Prologue : matters of perspective -- Gate of the gods : archaic and global patterns of cosmic kingship -- Royal saviors and shepherds : Hellenistic, Roman, biblical, and Islamic views of kingship -- The Eusebian accommodation : Christian rulership in imperial Rome, Byzantium, and Russia -- The Carolingian accommodation : Christian rulership in the Germanic successor kingdoms of Western Europe -- The sacrality of kingship in medieval and early modern Europe : papal, imperial, national -- The fading nimbus : modern kingship and its fate in a disenchanted world -- Epilogue : survivals and revivals