17. When people lived too far away to honour a ruler in his presence but were eager to pay honour to this absent king, they would imagine what he must look like, and would then make a likeness of him.
18. The ambitious artists who made these likenesses caused this worship to spread, even among people who did not know the king.
19. An artist might want to please some ruler, and so he would use his skill to make the likeness better looking than the actual person.
20. Then people would be so attracted by the work of art, that the one whom they had earlier honoured now became the object of their worship.