Wisdom 14:15-17

New Catholic Bible

¹⁵ A father overcome with grief at an untimely death
    had an image made of the child so quickly taken from him.
And he honored as a god what was formerly a corpse
    and handed on to his household the observance of sacrifices and ceremonies.
¹⁶ With the passing of time this impious custom became established and was observed as a law,
    and at the command of rulers graven images were worshiped.
¹⁷ When the subjects of a monarch lived at such a distance that they could not honor him in person,
    they would have a likeness made of their far-off ruler,
thereby possessing a visible image of the king they desired to honor,
    zealously in this way flattering the absent ruler as though he were present.^[a]