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In many historical societies, the position of kingship carried a sacral meaning and was identical with that of a high priest and judge. Divine kingship is related to the concept of theocracy, although a sacred king need not necessarily rule through his religious authority; rather, the temporal position itself has a religious significance behind it. The monarch may be divine,[1] become divine,[2] or represent divinity to a greater or lesser extent.[3]
In the land of mythical China, a Divine Emperor ruled part of the region. His name was Huangdi, or the Yellow Emperor.
That kings are sacred is an anthropological and historical truism, but they are not born so, and must be made sacred by those over whom they reign.
The character of 'divine royalty' is not as marked in all traditions, and what can be seen is an approach by degrees towards another conception, that of 'royalty by divine grace'. This is what occurs in the Indo-European zone, in India and Iran, for example. [...] the sovereign is not personally 'divine'. In India, it is royalty that is divine, not the king as an individual. He is revered as a god only because his state and his role are divine.
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