ones.

Japanese Imperial descend serves as a means to explore this change. The interplay of religion and political power can be examined in a brief look at the prehistoric interpretation presented by the royal family of Japan as an unbroken line of ancestry back to the Gods who created the world. The emergence of the First Emperor of China, the infamous Ch'in Shi Huang Ti and the struggle of the crusades in the Middle East become a focal point for contrasts that contain a similar message. The Moche also represent a divine king with elaborate artistic, technological, and agricultural achievements as they built a civilization along the coasts of Peru. The City-States of Southeast Asia form a basis for looking at the divine places where God-Kings reside. Angkor Wat in Cambodia is unquestionably the largest religious center ever built far surpassing the Vatican in Rome. The history of Southeast Asia is little understood in the west, but it forms a basis for looking at the outgrowth of competition between God-Kings as the kingdoms struggled against each other for centuries. The Vatican, itself, forms another God-King. While one would not traditionally call the Pope a God-King, his role models one.

This brings us to the world of today's God-Kings....facsimiles thereof. Three separate projects enable us to forge a perspective on the more recent label of "god-king". Ethiopia brings us the story of Haile Selassie who proclaimed himself god-king only a few decades ago. Another "modern" god-king whose model leadership has created one of the strongest church movements of today is Joseph Smith.

Two other perspectives emerged as a result of the class project. The first is a look at the connections of the past to the present. It opens a window to glance through and ponder the implications of what we see. The Connections from Greek to Christian worlds may provide more than a glimpse into things we take for granted. It is the past that shapes the present. Is it a coincident that mythical goddesses Innana or Ishtar, Isis, Diana, and Artemis may have a modern-day counterpart in the Virgin Mary? Is there a coincident that Venus plays an important part in the history of western civilization and is associated with the Devil? These are the things one ponders in looking at the past.

Finally, there is a perspective on the Current God Kings. The sober reality of Jonestown as people are led by blind belief in a single savior bring this exploration to an end. It begs the question - have people in the past and will people in the future blindly follow a figure that holds out the hope of a god-king...or a shaman?

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