Hitler and Mussolini exuded messianic pretensions even before they came to power, and later willingly accepted the divinity their adoring publics granted them.

The magnitude of evil perpetrated by Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini and their brutal totalitarian regimes proved them utterly false messiahs.

Described as the “restorer of religion, savior of the Church, anointed sovereign, living saint,” Napoleon was perhaps one of the most arrogant false messiahs.

The last emperor to be crowned by a pope, Charles V viewed himself as a soldier of God—with Mars and Neptune at his side.

Is The Da Vinci Code based on fact, or are its author’s claims of accuracy the novel’s greatest fiction?

A look at Otto the Great and his role in a reemerging Roman empire, this time in Germany.

A startling archaeological find in Israel last summer is fueling debate about the historicity of the Bible.

Historically, the establishment of an alphabet signals a structured society that has developed complex means of communicating ideas.

The idea that a political regime can confer divinity has remarkable longevity, particularly among historical dictators.

Like many of his predecessors, Roman emperor Constantine the Great used religion to great political advantage.