King of the gods

King of the gods
As polytheistic religions evolve, there is a tendency for one deity to achieve preeminence as king of the gods. This tendency can parallel the growth of hierarchical systems of political power in which a monarch eventually comes to assume ultimate authority for human affairs. Other gods come to serve in a Divine Council or pantheon; such subsidiary courtier-deities are usually linked by family ties from the union of a single husband or wife, or else from an androgynous divinity who is responsible for the creation.
Historically, subsequent social events, such as invasions or shifts in power structures, can cause the previous king of the gods to be displaced by a new divinity, who assumes the displaced god's attributes and functions. Frequently the king of the gods has at least one wife who is the queen of the gods.
According to feminist theories of the replacement of original matriarchies by patriarchies, male sky gods tend to supplant female earth goddesses and achieve omnipotence.
There is also a tendency for kings of the gods to assume more and more importance, syncretistically assuming the attributes and functions of lesser divinities, who come to be seen as aspects of the single supreme deity.
King of the gods in different cultures
Examples of kings of the gods in different cultures include:
In the Mesopotamian Anunnaki, Enlil displaces Anu and is in turn replaced by Marduk.
In the Ancient Egyptian religion, Amun is the official god of the Pharaohs and the people of Egypt.
In the Canaanite pantheon, Baal (Hadad) displaces El.
In the Celtic pantheon, Lugus displaces Nuada.
In the Hittite pantheon, Teshub, Tarunz and Arinna displace Kumarbi.
In Armenian mythology, it is first Ar, later Aramazd.
In Hindu Mythology, the king of the gods of Svarga is Indra, the god of thunder and lightning and the ruler of Svarga.
In Greek mythology, Cronus displaces Uranus, and Zeus in turn displaces Cronus.
In Norse mythology, Odin assumes the role as the Allfather or King of the Gods, but Norse mythology has multiple tribes of Gods such as the Æsir and Vanir, and Odin starts off as only the leader of the former.
In Ancient Iranian mythology, it is Ahura Mazda of the Zoroastrians.
In the Dravidian folk religion which is a sect of Hinduism, the king of the gods and the supreme being of the pantheon is both Shiva and Vishnu according to tradition.
List of rulers of pantheons
The leaders of the various pantheons include:
Berber pantheon: old: Amun; new: Poseidon.
Algonquin pantheon: Gitche Manitou.
Arabian pantheon: Allah.
Ashanti pantheon: Nyame.
Australian Aboriginal pantheon: Baiame.
Aztec pantheon: Huitzilopochtli, Ometeotl, Quetzalcoatl and Tezcatlipoca.
Basque pantheon: Sugaar and Mari.
Batak pantheon: (primordial) Debata Ompung Mulajadi na Bolon; (celestial) Batara Guru.
Canaanite pantheon: El, later Baal and Hadad.
Carthaginian pantheon: Baal Hammon.
Celtic pantheon: Dagda (Gaels); later Lugus (In Brythonic, Gallaecian, Gaulish mythologies).
Chinese pantheon: Yuanshi Tianzun, Jade Emperor, Shangdi, Tian.
Circassian pantheon: Theshxwe.
Dahomey pantheon: Nana Buluku.
Dravidian pantheon (Hindu pantheon): Shiva and Vishnu.
Egyptian pantheon: Old Kingdom: Ra, New Kingdom: Amun.
Finnic pantheon: Ukko and Ilmarinen.
Germanic pantheon: Odin.
Georgian pantheon: Armazi, Ghmerti.
Gondi pantheon: Kupar Lingo.
Greek pantheon: Zeus.
Guarani pantheon: Tupa.
Haida pantheon: Raven.
Hawaiian pantheon: Kāne.
Hindu pantheon: Brahma, Vishnu, Shiva.
Hittite pantheon: Arinna and Teshub.
Hopi pantheon: Angwusnasomtaka.
Inca pantheon: Viracocha.
Inuit pantheon: Anguta but only among the Kalaallit (Greenlandic Inuit).
Japanese pantheon: Amenominakanushi, Izanagi-no-Mikoto, then Amaterasu-Ōmikami.
Korean pantheon: Haneullim
Lakota pantheon: Wakan Tanka and Inyan.
Lithuanian pantheon: Perkūnas.
Lusitanian pantheon: Endovelicus.
Mari pantheon: Kugu Jumo.
Māori pantheon: Tāne.
Mayan pantheon: Hunab Ku, Itzamna, Huracan, Kukulkan, Camazotz and Cabrakan.
Mbuti pantheon: Khonvoum.
Meitei pantheon: Sidaba Mapu and Pakhangba.
Mesopotamian pantheon: Sumerian: Anu, later Enlil; Babylonian: Marduk.
Miwok pantheon: Coyote.
Muisca pantheon: Chiminigagua.
Nabatean pantheon: Dushara.
Ossetian pantheon: Xucau.
Iranian pantheon: Ahura Mazda.
Philippine pantheon: Bathala (Tagalog), Kan-Laon (Visayan).
Roman pantheon: Jupiter.
Sami pantheon: Beaivi.
Slavic pantheon: Rod.
Turco-Mongol pantheon: Tengri, Tngri, Qormusta Tengri.
Vietnamese pantheon: Ông Trời; Lạc Long Quân.
Vodou pantheon: Bondyé.
Yahwism: El, later Yahweh.
Yoruba pantheon: Olorun.
Zulu pantheon: Unkulunkulu, Umvelinqangi.
See also
Henotheism
Kingship and kingdom of God
References
Works cited
Gods by association
Mythological archetypes
Mythological kings
Polytheism