Myth Monday - The Cult of the Emperor

Myth Monday - What Did the Romans Believe noted the variety of gods of the ancient Romans. Today's Myth Monday continues the topic of the ever-increasing pantheon of Roman gods with a look at the worship of certain humans as gods.

As Ancient/Classical History Contributing Writer Cynthia Astle notes, in How the Jews Lived in Jesus' Time, New Testament-era Jews had problems with the Roman administration of their province that other subjects might not have had. Chief among these was the Roman imperial cult. The Romans enjoyed a plethora of gods who might be expected to help them in times of needs. The more gods the more opportunities.

Starting just before the start of the Imperial Period, with Julius Caesar, the Romans deified their first men (principes), especially after death. Not every emperor was turned into a god, but it was commonplace enough that Vespasian, the first of the Flavian Emperors (the second dynasty of Roman emperors), could quip as he was dying, "Vae, puto deus fio" (Alas!, I think I'm becoming a god) [Suet., Div. Vesp. xxiii].

Here are some articles on the topic of the development of cult of the emperor:

• "Apotheosis of the Roman Emperor"
  Larry Kreitzer
  The Biblical Archaeologist
  Vol. 53, No. 4 (Dec., 1990), pp. 210-217

  When the Senate started voting honors to Julius Caesar in 44 B.C., his statue with the inscription "deus invictus" [unconquered god] was placed in the temple of Quirinus. Caesar came to be linked to additional Roman gods. Then about two years after his assassination, at the beginning of 42 B.C., Julius Caesar was officially declared a god, a fact that helped his adopted heir, Octavian, on his road to becoming the Emperor Augustus. Being the son of a god gave him definite political advantages over mere mortals, like Mark Antony. Temples were erected to the regular gods, coupled with Augustus in the provinces, but it wasn't until Augustus died that he was deified by the Senate in Rome, thanks largely to the actions of his successor Tiberius. Tiberius and Caligula were not deified by the Senate, although Caligula turned his sisters into divine personifications of Securitas, Concordia, and Fortuna. Caligula also insisted that his own statue be placed within the Temple in Jerusalem, but he was assassinated before the sacrilege. Under the next emperor, Claudius, Augustus' wife Livia was deified. When he died, the Senate deified him. Claudius' successor was not deified.

• "Dio and Maecenas: The Emperor and the Ruler Cult"
  Duncan Fishwick
  Phoenix
  Vol. 44, No. 3 (Autumn, 1990), pp. 267-275

  Dio Cassius puts into the mouth of Maecenas advice offered to Augustus that was consistent with the policy Augustus had adopted in opposing the cult of the living emperor. At the time of Dio Cassius' writing, Roman emperors Commodus and Elagabalus had not been following the policy. The policy Dio Cassius put in the mouth of Maecenas urged Augustus not to allow temples to be built for him or divine honors to be accorded a living man.

• Role of the Roman Imperial Cult During the Augustan Age

  This online article says the Roman imperial cult, which had the effect of tying together the very different groups of the Roman Empire, was based on the Greek cult of the ruler. In the East, the emperor's circle rarely had to make any attempt to introduce the imperial cult -- it sprung up spontaneously or, as at Bithynia after Augustus' victory at Actium, residents requested permission to establish the emperor's cult.

• "Portents and Prophecies in Connection with the Emperor Vespasian"
  Richmond Lattimore
  The Classical Journal
  Vol. 29, No. 6 (Mar., 1934), pp. 441-449

  Vespasian didn't have an easy life automatically leading up to his position as emperor of Rome, but he was blessed with good fortune and seemed to the Roman people to be under the care of the gods. By the time of Augustus, Romans had stopped adhering so closely to the religion of Numa, and, instead, had begun to stress Isis and the Cult of the Magna Mater in their religious practices. Eastern religions like Mithraism, Judaism, and Christianity were gaining strength. The cult of the emperor fit into this new religious mold. Vespasian didn't assume divine honors while he was alive, and may not have actually believed humans could become gods (even if the Senate said they were), but he was practical and realized the imminence of his likely (official) apotheosis, as we know from his famous dying quote.

• The Roman Imperial Cult Bibliography
• "Imperial Cults within Local Cultural Life: Associations in Roman Asia", by Philip A. Harland (York University, Toronto: 2003)

Related Articles:

• Did the Romans Believe Their Myths
• Roman Era-by-era Timeline
• Deified Emperors of Rome
• Review of James S. Jeffers' Greco-Roman World of the New Testament Era

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