The Buildings and the Images of
the Imperial Cult
2. The birth of imperial cult under
Augustus
The emperor cult is the practice of assimilating emperor and deity
In the Hellenistic world in 307 BC the
hymn sung in honour of Demetrius
Polirocetes is the earliest attestation
of the rules as a “present god”.
The great leap from the cult of the
deceased ancestors to the
veneration of living men takes
place in Egypt, where the ruler cult
is the strongest in the 14th year of
the reign of Ptolemy II
Philadelphus, when the living
siblings Ptolemy II and his
sister/wife Arsinoe II were deified.
In the Greek cities the divine cult
of individual citizens can be
found towards the end of the 2nd
century BC, one of the earliest
cases is the cult of Diodorus
Pasparos at Pergamon.
Also in the Roman world, in
private/public relations, it hadprivate/public relations, it had
been usual for a long time to
address a man with emphatic
epithets and to honour him:
this is the case of the relation
patronus/cliens, the patron is
the benefactor of his clients
The object of worship in the
household was the Genius of
the paterfamilias. The
worshippers were freedmen
and slaves.
The development of
intersections between the
ideology of patronage and
of Hellenistic kingship.
1. Biography
2. Apotheosis
3. The cult settlement – state, private,
provincial level
4. The images
Terminology:
Apotheosis – the actual event of ascending to the
divine sphere
Divinization – the Senate claims the divine
principle of the emperor
Consecration – consecratio – practical
implementation to the divine sphere
1. BIOGRAPHY
Born: Gaius Octavius, Rome, September 23rd , 63 BC
Parents: Gaius Octavius and Atia (Julius Ceasar’s niece)
Early training in public life: at the age of 12 - recited his grandmother’s laudatio
46 BC – accompanied his great uncle in his triumphal procession
44BC – adopted by Julius Caesar (19 years old)
43BC – propraetor and consul - name Gaius Julius Caesar Octavianus
2nd triumvirate – with Marcus Antonius, Marcus Lepidus
42BC – battle at Philippi – vowed to construct a temple to Mars Ultor if he won
42BC, January – divi filius
During the 30’s – protection of Apollo
31BC – Actium – defeated Marcus Antonius and Cleopatra
28BC – the temple of Apollo on the Palatine hill – personal patron
27BC, January 16th – title Augustus (by Plancus)- the word used of votive offerings, temples and
sites dedicated to the gods (original idea – Romulus)
-sacred places too, and those in which anything is consecrated by augural rites are called
"august" (augusta), from the increase (auctus) in dignity
-Augustus - before used in ritual, formulaic language (obscure synonym to “divinus”), but it was
regarded as a title only - any formal powers, after Augustus - the institution – emperor
23 BC – imperium
18 – 12 BC – Lex Iulia de adulteriis, Lex Iulia de
maritandis ordinibus, Lex Papia Poppaea
12BC – pontifex maximus
2BC – pater patriae
Last will, testament and a list of
accomplishments: Res Gestae Divi Augusti – two
bronze pillars in front of Augustus’s mausoleum
in Rome (now only copies)
Cliepeus virtutis – for Augustus from the Senate to
acknowledge his virtus, clementia, iustitia, pietas,
Curia Iulia, originally gold, marble copy preserved
in Arles
Died: Nola, 19th August, 14 AD
Succession – daughter Julia, 2nd marriage to
Agrippa – two sons Gaius and Lucius Caesar, died
Forced to adopt Tiberius – Livia’s son from the
first marriageApart from the title, he received:
a) the right to adorn the entrance
of his house with laurel
b) the corona civica
c) clipeus virtutis (hung in the
Curia Iulia)
2. APOTHEOSIS
Augustus died 19th 14 AD, Nola and was cremated at Campus Marcius, buried in his family
tomb
September 17th - officially deified and subsequently consecrated by his adoptive son Tiberius
Shortly after his funeral – apotheosis – attested by an eyewitness (very doubtful) – Roman
Senate - authority in religion.
The testimony – spontaneously or with an intention?
The death of Augustus in Nola, August
19th, 14 AD
His public funeral at the Campus Martius,
.
His public funeral at the Campus Martius,
exact date unknown
The testimony of his apotheosis
The senate awarded divine honours to
Augustus September 17th , 14 AD
Official consecration performed by
Tiberius, Augustus became a state god
Ruling strategy:
Reputation: a military victor, a bringer of peace
and a supporter of Roman traditions
His genius: combined history, law, social policy,
religion, literature, art and architecture
Ideology: images by historians, poets, gem
cutters, painters, sculptors and architects –
state relief
- portraits, large scale monuments erected in
new provincesnew provinces
Consolidating power
Expanding borders
2. THE CULT SETTLEMENT
Caesar – was appointed god – monarchical position – resulted in his murder
-demonstration - how not to go about reforming the Roman constitution
Augustus – the first among equals – defining this imagery (very cautious!)
Artists: free to declare anything:
Tacitus, Annals I 10.6 – a bit exaggerated, but gives a picture of his politics:
“No honour was left for the gods, when Augustus chose to be himself worshipped with
temples and statues, like those of the deities, and with flamines and priests.”
Vergil, Aeneid VI 789-794Vergil, Aeneid VI 789-794
“Here Caesar [=Augustus], of Iulus’ glorious seed, look at him ascending to the world of
light! Watch, at last, that man, whose coming so often you listened foretold, Augustus
Caesar, son of a god [=Divus Julius]. He brings a golden age, he shall restore old Satrun’s
scepte to our Latin land”.
Horace, Odes III 5. 2-3
“praesens divu habebitur Augustus”
Letters II 1, 15-17
Praesenti tibi maturos largimur honores
Historians:
Suetonius
“Although well aware that it was usual to vote temples even to proconsuls, yet in no province
would he accept one save jointly in his own name and that of Rome, and in the city itself he
refused this honour most emphatically.”
- doesn’t claim that there wasn’t a divine worship of the emperor in Rome – only that he never
received a state temple in the city
Suetonius, Dio and other historians – ignored private cults – not important for them
In the imperial cult, the political and social cohesion had to be safeguarded. The sacrifices andIn the imperial cult, the political and social cohesion had to be safeguarded. The sacrifices and
the public rituals had the aim to define relationship of powers and their hierarchy.
Continuous measures – to secure the position of the emperor:
1. Roman magistrates ceased to be autonomous as they had been during the republic
2. The emperor only may celebrate the triumph
3. The title imperator was granted 11 AD
4. 11 AD – banned honours for governors in their provinces during term of office and for 60
days thereafter
Different levels of the cult:
State cult level -Augustus constantly avoided direct deification –
remembering Julius Caesar
Accepted measures to the very limit, but never beyond – thus he
accepted the title Augustus
Other levels – provincial, municipal, private cults – no evidence
that he was averse
Municipal cults – no restrictions
Provincial cults – insisted that Roma was worshipped with him
in the same temple
Private cults – no restrictions
STATE CULTSTATE CULT
Augustus became a god of the Roman state only after his death
Generally believed – public worship of his genius – linked to
gaining the function pontifex maximus in 12 BC
Holder of this office – villa publica in the Forum Romanum – handed
it to Vestal Virgins and opened part of his house for the public
His house public – his household cult public – worship of his Lares
and his Genius public.
Acknowledging Genius into a state cult, implied that the emperor was paterfamilias of the Roman
state household and senators performing the cult would be taken as his clientes (humiliating for
high-ranking senators)
Emperor – unlimited formal powers – the Roman state –a monarchy (again)
Arguments against:
Literary sources
a) Ovidius:
Not that Augustus’ house cult became
public, but that the grandiose temple of
Apollo and the new cult of Vesta wereApollo and the new cult of Vesta were
part of Augustus’ domestic cults, which
became public. Apollo was Augustus’
personal tutelary god. [Gradel]
b) Calendar from Praeneste: mentions
only Vesta, the new cult on Palatine, no
Genius or Lares or Penates Augusti
c) Birthday
- man’s birthday - the main feast of his Genius
- Augustus’ birthday - sacrifice to Mars and Neptune (Campus Martius) and to Apollo (the
theatre of Marcellus) – Augustan tutelary divinities
“F(eriae) ex s(enatus) c(onsulto), q(uod) e(o) d(ie) Imp(erator) Caesar Aug(ustus) pont(ifex)
ma[x(imus)] natus est: Marti, Neptuno in Campo, Apo[l]lini ad theatrium Marcelli”
d) Sacrifices
Augustus’ unique position was formulated only by sacrifices to the traditional gods on Augustus’
behalf, for the welfare of the emperor (pro salute Augusti)
PRIVATE CULT
7 BC – Augustus reorganized the administrative system of the city of Rome
- 14 regiones and 265 vici
Augustus intention – restore age-old cults and traditions
- strongly involved in the reform – presented the shrines with their new cult images
- enthusiastic reception all over Italy (e.g. Pompeii – not the crossroads, but pavements at the
side of main streets)
Vicus – own cult
worshipped: Lares of the crossroads (Lares
compitales)
run by: magistri of the vicus plus four ministri (slaves)
public events: the festival of Compitalia, games
celebrated at the shrines (compita)
Magistri vici
- inhabitants of the vicus, freedman
- allowed to wear the magistrates’ purple-bordered
toga
- accompanied by a lictor- accompanied by a lictor
Augustus reform – new function
- administrative tasks
- organizing firefighting
- conducting censuses for the grain dole
Cults were financed by magistri (inscriptions as
dedicators), so that Augustus had to make the
position attractive
After the reform:
Two lares compitales turned to Lares Augusti and Genius Augusti enetered the worship several
relief-decorated and inscribed altars from the Augustan cults
Sacrifice:
Lares - blood offering (pig), genius - bloodless
Aspect imposed from above – sacrifice to the Genius Augusti of a bull (implication of the
importance of this figure, maybe a main divinity of the cult)
Compital cults cannot be termed state cults – not a part of sacra publica, thus only sacra
privata
Sacra publica
- rites performed by state officials
- paid for by public funds
- on behalf of the whole populus Romanus
But Augustus stays conservative also in the compital cults:
4BC – inscribed base, dedicated by Augustus – clearly after the reform – Laribus publicis,
not Laribus augustis, any indication that Augustus’ Genius was included in this cult
Inscribed relief-decorated altars
1. 7 BC – Augustan compital altar
front side – togate Genius Augusti and the two Lares
Augusti, in the background two laurel trees
short side – two magistri vici while pouring libations
accompanied by a flute player,
the other short side - identical, so that all four
magistri are shown
2. 2-3 AD Augustan compital altar
front side – a scene of sacrifice – magistri vici are pouring the libations while the victims (a pig
for Lares and a bull for Genius) are being led by two victimarii, there is also the lictor and the
flute player
back: three ministri are receiving stauettes of the Lares from a man in toga, taller than them,
velato capite. He must be Augustus himself, accompanied by the princes Gaius Caesar and
Lucius Caesar.
Identification: the person offers the statuettes of the Lares only, and not the one of his own
Genius.
3. The Sorrento base, late Augustan, after 12 BC
- Reference: the state religion, divine ancestors of the Julian family and Augustus’ personal
protector - Apollo
The primary side: the Vestal Virgins in procession towards a seated Vesta. In the background – a
Ionic portico and a round shrine, continues to the short side
The short side: Augustus’ house identified by the corona civica – Mars Ultor, Amor, Venus (?),
Genius
The other short side: Diana, Apollo and Leto
The back side: Cybele with her lion and a dancing male figure (traditional in her cult)
The seated figure holding cornucopia in the middle –
Genius (only divinity with this attribute), heroically
semi-nude and youthful, probably Genius populi
Romani (problem – usually grouped with Dea Roma
or Genius senatus, not Mars or Venus)
Result: these two Genius populi Romani and Genius
Augusti started being mixed up, indistinguishable
without an inscription
Augustus and later emperors took over and exploited
this figure.this figure.
A preparatory step by Augustus or by his supporters
towards his Genius worship.
Continuity in iconography - innovation easier to
accept – a good strategy .
Other preparatory step – Genius received a bull as a
sacrifice, previously bloodless.
Lararia in Pompeii
– decoration influenced by iconography of the
Augustan compital cults
Lares – depicted with flanking laurels
(reflecting laurel trees planted outside
Augustus’ house)
- laurels taken after mechanically – without
clear knowledge (four laurels)
- presumably this is the typical way how
imperial imagery entered the iconography of
domestic cultsdomestic cults
The basic meaning of the imperial cult in the
private sphere – integration of all citizens of
the Roman empire, who, through the cult of
the emperor, shared the same identity.
PROVINCIAL AND MUNICIPAL LEVEL
– no evidence that he was averse
Municipal cults – no prohibiton
Provincial cults – insisted that Roma was worshipped with him in the same temple
Epigraphic documentation – the cult of the Genius of Augustus already existed during his
lifetime (in provinces, no question, in Rome – more conservative approach)
1. Daily text on papyrus from Oxyrhynchus
The Oxyrhynchus Papyri – a numerous group of manucsripts discovered by
archaeologists at an ancient rubbish dump near Oxyrhynchus in Upper Egypt.
date: from the 1st to the 6th century AD.date: from the 1st to the 6th century AD.
thousands of Greek and Latin documents, letters and literary works
Poxy 12, 1245
The text is an old document, brought to light as waste paper, bearing an oath
“in the name of Caesar [=Augustus], son of a god”.
2. Official epigraphic document
a decree issued in 9 BC by Paullus Fabius Maximus, proconsul of Province Asia
found at Priene
important innovation: a new year calendar for the province, starting on the day of Augustus’
birthday (September 23rd )
OGIS [Orientis Graeci inscriptiones selectae] 458
a) Augustus’ birth is a sign of divine providence: for this reason all the virtues are in him at
the highest degree
b) Augustus is the saviour of humanity, who put an end to war and restored peace, excellingb) Augustus is the saviour of humanity, who put an end to war and restored peace, excelling
all the preceding benefactors and leaving no possibility to the future ones to excel him
c) As the day of Augustus’ birth marked for the world the beginning of the benefits that
Augustus would have brought, Paullus Fabius Maximus decides such an extraordinary
innovation: the change in the starting of the new year.
The temples of the veneratio Augusti:
-56 dedicated to the first emperor Augustus
- of them, 37 were built during his lifetime
- in Italy – 16, 7 surely built in his lifetime, only one is surely posthumous (Nola).
-The municipal cults in Italy: the living emperor rather than on the Divi
- in the city of Rome – no temple dedicated to Augustus during his lifetime
- civic priests all over Italy – flamen (sacerdos)
- the temples are designed in the same way as the temples of the traditional gods, so
that it is impossible to distinguish them if lacking in iconographic apparatus (statues,
relieves) or in epigraphic textsrelieves) or in epigraphic texts
The emperor as an object of cult had a great importance for the political cohesion of
the Empire.
The Temple of Augustus and Livia (Temple d'Auguste et de Livie), Roman temple, Vienne, France
Built: 20 BC – 10 BC, restored in the 1st c. AD, rededicated to Livia by Claudius
description: a hexastyle, prostyle porch, 14.25 x 23.85 m
- well-preserved: incorporated into a church in about the 5th c. AD, restored in 19th c.
The Temple of Augustus, Pula, Croatia
Built: between 2 BC and his death in 14 AD
-under Byzantine rule – converted into a church,
later used as a granary, hit by a bomb in WWII,
much of the structure rebuilt
- description: tetrastyle prostyle porch,
Corinthian columns, 8 x 17.3 m, decorated frieze
- Part of a triad – the Temple of Augustus, larger- Part of a triad – the Temple of Augustus, larger
central temple (not preserved), the Temple of
Diana (only the back side of the temple has
survived – incorporated into the Communal
Palace)
- dedication:
ROMAE · ET · AUGUSTO · CAESARI · DIVI · F ·
PATRI · PATRIAE
Roma and Augustus Caesar, son of the deity,
father of the fatherland
4. THE IMAGES
Used art in the service of his political and social ideology
The emperor and his family – immortalized in individual portraits and in family groups
Standardization of the image of the living ruler
Four themes in augustan art and architecture – victory, peace, prosperity and divine descent
To tell such a complex course, Augustus chose two different communication strategies:
Visual language:
e.g.:
The Forum of Augustus
Ara Pacis
The Belvedere Altar
Textual language:
Res gestae – written in the first person, narrating his
own life at the service of the Senate and the Populus
Romanus, known fragmentary epigraphic texts:
The Belvedere Altar
Gemma Augustea -Original - bronze plates - Mausoleum Augusti
- fragmentary copies in greek and latin - The Temple of
Augustus and Rome at Ancyra in Galatia
- fragments of the greek version - large podium of a
sculptural group representing Augustus and his family,
near Apollonia (Uluborlu)
- fragments of the Latin text - propylaeum erected at
Psidian Antiochia
Portraits
Always youthful – Apolline image of youthful radiance – Apollo, personal god, the
portraits are products of centrally chosen types
a) Arles type – mourning, 37 BC, bearded
b) The Actium type – determined military man, two deep vertical lines, full head of
curls set in relative disorder (Musei Capitolini)
c) The Primaporta type – Primaporta, Via Labicana – capite velato – no deep vertical
lines, also for Corinth and Samos – stressing his aspect of a pious Roman
d) The Forbes type – or the Ara Pacis type – hair brushed to one side
THE BELVEDERE ALTAR
Summarizes Augustus’ political ideology, social laws and
religious beliefs
The front side: a rocky (Palatine) setting with a pair of laurel
trees (Augustus’ house) flanking a flying Victory who is setting
an inscribed shield on a pillar.
Inscription: refers to Augustus as pontifex maximus
The back side: a chariot scene with the chariot drawn by four
houses that rise from the horizontal groundline, the chariot
holds a seminude male figure with a mantle, a woman withholds a seminude male figure with a mantle, a woman with
two small boys are in front of the chariot. In the sky there are
Caelus and the horses of the sun god. The scene is the
apotheosis – Julius Caesar, Augustus or Romulus. The male to
the left – Tiberius or the senator Julius Proculus. The woman
on the right is Livia, Julia or Venus. The two boys are Gaius and
Lucius Caesar (or two children of Romulus and his wife
Hersilia).
Another side: Helenus and Aeneas’ discovery
of the sow of Lavinium
The last side: Augustus’ presentation of lares
statuettes to the attendats of the street
superintendents or vicomagistri and this altar
meaning: Augustus is Aeneas’ successor, he
guided Rome under the protection of his
divine father and protector, Apollo. Augustus’
hopes for the future which lies in his two
young heirs. Julius Caesar apotheosis is anyoung heirs. Julius Caesar apotheosis is an
early articulation of the divine claims of
Augustus' household to monopolize Rome’s
military responsibilities.
- the assimilation of divine and human
households
GEMMA
AUGUSTEA
Two-layer
sardonyx: white
the upper, brown
the lower.
Wien, KHM,
Antikensammlung,
Inv. No. IXa 79.Inv. No. IXa 79.
Subject: Augustus
receives Tiberius
and Germanicus
after the victory
upon Pannonia and
Dalmatia.
AD 9/10-12.
Gemma Augustea
backside
- gold and silver
- manufactured in the court
ateliers of Rudolph II in
Prague, beg. 17th century
- known since 1264
- until 1533 – Toulouse
- after 1591 – Venice
- 1619 Vienna
6 AD – Tiberius led war against uprised Pannonians, which ended with the participation of
Germanicus in 9 AD. Reditus is depicted – victorious return.
1 – missing togatus, 2 – Tiberius, 3 – Victory, 4 – biga, 5 – horse, 6 – Germanicus, 7- goddess
Roma, 8 – astrological device, 9 – Augustus as Jupiter, 10 – eagle, 11 – Oikoumene, 12 –
Saturnus, 13 – Tellus, 14 and 15 - children
A scene of victory – the erection of a trophy
16 – a shield with a scorpion, 17 – Romulus=Quirinus, 18 – horseman, 19 – sitting barbarian
woman, 20 – chained barbarian, 21 – Mars, 22 and 23 Castor and Polux, 24 - Diana, 25 –
Mercury, 26 – kneeling barbarian, 27 – barbarian woman
Augustus and the imperial cult
State cult
- avoided direct deification
- became god after death
Private cult
- no restrictions
- reorganized the administrative
system – vicus
- relief decorated altars
- Genius
- integration of all citizens of
the Roman empire – shared the
same identity
Municipal and Provincial cult
-insisted Roma was worshipped
with him
- political cohesion of the Empire
- Vienne, Pula
Communication strategies
Visual language – The Forum of Augustus, Ara Pacis,
the Belvedere Altar, Gemma Augustea
Textual language – Res Gestae