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The Foundation of the Roman Imperial Cult
In Ancient Rome, a cult did not carry today's connotation as a
brainwashing institution or
take people away from mainstream society. Instead, cults were
used to worship the gods who
affected the Roman's daily lives. New gods were continually
being brought to Rome from
abroad, causing new cults to be established. The imperial cult
was no different. It became a new
religious order where, the Roman emperors were worshiped in
conjunction with the Roman state
because they controlled Rome's continued prosperity. The
following paper will explore how the
imperial cult was created in Rome under Augustus. Since this is
just a portion of my original
work, I have decided to focus on how Augusts incorporated the
imperial cult into the religious
practices of Rome.
Gaius Julius Caesar Augustus became the sole ruler of Rome in
the year 27 B.C.E. He
subsequently created a tradition of divine rulers that lasted
until the reign of Constantine in 306
C.E. The imperial cult placed emperors among the Roman state
pantheon of gods, and was
integrated into the religious life of the Roman Empire. Yet, how
was Augustus able to establish
the imperial cult as such an essential facet for his rule as
Roman emperor? The two major trends
in scholarship demonstrate the difficulty in answering this
question. The first trend claims that it
was an extension of the cult created for Alexander the Great in
the Hellenistic East.1 The other
trend holds that the cult arose in Italy as a unique Roman
institution under Augustus. Before
considering how Augustus developed the imperial cult, it is
necessary to understand how the
scholarly debate has progressed.
1 There remains a large debate among scholars regarding when
Alexander's cult was created and at what point he was considered a
god. For the purpose of this paper I am following the assumption
that Alexander's recognition as a god was established
posthumously.
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L'Abb Beurlier was the first scholar to study the imperial
cult's Hellenistic origins,
showing that it was a direct continuation of the ruler cult
created for Alexander the Great.2 The
next major scholar, Lily Ross Taylor, questions this claim and
argues that it was a revival rather
then a continuation of Alexander's cult.3 Meanwhile, Stefan
Weinstock takes a different focus in
the debate, beginning to look at the methods Augustus used to
promote a god-like image without
proclaiming to be a god on earth.4 Paul Zanker began the
transition to looking at the cult as a
new Roman institution.5 He tried to show that its success
stemmed from its attachment to
previously existing Roman cults. Finally, Ittia Gradel
emphasized that the imperial cult
succeeded because it accentuated the distance between the
worshiper and the worshiped, and
demonstrated a new political system and power structure.6
Despite one hundred years of careful
scholarship, the link between the Hellenistic ruler cut and
Augustus' system is still unclear. By
looking at the specific methods Augustus used to create an
imperial cult in the Roman Empire,
we can come to a greater understanding of why Augustus decided
to use the imperial cult as such
a vital element in his rule as an emperor.
We can begin to see why Augustus thought the imperial cult would
aid his rule by looking
at the Cult of Alexander. In the Hellenistic East there was a
tradition of divine leaders, but
Alexander the Great was first ruler for which a posthumous
succession of ruler worship was
established. Throughout his life, Alexander upheld that he was
the son of Zeus.7 The extent to
which Alexander tried to emphasize his divine nature is still
debated. But scholars do know that
Alexander tried to employ proskynesis (ritual prostration given
to a god and later, a salutation
2 LAbb Beurlier, Le Culte Imprial son Histoire et son
Organisation depuis Auguste Jusqua Justinien (Paris: Kessinger
Publishing, 1891), 3. 3 Lilly Ross Taylor, The Divinity of the
Roman Emperor (Philadelphia: Porcupine Press, 1931). 4 Stefan
Weinstock, Victor and Invictus, The Harvard Theological Review 50,
no. 3 (1957), 234. 5 Paul Zanker, The Power of Images in the Age of
Augustus (Ann Arbor: The University of Michigan Press, 1988). 6
Ittia Gradel, Emperor Worship and Roman Religion (USA: University
Oxford Press, 2002), 34. 7 Boris Dreyer, "Heroes, Cults, and
Divinity," Alexander the Great: A New History ed. Waldermar Heckel
and Lawrence Tritle (UK: Blackwell Publishing Ltd, 2009), 221.
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made before an alter with Alexander's image) as a way to
establish a formal ruler cult.8
Alexander developed a relationship between himself and his
subjects, which eventually gained
him the title of theos.9 As an almost divine ruler, Alexander
received honors such as; sacrifices,
temples, priests, festivals, and images, that made him appear as
a god on earth.10
Rome's close contact with the East allowed Gaius Julius Caesar
to observe how
Alexander's posthumous ruler cult reinforced ties between cities
and the ruler. Caesar adopted
the idea of trying to become a god on earth as a way to
strengthen his own rule. The Senate was
able to award Caesar with divine honors because of the success
he had in becoming a mediator
between the gods and the people as Pontifex Maximus.11 While
Caesar never held the title of rex,
the limitless honors and titles he accepted indicated that he
was divine in all but name. It is
impossible to know from our literary sources if Caesar was
actually considered rex, but the
honors of consul, imperator, triumphator, dictator perpetuo, and
pontifex maximus, gave him
power equal to rex. Caesar, by accepting these honors, created
the beginnings of a ruler cult
based on honors unequaled by any previous Roman ruler.
It is after Alexanders cult and Caesars attempt to become a
divine ruler that Augustus
came into power. Augustus knew that he needed to separate
himself from Caesar to gain the
peoples trust, while simultaneously linking himself to the Roman
state. If Augustus was going to
adopt the idea of the Hellenistic ruler cult, he had to be
careful of maintaining the people's trust
by showing that he did not want to become a monarchal ruler. The
Roman people, who still
remembered Antonys association with the East, could be reluctant
to accept a Hellenistic
practice at the beginning of Augustus reign. Dio observes the
people's reaction to Antony's 8 Ibid., 219. While Alexander's
attempt to adopt proskynesis was unsuccessful it shows one method
Alexander used to try to develop his potential divinity. 9 S.R.F.
Price, Rituals and Power: The Roman Imperial Cult in Asia Minor
(Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1984), 52. The title of
theos did not make Alexander a god, but referred to his power as a
ruler. 10 Duncan Fishwick, The Imperial Cult in the Latin West (The
Netherlands: E.J. Brill, 1987), 21. 11 Ibid., 56.
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actions, Now he has abandoned his whole ancestral way of life,
has embraced alien and barbaric
customs.12 Dio presents an example of how important tradition
was to the Romans. By
incorporating traditional Roman practices into the creation of
his ruler cult, Augustus could
maintain the people's trust and strengthen his reign.
In order for the Roman people to be open to the idea of emperor
worship, the imperial
cult had to appear to develop spontaneously as a unique Roman
institution. Augustus began a
religious revival to restore the republic from the civil wars.13
This also served to explicitly link
Augustus to the well being of Roman society. Through the use of
religion, politics, and
propaganda, Augustus managed to establish an imperial cult that
recognized his divinity upon
death. He modified the conception of genius, which resembled a
living spirit that was present in
all living things, people, and gods. Augustus adopted the
worship of his genius as a way for the
public to unofficially worship his potential divinity. The
worship of Augustus genius did not
make Augustus divine, but was a way to publically acknowledge
the spirit of the emperor.
Sources tell us that Augustus decreed that a libation should be
poured to his genius at every
banquet.14 Augustus adapted the purpose of the genius' offering
to be given in recognition of his
position as emperor instead. He modified Alexander's attempt to
adopt proskynesis for personal
worship with greater success. As a result, genius becomes a
state practice in recognition of
Augustus's rule. Horaces ode 4.5 demonstrates that the pouring
of the libation became common
practice at Roman parties, and not just a forgotten decree.
Hinc ad vina redit laetus et alteris Te mensis adhibet deum; Te
multa prece, te prosequitur mero Defuso pateris, et Laribus tuum
Miscet numen, uti Graecia Castoris 12 Cassius Dio, The Roman
History: The Reign of Augustus. Translated by Ian Scott-Kilvert
(London: Penguin Classics, 1987), 50.25. 13 Armstrong, G.E.
"Sacrificial Iconography: Creating History, Making Myth, and
Negotiating Ideology on the Ara Pacis Augustae." Religion &
Theology 15 (2008), 343. 14 Taylor, 151.
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Et magni memor Herculis.15 In these two stanzas, Horace
emphasizes that the libation was poured as a way to
remember the emperors greatness. Horace uses imagery that
depicts Augustus as a god, the
word memor stresses that the Romans were reminded on a regular
basis of his divinity. Laribus
tuum miscet numen illustrates Augustus practice of combining
Roman religious worship with
imperial worship. Augustus was careful to align himself with
previous deities such as Hercules
so that when Romans worshiped him, they simultaneously worshiped
the Roman state. The
required pouring of libations to the emperors genius sets the
foundation for future emperor
worship.
Augustus aligned his divine image with the Roman state in an
attempt to amalgamate
imperial and state worship. Augustus made small modifications to
religious practices that placed
imperial worship within set religious traditions. As stated by
Dio, the first name of Octavian
was to be included in public hymns on the same terms as those of
the gods.16 This was one of
many ways that Augustus began to be venerated in a way
previously unseen in Rome. The
public's acceptance of this change showed a marked
transformation in Roman rule, where the
Roman people would no longer wait to confer honors on a leader
until his death, but during life.
Just as Alexander waited for individual towns to declare him
theos, Augustus never demanded
any honors. As a way to prevent the people from granting him too
many honors, Suetonius states
that Augusts would not accept any such honour in the provinces
unless his name were coupled
with that of Roma.17 Playing towards the current stakeholders,
Augustus demonstrated that all
his actions were for the benefit of the Roman state and not for
himself. Augustus showed that
any honors the people awarded him also honored the success of
Rome. 15 Garrison, 4.5 (From here he returns happy to the symposia
and he invites you as a god at the second course. He honors you
with much prayer, with unmixed wine poured from bowls in a libation
and he mixes your divinity with the household gods, Greece is
mindful of Castor and great Hercules.) 16 Dio, 51.20. 17 Suetonius,
Augustus 52.
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The forum Augustum was the pinnacle of Augustus combination of
the imperial cult with
state religion. A forum was one of the most public spaces in
Roman society. In creating the
forum Augustum, Augustus aligned himself with the people of
Rome. His forum served in a
similar way to the Ara Pacis Augustae, where he used iconography
to link himself with Rome's
past to show that he was the new founder of Rome.18 When he won
the battle of Philippi, he had
vowed to build a temple to Mars in recognition of his victory.
In actually creating the temple, he
publically recognized that the gods aided him in his victory. He
also simultaneously said that he
did not consider himself to be a god. The forum was an
incredible example of how Augustus
wove together the public and private life of Rome. Augustus
stated in the Res Gestae, in privato
solo Martis Ultoris templum forumque Augustum ex manibiis
feci.19 Augustus recognized that
he built a private temple that proclaimed his victories in
battle on public Roman land. In Ovid's
Art of Love, the paternity of Augustus and his association to
Mars Ultor is referenced, Marsque
pater, Caesarque pater, date numen eunti, nam deus e vobis alter
es, alter eris.2021 While this
passage was written in the 2nd century B.C.E., it refers back to
Augustus' reign and his forum,
showing that even then he was depicted as belonging to a divine
family. The passage
demonstrates that Augustus was part of the house of Mars and the
son of the deified Caesar, and
that he will become a god upon his death. Just as Alexander
claimed to be a descended from
Zeus, Augustus knew that linking himself to divine ancestry
would enhance his image. Anyone
visiting the forum was reminded of his standing among the Roman
deities. While Augustus did
not proclaim to be divine, he successfully created an imperial
cult that alluded to his divinity and
served as the foundation for his forum. 18 Armstrong, 340. 19
Divi Augusti, 21. (On private land I built the Temple of Mars the
Avenger and the Forum Augustan out of the spoils of war). 20 Severy
179. (Both father Mars, and father Caesar, grant your divine
influence to the ones passing by, for one of you is a god, the
other will be a god.) 21 Ovid, The Art of Love and Other Poems
(Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1979), 1.202-204.
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Augustus included statues in the forum to visually depict his
relationship to the people of
the Roman state, but it also showed his place among the gods.
Niches placed throughout the
forum held statues of famous Romans, demonstrating that Augustus
recognized the importance
of the Roman population in his reign. In Suetonius Augustus
proclaims, This has been done to
make my fellow citizens insist that both I (while I live) and
the leaders of the following ages
shall not fall below the standard set by those great men of
old.22 Augustus was recognizing the
actions of previous Romans in creating the current Roman state.
Even as a potentially divine
ruler, Augustus showed that he would not threaten the integrity
of the Roman state. Augustus
placed a frieze of Mars, Venus, and a deified Caesar in the
temple of Mars Ultor.23
24
These three statues in the image clearly show that the family of
Augustus had a position amongst
the most important Roman deities. It served as a public
representation that Augustus was part of
a divine genealogy and would officially become a god upon his
death. Both Mars and Venus are
depicted in a parental way, as opposed to their normal immodest
representations in art.25 Cupid is
placed between Venus and Mars, handing Venus a sword. The shield
is inscribed with corona
civica, demonstrating Romes peace. Augustus showed that as pater
patriae, he successfully
brought about peace because of his potential divinity and divine
ancestry. 22 Suetonius, Augustus 31. 23 Severy, 171. 24 Zanker,
Figure 155. 25 Ibid., 172.
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The imperial cult, by the end of Augustus reign, was evident in
all aspects of the Roman
Empire. Augustus managed to successfully manipulate aspects of
the Hellenistic cult created by
Alexander to appear as a unique Roman institution. In doing so,
he incorporated the cult into the
daily religious and political practices of Rome, making it a
vital part of his imperial rule.
Augustus never forced the Roman people to worship him as a god,
but as a potential god in
conjunction with the Roman state. He slowly introduced the Roman
people to the idea of a ruler
cult in the guise of traditional roman practices, such as the
worship of the genius. The forum
Augustum was a prime example of the many different ways Augustus
was able to successfully
institute the idea of an imperial cult into Roman public and
private life. After Augustus, the cult
was firmly implemented in the Roman Empire, and was used by
successive emperors as a way to
maintain control of the Roman state.
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Works Consulted
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Religion & Theology 15. (2008), 340-356. Beurlier, LAbb. Le
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Routledge, 2003. Clifford, Ando. The Matter of the Gods. Berkeley:
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Paterculus and Res Gestae Divi Augusti. Translated by Frederick W.
Shipley. Cambridge, Mass: Harvard University Press, 1924. Dreyer,
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History ed. Waldermar Heckel and Lawrence Tritle. UK: Blackwell
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