This article examines the interrelationship and
interactions between the notions of Son of Heaven
and Son of God with respect to sacral kingship in
Inner and East Asia by first uncovering a previously
unnoticed synthesis of the two in ancient Inner
Asia. The author argues that the Chinese belief of
“heaven” and related political and religious
concepts may share a common origin with parallel
notions in Altaic cultures, possibly intertwined
with Indo-European elements. Nevertheless, by
studying theophoric names, which existed in all
major Old World civilizations
except early China, he
demonstrates the distinctness of Chinese
civilization, as well as the extensive pre-Islamic
Iranic influences in East Asia.