European titans or giants ( the distant unknown past), gods(immortals with powers) demigods(mortal with powers) and heroes(mortal with exceptional talents) are unlike semitic and iranic gods (omniscient and omnipotent) they are more akin to ancestor spirits.
To declare one’s self a god was to personify the state, and demand loyalty to the people, the state, and the emperor, as one did the gods. Sacrifice was a demonstration of loyalty just as immaterial prayer, belief in a falsehood, ritual, is a cost as a demonstration of loyalty)