THE CULT OF PERSONALITY IN SOME ANCIENT CIVILIZATIONS: MENTALITIES AND COMMUNICATION STRATEGIES
THE CULT OF PERSONALITY IN SOME ANCIENT CIVILIZATIONS: MENTALITIES AND COMMUNICATION STRATEGIES

Summary/Abstract: In the ancient world, the personality of the leader had an extraordinary impact on mentalities. In many ancient civilizations, the cult of the state leader was similar to the cult of the gods.The first expression of the so-called personality cult of the state leader was in the Ancient Orient, where the leader was either sent by the gods or a god himself on earth, the son of the gods or a divine agent of the gods on earth.In the western part of the ancient world, the leader was more of a model, a hero, but also the first of all citizens in democratic regimes. A particular case is Sparta where the leader which had a cult was the state itself.In most Indo-European civilizations, the cult of personality was political and military in nature, rather than mystical and religious, as was the case in the major civilizations of the Ancient Orient, such as Sumer, Babylon, Assyria, Egypt, India and China.The oriental personality cult was taken over in the classical Western world, especially in the case of the Roman super-power where “the first of all citizens” - Princeps is also the godlike Divus, or Pater Patriae.The cult of the leader in Antiquity was taken over in almost all historical eras, being the proof of a neutral paradigm that has undergone little change today. If in ancient times the leader was sent by the gods, a superman, nowadays the leader is a charismatic figure (a word coming from the Greek and meaning ‘with divine charm’) proving that little has been changed over the millennia. In Antiquity and now, power has always made use of communication.

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