This fusion of the political and social worlds with the religious world is assumed to be ordered and logical. As a result, it is relatively easy to make a claim of Divine Kingship with ability to communicate with the spiritual and ancestral world. Hierarchical structure would then evolve logically from the chiefdom into a Divine Kingship as population growth increased and the need for greater political authority and control developed. The issue becomes one of how much control and how far does it reach. Various types of sacred kingship have prevailed in ancient cultures.
Societies view their rulers or chiefs as inheritors of the community's magical power.
The ruler's power may be both malevolent and beneficial, and it is believed to be essential in all dimensions of communal life, particularly in agriculture where the ruler's influence overthe weather and the land's fertility ensure the harvest necessary for survival. The supernatural powers of the chief may also protect the community from enemies and calamities and so maintain welfare and order. In other societies, particularly those of ancient China, the Middle East, and South America, the ruler was identified with a particular god or as a god himself. The queen mother may then be referred to as mother of god. Finally, a king or ruler may become deified after his death, but this transformation appears more akin to ancestor worship than to sacred kingship in its fullest sense.