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The Cult of the Emperor

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... received the right to have a flamen for a cult in his honour, ... A flamen' was a priest. with the responsibility. for the worship of a. god or goddess in ... – PowerPoint PPT presentation

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Title: The Cult of the Emperor


1
The Cult of the Emperor
2
When was the first Roman ruler deified?
  • The Romans began the practice of deifying their
    dead rulers with Julius Caesar. Before he died,
    Caesar received the right to have a flamen for a
    cult in his honour, to mark his house like a
    temple and to place his imago in the procession
    of the gods that featured in Roman parades and
    festivals.
  • After he died, the Senate passed a decree
    formally deifying Caesar and altars and temples
    were erected to him.

A flamen was a priest with the
responsibility for the worship of a god or
goddess in Roman religion
3
Why did the Romans accept the deification of
Caesar so easily?
  • Although the deification of their ruler would
    certainly have seemed novel to the inhabitants of
    Rome, his assimilation to divine status would
    have seemed quite normal to the peoples of the
    eastern empire who had always regarded their
    kings and rulers as divine, and were equally
    ready to pay divine honours to the Roman
    emperors.
  • The fact that he was deified after his death
    would have meant that Romans would have not felt
    directly threatened by such an action.
  • The peoples in the Eastern Roman empire had
    always thought of their rulers as divine, so it
    seemed natural to worship the Roman emperor as
    god.
  • Source material 7.3.1

4
In what way was Augustus so skillful in
exploiting the cult of the emperor?
  • Augustus was brilliant in the way he aligned
    religious authority with political while
    Augustus allowed himself to be associated with
    numerous rites and cult activities e.g., his
    membership of the various colleges of priests,
    there was no single ceremony such as a coronation
    where he was the dominant actor.
  • Indeed, Augustus never personally claimed divine
    status during his lifetime.

5
How did Augustus use the goddess Roma to
enhance the power of the empire?
  • ROMA was the deity personifying the Roman
    state.
  • Augustus, however, encouraged the worship of Roma
    in the provinces (although she did later on gain
    a temple in Rome itself).
  • Many temples were built in the provinces in her
    honour, often as a Temple of Rome and Augustus
    to make the imperial cult and emperor worship
    more palatable.
  • Thus, outside of Italy, worship of the emperor
    was usually linked to the worship of the goddess
    Roma.
  • This coin, struck in an eastern province, has on
    the reverse a temple devoted to the goddess
    Roma.

6
What was the genius?
  • The Romans believed that every living being had a
    genius or protecting spirit.
  • People in the provinces were encouraged to
    worship the genius of the emperor, linked with
    the goddess Roma - another method of
    promoting emperor worship.

Detail of the Genius (spirit) of the
Paterfamilias flanked by 2 lares Lararium in the
house of the Vettii in Pompeii
7
What was the numen?
  • The nod that Juppiter gave assenting to an action
    was called his numen.
  • It thus became to signify divine will or the
    power of a deity.
  • Augustus organised public worship of his numen
    which represented the godhead or divine power of
    a living emperor - another example of emperor
    worship.

Bust of the Juppiter, the Father of the gods
8
Why did Augustus never explicitly say that he was
a god?
  • The Roman political system did not approve of a
    living emperor declaring himself a god (no doubt
    as a result of their dislike of an all powerful
    head of state).
  • The emperor Caligula made the mistake of claiming
    to be a god during his lifetime. This action was
    described by contemporary historians as an
    example of his dementia.
  • This is why Augustus was careful to never
    explicitly to declare himself a god although he
    walked a very fine line in this respect.

Bust of the Emperor Caligula
9
Why did Romans encourage the worship of emperors
as gods?
  • People were more likely to submit to Roman rule
    if they regarded the supreme ruler as a god
  • It reduced, as a result, the chances of uprisings
  • It gave many people in the provinces a sense that
    they belonged to one great empire
  • It was very popular amongst the upper and middle
    classes who looked to Rome to promote their
    careers

Augustus as Pontifex Maximus
10
Did this cult of the Emperor always have the
desired effect?
  • The temple at Colchester dedicated to the deified
    emperor Claudius was regarded by the Britons as a
    symbol of eternal oppression, and the priests
    used religion as an excuse to waste British
    money.
  • Boudicca raised this temple to the ground when
    she rebelled against Roman occupation

This is a model of the temple of the deified
emperor
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