Editing Demigod (section)

==Classical==
In the [[Ancient Greece|ancient Greek]] and [[Ancient Rome|Roman]] world, the concept of a demigod did not have a consistent definition and associated terminology rarely appeared.<ref name="Talbert">{{cite journal|last1= Talbert|first1= Charles H.|title= The Concept of Immortals in Mediterranean Antiquity|journal= Journal of Biblical Literature|date= January 1, 1975|volume= 94|issue= 3|pages= 419–436|doi= 10.2307/3265162|jstor= 3265162|issn= 0021-9231}}</ref>{{qn|date=December 2019}}

The earliest recorded use of the term occurs in texts attributed to the [[archaic Greek]] poets [[Homer]] and [[Hesiod]]. Both describe dead heroes as {{lang|grc-Latn|hemitheoi}}, or "half gods". In these cases, the word did not literally mean that these figures had one parent who was divine and one who was mortal.<ref name="Hansen">{{cite book|last1= William|first1= Hansen|title= Classical Mythology: A Guide to the Mythical World of the Greeks and Romans|date= 2005|publisher= Oxford University Press|location= New York|isbn= 0195300351|page= 199}}</ref> Instead, those who demonstrated "strength, power, good family, and good {{typo|behavi|or}}" were termed [[hero]]es, and after death they could be called ''hemitheoi'',<ref>{{Cite book|last=Nagy|first=Gregory|title=Greek Mythology and Poetics|publisher=Cornell University Press|year=2018|isbn=978-150-173-202-7}}</ref> a process that has been referred to as "heroization".<ref name="Price">{{cite journal|last1= Price|first1= Theodora Hadzisteliou|title= Hero-Cult and Homer|journal= Historia: Zeitschrift für Alte Geschichte|date= 1 January 1973|volume= 22|issue= 2|pages= 129–144|jstor= 4435325|issn= 0018-2311}}</ref> [[Pindar]] also used the term frequently as a synonym for "hero".<ref name="Lid&S">{{cite book|last1= Liddell|first1= Henry George|last2= Scott|first2= Robert|title= [[A Greek–English Lexicon]]|date= 1894|publisher= Oxford University Press|location= Oxford|edition= 5th|page= 596}}</ref>

According to the Roman author [[Cassius Dio]], the [[Roman Senate]] declared [[Julius Caesar]] a demigod after his 46 BCE victory at [[Battle of Thapsus|Thapsus]].<ref name="Dio">{{cite book|last1=Dio|first1=Cassius|title=Roman History|at=43.21.2}}</ref> However, Dio was writing in the third century CE — centuries after the death of Caesar — and modern critics have cast doubt on whether the Senate really did this.<ref name="Fishwick">{{cite journal|last1= Fishwick|first1= Duncan|title= The Name of the Demigod|journal= Historia: Zeitschrift für Alte Geschichte|date= January 1, 1975|volume=24|issue= 4|pages= 624–628|jstor= 4435475|issn= 0018-2311}}</ref>

The first Roman to employ the term "demigod" may have been the poet [[Ovid]] (17 or 18 CE), who used the Latin {{lang|La|semideus}} several times in reference to minor deities.<ref name="Lewis">{{cite book|last1=Lewis|first1=Charlton T.|title=[[A Latin Dictionary|An Elementary Latin Dictionary]]|last2=Short|first2=Charles|date=1980|publisher=Clarendon Press|isbn=9780198642015|edition=Revised|location=Oxford|page=767}}</ref> The poet [[Lucan]] (39-65) also uses the term to speak of [[Pompey]] attaining divinity upon his death in 48 BCE.<ref name="Lucan">{{cite book|title= The Civil War|author= Lucan|volume= Book 9}}</ref> In later antiquity, the Roman writer [[Martianus Capella]] ({{floruit}} 410-420) proposed a hierarchy of gods as follows:<ref name="Capella">
{{cite book|last1= Capella|first1= Martianus|author-link=Martianus Capella|title=The Marriage of Philology and Mercury|title-link=The Marriage of Philology and Mercury|at= 2.156}}
</ref>

* the gods proper, or [[Olympian gods|major gods]]
* the ''[[Genius (mythology)|genii]]'' or [[Daemon (classical mythology)|daemones]]
* the demigods or ''semones'' (who dwell in the upper atmosphere)
* the ''[[Shade (mythology)|manes]]'' and ghosts of heroes (who dwell in the lower atmosphere)
* the earth-dwelling gods like [[faun]]s and [[satyrs]]