This is a list of notable people who have been said to be a messiah, either by themselves or by their followers. The list is divided into categories, which are sorted according to date of birth (where known).
InJudaism, "messiah" originally meant "a divinely appointed king" or "anointed one", such as Aaron the brother of Moses,[citation needed] David, Cyrus the Great[1]orAlexander the Great.[2] Later, especially after the failure of the Hasmonean Kingdom (37 BC) and the Jewish–Roman wars (AD 66–135), the figure of the Jewish messiah was one who would deliver the Jews from oppression and usher in an Olam Haba ("world to come") or Messianic Age. However the term "false messiah" was largely absent from rabbinic literature. The first mention is in the Sefer Zerubbabel, from the mid-seventh century, which uses the term, mashiah sheker, ("false messiah").[3]
See also Combination messiah claimants below.
The Christian Bible states that Jesus will come again in some fashion; various people have claimed to, in fact, be the Second Coming of Jesus. Others have styled themselves new messiahs under the umbrella of Christianity. The Synoptic gospels (Matthew 24:4, 6, 24; Mark 13:5, 21-22; and Luke 21:3) all use the term pseudochristos for messianic pretenders.[27]
See also Combination messiah claimants below.
Islamic tradition has a prophecy of the Mahdi, who will come alongside the return of Isa (Jesus).
See also List of Mahdi claimants for a list of over 30 people who claimed to be the Madhi but not the return of Isa (Jesus).
This list features people who are said, either by themselves or their followers, to be the messianic fulfillment of two or more religious traditions.
This list features people who have been said, either by themselves or their followers, to be some form of a messiah that do not easily fit into Judaism, Christianity, or Islam.
... but their prominence and relative success when compared with such figures as Louwrens van Voorthuizen (Lou) in Holland, Georges Roux in France, and Oskar Ernst Bernhardt in Germany and Austria, all of whom claimed to be the messiah—is striking.
The Grail Movement was founded by the self-proclaimed Messiah Oskar Ernst Bernhardt...