see Divinization for disambiguation. Apotheosis (from Greek ??????? "to deify"), deification or divinization is the glorification of an individual to a divine level. Antiquity Prior to the Hellenistic period, imperial cults were known in Ancient Egypt (pharaohs) and Mesopotamia (since Naram-Sin). From the New Kingdom, all deceased were deified as Osiris. Hellenistic Greece In the Greek and Hellenistic world, state leaders might be raised tothe gods before (e.g., Alexander the Great) or after (e.g., thePtolemaic dynasty) death. It was also an honour given to a fewrevered artists, such as Homer. Greek hero-cults were primarily civic rather than familial, in that none of the worshipers traced their descent back to the hero. The cults were distinct on the other hand from the Roman cult of dead emperors, because the hero was not thought of as h