Since 1492, when Christopher Columbus landed on the New World and was hailed as a messenger from heaven, random gods have haunted our era. From Haile Selassie, who was hailed as the Living God in Jamaica, to Britain's Prince Philip, who accidentally became the key figure of a new religion on a South Pacific island, people who became divine - that is, people - have appeared on every continent. And since these deifications always arise in moments of upheaval - civil wars, imperial conquests, revolutions - they can teach us a lot. Over five centuries, a pantheon of amazing deities has formed in different parts of the planet, the study of which helps to find answers to complex questions about how life was our modern concept of religion was invented and why religion and politics are constantly intertwined in our supposedly secular age. The book's publishing layout is preserved in PDF A4 format.