In the decay of the belief in the gods, there seems to have been a craving for nearer and more real objects of worship.
We can see the same tendency in a more extreme form in the deification of human beings.

Though some examples of this occur earlier, especially in the case of the heroes or founders of cities, these are not placed on a level with the gods; but the worship of Alexander, and in imitation of him, of his successors, placed him in a distinctly divine rank.

It is difficult to say how far this was due to non-Hellenic influences.

In the case of Alexander, with his marvellous, almost superhuman achievements, and his final solution of the great drama of the contest of East and West, such idealisation is easy to understand; and we find not only that Alexander is himself represented as a god, but that his expression and cast of features come to affect the sculpture of his age, even in the representations of the gods themselves.

On coins, too, his head occurs; an honour that before his time was not given to mere mortals.