What do you call a government when the rulers are gods?

Question

I'm familiar with most -ocracies. And I don't mean a theocracy (rule by religious officials). This would probably make more sense in a fantasy setting (say D&D) where deities actually come down and mess around with the mortals. However if one (or more) deities took it upon themselves to rule, what would this be called?

Answer 1

Theocracy actually stems from Greek which means "rule by the gods":

The word theocracy originates from the Greek θεοκρατία, meaning "the rule of God". This in turn derives from the Greek words θεός (theos), meaning "god", and κρατεῖν (kratein), meaning "to rule." Thus the meaning of the word in Greek was "rule by god(s)" or human incarnation(s) of god(s). (Wikipedia)

The Etymonline entry agrees, saying:

1620s, "sacerdotal government under divine inspiration" (as that of Israel before the rise of kings), from Gk. theokratia "the rule of God" (Josephus), from theos "god" (see Thea) + kratos "a rule, regime, strength" (see -cracy). Meaning "priestly or religious body wielding political and civil power" is recorded from 1825.

So the modern usage—power by "priestly or religious body"—is a later usage, but theocracy literally means "rule by gods". If you want another word, however, I would suggest the neologism deiocracy or deocracy, stemming from the word deity.

Answer 2

thearchy: (from dictionary.com/browse/thearchy):

• the rule or government of God or of a god.

Answer 3

Yeah, I agree, Theocracy doesn’t sound right, but I think it’s the best fitting word, seeing as ancient civilizations in which the citizens genuinely believed their rulers to be gods are considered theocracies today. I think Theocracy just means “rule by a god”, regardless of how that rule is done, and whether that god is provably real.

However, if we want to get philosophical with it, I’d say religion is mainly about belief. If the Judeo-Christian God existed in real, undeniable proof, (don’t be mad at me, I’m neutral on this, this is an example) I think their followers wouldn’t be thought of as religious, and more as just of one political mind. There would be nothing for them to believe, and therefore they’d just be following a person/being they agreed with.

In the world of DnD, the gods don’t need anyone to believe in them, because they are canonically all real and interfere with mortal matters regularly. Since all the gods exist, one god’s country or city would less be under theocratic rule, and more under another kind of rule, based on its other ways of governance (patriarchy, matriarchy, monarchy, democracy, tyranny, whatever.)

So I think overall, a DnD-style deity-ruled society would be called a Theocratic (insert fitting previously-mentioned form of governance here).

Answer 4

thriscocracy: from the greek thriskeia (religion) and kratia (power)