Rulers whose kingship belongs to the religious record and not only to the political one: David and Solomon of Israel, Gilgamesh of Uruk and Arthur of the Britons. They sit at different distances from history. David and Solomon are treated as historical by the scriptures that name them, Gilgamesh appears in a Sumerian king list before he appears in an epic, and Arthur survives in legend and in chronicles written long after the events they describe.
Facts
Overview
What Defines This GroupingRulers whose reigns carry religious weight: anointed kings of the biblical narrative, sacred monarchs, and legendary sovereigns of a golden age. Sacred kingship is a genuine comparative topic, but the grounds on which a king counts as sacred, covenant and anointing, descent from a god, or legend rather than record, are not the same. 2 Learn More
The Kings
This group gathers kings, the royal figures of sacred narrative, rulers whose reigns carry religious weight, whether as anointed servants of God, as sacred monarchs, or as legendary sovereigns of a tradition's golden age.
The browser will find the kingly figures the atlas classes here, such as the anointed kings of the biblical narrative and the sacred rulers of other traditions. The entries describe each within their story.
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Sources
1. Divinity Atlas Directory Taxonomy, First Edition Category Tree
2. Encyclopedia of Religion
Mircea Eliade (ed.); Lindsay Jones (ed., 2nd ed.), Macmillan Reference, 2005Entry Kingship, sacredView the Source Divinity Atlas Directory Prose, First Edition Category Descriptions
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