Alexander the Great took the throne at twenty years old. By thirty-two, he had conquered the known world—from Greece to Egypt, from Persia to the borders of India.

In Egypt, he was welcomed as the son of the Sun god. At the oracle of Siwa, priests declared him the son of Zeus-Ammon. His image appeared on coins with the horns of a god. Greek cities offered sacrifices in his name.

Long before Alexander was born, the prophet Daniel saw an image: “The shaggy goat is the king of Greece” (Daniel 8:21).

The goat became very great, but at the height of its power the large horn was broken off, and in its place four prominent horns grew up toward the four winds of heaven. Out of one of them came another horn, which started small but grew in power to the south and to the east and toward the Beautiful Land. It grew until it reached the host of the heavens, and it threw some of the starry host down to the earth and trampled on them. It set itself up to be as great as the commander of the army of the Lord – Daniel 8:8-10

History followed that script. After Alexander’s death, his empire fractured into four kingdoms, just as Daniel foresaw. One of those kingdoms (“the little horn”) produced a king named Antiochus IV, who called himself Theos Epiphanes—“God Manifest.” He desecrated the temple in Jerusalem and tried to outlaw the worship of Yahweh.

Rome eventually conquered all four Greek successor kingdoms, absorbing their territories. So then Augustus was called “Son of God.” Temples were built for Caesar worship. Across the empire Caesar was honored with sacrifices, prayers, and oaths. In the cities, citizens were required to burn incense and declare, “Caesar is Lord.”

Then Jesus came.

The apostles carried His message across the same empire that had once worshiped Alexander and now worshiped Caesar. Instead of, “Caesar is Lord” they said, “Jesus is Lord” (Romans 10:9). A new King is here and ruling.

The empire had seen their kings worshiped as gods before—but now, something had changed. When Herod Agrippa accepted divine praise from the crowd—“The voice of a god, not a man!”—he was immediately struck down by an angel of the Lord (Acts 12:21–23). Within three centuries, the emperor cult was outlawed, pagan temples were closed, and no ruler in the Roman world could claim divinity without defying the gospel.

From there, the god-kings were steadily dethroned throughout Europe.

1. Roman Collapse and Apostolic Witness (1st–4th centuries)

• Italy (Rome) — The imperial cult was outlawed under Theodosius I (391 AD).
• Greece — Sacred rule shattered by Roman conquest and the gospel Paul preached in Athens (Acts 17:22–31).
• Spain, Portugal — Iberian kings with divine titles were overtaken by Rome, then reoriented under Christianity.
• Malta, San Marino, Vatican City, Andorra, Liechtenstein, Monaco — These microstates either converted early (like Malta via Paul in Acts 28) or never had divine kingship due to their unique Christian foundations.

2. Celtic and Germanic Conversions (5th–11th centuries)

• France, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Belgium, Netherlands, Luxembourg — From Celtic sacred kings to Frankish and Holy Roman emperors (and Gallic or Frisian priest-kings), all divine claims were displaced by Christian conversion.
• United Kingdom, Ireland — Celtic kings were ritually legitimized by druids until missionaries like Patrick and Augustine brought the reign of Christ to the isles.
• Scandinavia (Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Iceland, Finland) — Norse kings claimed descent from gods like Odin and Thor until Christian kings outlawed the old cults.
• Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary — Tribal priest-kings fell under the influence of Christian missionaries and monarchs, culminating in formal conversions from the 9th to 11th centuries.

3. Slavic and Balkan Conversion Movements (9th–14th centuries)

• Russia, Ukraine, Belarus — Slavic rulers once held divine or sacred titles until the baptism of Kievan Rus (988 AD).
• Bulgaria, Romania, Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Montenegro, North Macedonia — Balkan rulers held sacred roles inherited from Illyrian, Thracian, or Slavic tradition, but these were replaced by Orthodox Christianity.
• Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia — The last pagan monarchies in Europe, these Baltic nations were finally converted by crusaders and missionaries.
• Albania, Moldova, Georgia, Armenia — From ancient priest-kings to Christian rulers, these borderlands abandoned divine kingship as the gospel reached them.