National god

In historic times

This perception of divinity was common in the ancient world. Deities were often geographically localized by association to their main cult centers, and in the Ancient Near East were often tutelary deities of their respective city-states. Many of the individual ethnic groups also considered itself the progeny of its national gods.

West Asia

In Mesopotamian civilizations like Babylon and Assyria, the deities Marduk and Assur served as principle guardian protectors and national gods of the Babylonians and Assyrians respectively. For Persia, Ahura Mazda served that role as the principle and unifying empire god.

Ephraim Stern identified the national gods of Caananite groups. For the Phoenicians it was Ba'al, for the Philistines the chief god was Dagon, but later Ba'al as well. Ammonites had Milkom as their patron, Moabites had Chemosh, Edomites were associated with Qos, and Judahites with Yahweh. The Sidonians, also had the goddess Astarte, and Tyrians had Melqart.

Some scholars argue Yahweh's role as god of the Kingdom of Judah and the Kingdom of Israel is a key reason for that figure's adoption as a monotheist deity by the Yahweh-only movement of the 7th-century BC. Yahweh's subsequent exaltation as a supreme figure occurred not because national gods were necessarily heads of their pantheons (this was certainly not the case for the national gods of the peoples surrounding Israel), but as a reaction to the changing political landscape, in which other national gods had previously become exalted in that fashion. Because peoples were perceived to effectively worship the same gods, merely by different names—which Mark S. Smith terms this "translatability", Yahweh's function as a national god had previously automatically equated him with other national deities. Thus, with the rise of the multi-cultural Assyrian Empire in the 10th century BC, the concomitant rise of the Assyrian's nation god Assur to inter-cultural prominence influenced how national gods were generally perceived. Moreover, the political unification of the fractured nation-states under a single supreme head of state encouraged the idea of a multi-national "one-god" worldview as well. By the 7th-century BC however, Assyria was in decline and the smaller nation-states began to reassert their independence. In this context, the development of a "one-god" worldview in 7th century BC Kingdom of Judah can be perceived as a response to the diminishing claims to cultural hegemony of the Assyrian "one-god" ideology of the time. These scholars believe this process is evident in some parts of the Torah which predate the 6th century BC and thus preserve vestiges of the theology centered on a national god during the 10th-century BC monarchic period. They consider the Old Testament to still be conscious of the fact that YHWH, the national god of Israel, originally was one of the gods in the council of El (Deut 32:8-9).

In the region of South Arabia in what is now Yemen, the Sabaeans, the Minaeans and the Himyar each perceived themselves to be the children of respectively Almaqah, Wadd and Shamash. Balu is considered the god of Kingdom of Awsan, while others have said Wadd was too as an overseer.

Central Asia

Jean-Paul Roux named Tengri as the national god of the Gokturk Khanate, or of all Turkic peoples.

South Asia

During the early Vedic period and amongst the Indo-Aryan peoples, Indra was the national god of the Indo-Aryan people and the Bharatas, revered as a benefactor and champion who protected the Arya tribes against Non-Vedic enemy factions. In Sri Lanka the god Kataragama is equated with Skanda, and developed into a national god.

Europe

In the ancient Greek narrative of the Illiad, Apollo serves as national representative and divine protector for the people of Troy. The transition of Greek society to city states had some with national deities, such as the Athenians whose patron was Athena. Martti Haavio for the Finnish people, characterized Ukko as that nation's god.

Americas

In the Mesoamerican civilization of the Mayans, Itzamna served as the national deity. With the Aztecs, Huitzilopochtli a god of war and sacrifice served that purpose for the Mexica. In another reworking of the myth, Huitzilopochtli was substituted for Maquizoatl, and they raised this national god to the same level of importance as Tezcatlipoca and Quetzalcoatl. The Tlaxcallans who opposed the Aztecs, had Camaxtli who is equivalent to Huitzilopochtli.

Africa

For the ancient Egyptians, Amun, Amun-Ra, and Horus during the New Kingdom became the nationally worshipped gods.