Sacral and divine kingship in Seleucid Empire and Western Han

Abstract

This article aims to compare sacral and divine aspects of rulership in ancient China during Western Han dynasty and in the ancient Seleucid empire, with a focus on the divine origin of rulers, rulers as the chief priests, rulers as gods, and divine legitimacy. The cultural evolution involving ideas about the sacral role of rulers and their divinity will be presented, from ancient Macedonia to Seleucid empire and from Shang and Zhou dynasties through the Warring States period and Qin dynasty to the state of Western Han. The article aims to explore the above-mentioned aspects of sacral kingship to find out what forms these aspects took in both respective empires. The article aims particularly at the participation of rulers in local cults, the differences between ruler cults, celestial gods as the supreme authority, and gods connected with conquest and territory in order to contextualize our views of both Seleucid and Western Han empires, and by proxy the views on ancient China and ancient Hellenistic states.