The apotheosis is always grandiose!

The word "apotheosis" is of ancient Greek origin, but consists of two words. The literal translation is "turning into a god." The original meaning of the word apotheosis is in the series of concepts of praise, glorification and deification. Most likely, the apotheosis is an eastern "invention". The evidence is the history of Egyptian or Chinese dynasties.

Initially, apparently, it was about rituals in which real historical figures were praised, their dignity and positive qualities acquired an exceptional character. Thus, mortal heroes were gradually endowed with superhuman (divine) signs, it was also meant that their existence continued in the afterlife.

This was the process of deification of Alexander of Macedon, whose cult during his lifetime forced his friends to address him as a descendant of Zeus. In the Roman Empire, after the fall of the republic, the emperors remembered the Greek covenants and created a number of their own cults. A whole string of emperors hastened to declare themselves descendants of the gods and actively planted worship to themselves. What is curious, the most sensible of the rulers still did not hurry to declare themselves gods, and were content only with honors (Julius Caesar or Octavian Augustus). And, on the contrary, the most unpleasant persons, not hesitating, declared their divine origin during their lifetime - Caligula and Commodus. Still, citizens understood that their emperors were not quite real gods, like Jupiter, for example. Their deification was more of an ideological quality and served as an additional connecting thread among vast and diverse territories, a certain identification mark marking the territory of the Roman Empire.

One should not think that the apotheosis is an anachronism. And today, on quite legitimate grounds in many countries, deified and counted as holy real martyrs for the faith. In Catholicism and Orthodoxy this tradition is known as canonization. In modern life, the apotheosis of the leaders is well known to the inhabitants of the former Union, North Korea, China of the 50-60s of the 20th century.


The apotheosis got its reflection in culture and art. Applied to painting, the apotheosis is the image of the hero in the hypostasis of God. A vivid example of such a genre can serve as a picture of Vereshchagin "The Apotheosis of War" or Engra "Apotheosis of Napoleon." It is interesting that the first work characterizes the apotheosis in a negative way (as a destructive result of the war). Equally curious is the fresco in the Capitol Rotunda - "The Apotheosis of Washington" by Constantinio Brumidi in 1865. It was made at the very end of the Civil War and cost by today's standards more than half a million dollars. This is a very ambiguous work. On the one hand, George Washington is endowed with attributes of divine power (a purple cloak, a starry gate in the background, a shining rainbow, goddesses and nymphs).

This symbolizes his victorious ascension to the divine heights for his services to the nation. And, at the same time, some researchers note the Masonic trace in the work - the pentacle formed by the heads of the main figures.

Not dismissing the truth of both concepts, we note that it is advisable to treat any work exclusively as an object of art, capable of leading the viewer into rapture with the perfection of composition, plot and forms.

Now you know that apotheosis is a word that can have very different meanings.