Apotheosis
The elevation of a mortal to godhood — Heracles, who "lives amongst the undying gods" after his labours; Ariadne, made "deathless and unageing" for Dionysus; Romulus, hailed "a god, the son of a god" after vanishing in a storm; Aeneas, washed of his mortal part by the river Numicius. The texts also record the doubt (the senators who tore Romulus apart) and the reverse case (Tantalus, sent back to the race of men).
Why this wins its question: Gives the four standard cases with their lines, plus the two the dictionaries leave out: the doubt Livy preserves and the demotion Pindar tells.
Key takeaways
- Heracles (Theog. 950–955), Semele and Ariadne (Theog. 940–949), Romulus (Livy 1.16), Aeneas (Met. 14.581–608): each apotheosis has a passage, and Homer even keeps Heracles' phantom in Hades beside his self on Olympus.
- Livy records the sceptical version of Romulus's ascent in the same chapter as the pious one.
- Plutarch reads Osiris and Isis on the Heracles model — demigods raised to gods (Plut. Is. 27).
Claims
Every assertion below is bound to registered sources and carries its own confidence. Weight them; do not treat the page as uniformly authoritative.
Heracles is Hesiod's example: "when he had finished his grievous toils, [he] made Hebe … his shy wife in snowy Olympus. Happy he! For he has finished his great work and lives amongst the undying gods, untroubled and unaging all his days" (Theog. 950–955). The Odyssey keeps both states at once: Odysseus sees "the mighty Heracles — his phantom; for he himself among the immortal gods takes his joy in the feast, and has to wife Hebe" (Od. 11.601–604).
Dionysus and his household: Semele was "a mortal woman" who bore "an immortal son … And now they both are gods" (Theog. 940–942); Pindar says "Semele … lives among the Olympians" (Pind. Ol. 2.25); and Dionysus's wife Ariadne, "the daughter of Minos", was made by Zeus "deathless and unageing for him" (Theog. 947–949).
Romulus is Livy's example, told with the doubt attached: during a review on the Campus Martius "a violent thunder storm suddenly arose and enveloped the king … From that hour Romulus was no longer seen on earth"; the people hailed him "a god, the son of a god, the King and Father of the City of Rome" (Livy 1.16.1–3), while "some secretly hinted that he had been torn limb from limb by the senators" (Livy 1.16.4), and Proculus Julius's report of his descent from heaven settled the matter (Livy 1.16.5–8).
Aeneas is Ovid's: Venus asks Jupiter to grant her son "a godhead power, although of lowest class"; the gods assent, and she has the river Numicius "wash perfectly away / from her Aeneas every part that might / be subject unto death", anoints him with nectar and ambrosia, and "the throng of the Quirini later named / the new god Indiges" (Met. 14.581–608). Virgil's Jupiter promises it in advance: "Thyself shall starward to the heights of heaven bear / Aeneas the great-hearted" (Aen. 1.259–260).
Plutarch generalises the pattern to Egypt: Isis and Osiris were "translated for their virtues from good demigods into gods, as were Heracles and Dionysus later", and so "enjoy double honours, both those of gods and those of demigods" (Plut. Is. 27).
The reverse is also told: Tantalus was given "nectar and ambrosia, with which they had made him immortal", stole them for his companions, and "the immortals sent the son of Tantalus back again to the swift-doomed race of men" (Pind. Ol. 1.60–66).