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Gods and emperors: the Greek language of the Roman imperial cult
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 11 October 2013
Extract
The Greeks under Roman rule suffer from a double prejudice. On the one hand, Hellenists lose interest in the Greeks after the classical period; on the other, Roman historians find it hard to avoid a Romanocentric perspective. This double prejudice becomes particularly acute when the issue is the religious language used by the Greeks to refer to the Roman emperor. For example, the Greeks called the living emperor both theou huios (‘son of god’) and also theos (‘god’). The language looks odd from the perspectives both of classical Athens and of imperial Rome. One way to make sense of it is to treat it as a translation out of Latin. Thus the bizarre practice of calling the emperor theou huios is seen as perfectly natural because it is simply the translation of divi filius. Why natural? Because, as the heirs of Rome, we can attempt to ignore the cultural differences between us and the ancient world. But the tactic of treating Greek as a translation out of Latin does not always work. Calling the living emperor theos cannot be seen as a translation of divus, a term which applies only to dead emperors. Modern scholars are therefore forced to treat the usage as ‘deviant’, the product of either folly or flattery. In fact the failure of theos to translate divus undermines the first assumption that theou huios is a translation of divi filius.
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References
1 I should like to thank Mary Beard and Lucia Nixon who have greatly improved this article. The analysis runs parallel to that of my book Rituals and power: the Roman imperial cult in Asia Minor (Cambridge 1984)Google Scholar. I refer to corpora of inscriptions by the standard abbreviations; those not listed by Hondius, J. J. E., Saxa loquuntur (Leiden 1938)Google Scholar are mainly to be found in the series Inschriften griechischer Städte aus Kleinasien (Bonn 1972–)Google Scholar.
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36 See, however, the (obscure) debate in Athens about Alexander: Badian loc. cit. (n. 10).
37 ILS 8794 = Syll. 3 814: ὁ ἀρχιερεὺς τῶν Σεβ-
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This assimilation had extra resonance because of the ancient cult of Zeus Eleutherios celebrated by the League of Greeks at the neighbouring Plataea. Cf. Etienne, R., Piérart, M., BCH xcix (1975) 63–7Google Scholar; West, W. C., GRBS xviii (1977) 315–16Google Scholar. Note that Sebastos is the Greek equivalent of Augustus (see n. 45).
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40 Deus was used ‘unofficially’ of emperors (and others) (Du Quesnay, I. M. Le M., Papers of the Liverpool Latin Seminar iii (1981) 104Google Scholar, on the late Republic; TLL s.v. ‘deus’, col. 891. 10–78), but this shows only that divus might be seen as a subset of deus; there remains a contrast with the undivided category of theos.
41 For a list see Cagnat, R., Cours d'épigraphie latine 4 (1914) 170–2Google Scholar with Stein, E., Hermes lii (1917) 571–8Google Scholar.
42 E.g. IGR iii 82, 138, 145; iv 267, 599–601. IGR iv 924–6 are peculiar in beginning τοῖς θεῶν ἐπι- φανεστάτοις (reign of Septimius Severus).
43 IGR iv 1124 = Syll. 3 810: [Νέρων] Κλαύδιος, θεοῦ Κλαυδίου υἱός, Τιβεριου Καίσ[α]ρος Σεβαστοῦ καὶ Γερμανικοῦ Καίσαρος ἔγγονος, θεοῦ Σεβαστοῦ ἀπόγονος , Καῖσαρ Σ[εβ]αστὸς Γερμανικός , ἀρχ- ιερεύς , δημαρχικῆς ἐξουσίας , αὐτοκράτωρ, ῾Ροδίων ἄρχουσι βουλῇ [δή]μῳ χαίρειν.
44 IGR iii 83 = ILS 5883 = ÖJh xxviii (1933) Beib. 64 no. 13 (Amastris)Google Scholar: divi Aug. perpetuus sacerdos / ὁ τοῦ ἐπουρανίου θεοῦ Σ(ε) βαστοῦ ἀρχ[ιερεὺς διὰ βίου?]; Reynolds, J., Aphrodisias and Rome (London 1982) no. 22. 6Google Scholar; IGR iv 1150 = ASAA xxvii–xxix (1949–1951) 284 no. 38Google Scholar (Camirus): τετειμημένος ἐς τὸ διενεκὲς ὑπὸ τῶν ἐν θεοῖς Αὐτοκρατόρων; SEG xi 492–3 (Laconia)Google Scholar: ὁ ἐν θεοῖς ῾Αδριανός.
45 Note also how the Greek ‘sebastophantes’ used wrongly to be equated with the flamen Augusti, the standard term for an imperial priest in the western empire; in fact the sebastophantes probably displayed an imperial image in the imperial mysteries, which are unique to the Greek world (Pleket, H. W., HThR lviii [1965] 338–41Google Scholar). It is also wrong to imagine that Sebastos is an exact translation of the Latin Augustus. It did indeed become the standard equivalent almost instantaneously (e.g. SEG xxvi 1243 = I.Ephesos iii 902), but its semantic motivation is more strongly religious than Augustus. It also functioned differently; ‘the Sebastoi’ may refer to two joint Augusti, but it may equally refer to a sole emperor and his collective ancestors: e.g. IGR iv 1676 (Apollonia, Mysia; AD 40–1); IGR iv 1509 = Sardis vii.1 45Google Scholar (c. AD 80); IGR iii 493 (Oenoanda; Trajanic); IG v.1 380 (Sparta; AD 115).
46 Thus the question whether theou huios was used of someone who was not divi filius is irrelevant to my case.
47 IGR iv 201 = I.Ilion 81: Αὐτοκράτορα Καίσαρα θεοῦ υἱὸν θεὸν Σε[βα]στὸν, ἀνυπερβλήτοις πράξεσιν κεχ[ρη]μένον καὶ εὐεργεδίαις ταῖς εἰς ἅπ[αν]τας ἀνθρώπους. Cf. IGR iv 309–11, 314 (Augustus, Pergamum); Robert, L., RPh xiii 3 (1939) 181–3Google Scholar = Opera Minora Selecta ii 1334–6 (Tiberius, Myra)Google Scholar; IGR iii 286 (Hadrian, Isaura).
48 IGR iv 1302 = I.Kyme 19, lines 54–7: ἐπἰ ἰερέος τᾶς ῾Ρώμας καὶ Αὐτοκράτορος Καίσαρος θέω ὐίω θέω Σεβάστω ἀρχιέρεος μεγίστω καὶ πατρὸς τᾶς πατρίδος. Cf. IGR iv 594 (Synaos).
49 Robert, L., Hellenica ii (1946) 37–42Google Scholar.
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57 SEG xv 530 (Chios)Google Scholar.
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59 Hist. Zeits. xxix (1921–1922) 217 n. 1 (Apollo)Google Scholar; AA 1903 193, IGR iv 1053, 1061 (Asklepios)Google Scholar.
60 Robert, L., BCH cii (1978) 437–52Google Scholar = SEG xxvii 809.
61 TAM ii 760c (Arneae): Τιβέριον Κλαύδιον Καίσαρα Σεβαστὸν Γερμανικόν, θͺεὸν ἐπιφανῆ, σωτῆρα καὶ το[ῦ] ἡμετέρου δήμου, ᾿Αρνεατῶν ἡ βουλὴ καὶ ὁ δῆμος ἑτείμησεν ταῖς πρώτ[αις τειμαῖς ]. Also e.g. IGR iii 680 = TAM ii 420 (Patara), IGR iv 986 (Samos). I discuss ἐμϕανής and ἐπιϕανής together as I cannot detect any significant differences between them (cf. LSJ s.vv.).
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65 LSJ s.v. ἐπιϕάνεια.
66 Nock (n. 58) 38–41 = Essays 152–6.
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69 Sherk (n. 23) 65, lines 40–1: ἧρξεν δὲ τῶι κόσμωι τῶν δι ᾿ αὐτὸν εὐανγελί[ων ἡ γενέθλιος ἡμέ]ρα τοῦ θεοῦ. ‘Epiphaneia’ was not often used explicitly. For imperial visits epidemia, which lacks religious overtones, was more frequent. Cf. also parousia (Robert, L., Hellenica xiii (1965) 129–31Google Scholar).
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71 IGR iv 145 = Syll. 3 798 (Cyzicus): ἐπεὶ ὁ νέος ῾῾Ηλιος Γἀϊος Καῖσαρ Σεβαστὸς Γερμανικὸς συναναλάμψαι ταῖς ἰδίαις αὐγαῖς καί τὰς δορυφόρους τῆς ἡγεμονίας ἠθέλησεν βασιλήας, ἵνα αὐτοῦ τὸ μεγαλεῖον τῆς ἀθανασίας καὶ ἐν τούτωι σεμνότερον ᾖ . . . Cf. the reference by a Roman governor to the immortality of Livia (I.Ephesos i a 17.65).
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73 SEG xvii 750.
74 SEG xxviii 1227 (Tlos): συνεσταμένη δὲ καὶ Σεβαστῶν γένος κατὰ διαδοχὴν ἰερωτάτην θεῶν ἐπιφανῶν οἶκον ἅφθαρτον καὶ ἀθάνατον εἰς τὸν ἀεὶ χρόνον.
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77 So too Is-Olympic games were modelled on (isos) the traditional games at Olympia, down to the details of organisation, but they were not held at Olympia.
78 Bowersock, G. W., in Cube des souverains (n. 14) 182–4Google Scholar.
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80 IG xii suppl. 124. 25–6 (Eresus): οὐ μόνον τ[ὰν πόλι]ν ἀλ[λὰ καὶ τὰν] [λο]ίπαν ἐπαρχήαν μάρτυρα ποήμενος τᾶς εἰς τὸν θέον εὐσε[βεία]ς. Cf. also IGR iv 1608c = I.Ephesos vii.2 3801 iiGoogle Scholar; I.Ephesos ii 236Google Scholar.
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82 IGR iv 981: εὐσεβείας μὲν [ἕν]εκεν τῆς [εἴ]ς [τ]ε τὴν [ἀρχ]ηγέτιν ῾῾Ηραν καὶ Καίσαρα Γερμανικοῦ υἱὸν Γερμανικὸν Σεβαστὸν καὶ τὸν οἶκον αὐτοῦ, εὐνοίας δὲ καὶ φιλοδόξου διαθέσεως εἰς τὴν πατρίδα καὶ τὴν γερουσίαν. Cf. Milet i.3 134Google Scholar.
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84 See the texts on the aid of Hekate and Zeus to Stratonicea: I.Stratonikeia i 10, 14, 20Google Scholar; ii.i 512, 1101 (with Robert, L., Etudes Anatoliennes [Paris 1937] 29, 516–23Google Scholar).
85 Eusebeia was also shown to family and friends: Dio Or. xxxi 12–15; Ath. Mitt. lxxv (1960) 162, no. 60Google Scholar; Syll. 3 1107; IG ii2 1275.
86 IGR iv 145 = Syll. 3 798: εὔξασθαι μὲν ὑπὲρ τῆς Γαῖου Καίσαρος αἰωνίου διαμονῆς καὶ τούτων σωτηρίας.
87 Note that ‘Menander Rhetor’ ends his recommendations for a speech to the emperor by stressing the importance of prayers to the gods for the emperor (ed. D. A. Russell, N. G. Wilson [Oxford 1981] 92).
88 IGR iii I37 = OGIS 532 = ILS 8781 = Studia Pontica iii 66Google Scholar: ὀμνύω, Δία, Γῆν, ῾῾Ηλιον θεοὺς πάντα[ς καὶ πά]σας καὶ αὐτὸν τὸν Σεβασ[τ]ὸν εὐνοή[σειν Καί]σαρι Σεβαστῶι καὶ τοῖς τ[έκ]νοις ἐγγό[νοις τε] αὐτοῦ πάν[τ]α [τὸ]ν τοῦ [βίου] χρόνον κ[αὶ λό] γωι[κ]αὶ ἔργωι καὶ γνώμη[ι] . . .
89 Knopf, R., Krüger, G., Ruhbach, G., Ausgewählte Märtyrerakten 4 (Tübingen 1965) 3–4Google Scholar.
90 I.Ephesos i a 17.56–61; IGR iv 353: ὑμνῳδοὶ θεοῦ Σεβαστοῦ καὶ θεᾶς ῾Ρώμης.
91 Thesmodoi: Forschungen in Ephesos ii 27Google Scholar = I.Ephesos i a 27. 457–8, 533Google Scholar; ‘composer and reciter of poems for the god Hadrian’ μελοποιοῦ καὶ ῥαψῳδοῦ θεοῦ : BCH ix (1885) 124–8Google Scholar = I. Ephesos i a 22. 3–4, 63–4Google Scholar.
92 Ziehen, L., RE v A (1934) 2031–3Google Scholar; Robert, L., RPh xvii 3 (1943) 184–6Google Scholar.
93 I.Didyma 148 with Robert, L., Hellenica vii (1949) 210Google Scholar.
94 I.Erythrae 205 (paean to Antiochus); IG vii 417.68 (for the Romans at Oropus).
95 Nilsson (n. 3) ii 377–81.
96 Robert, , Etudes (n. 83) 23Google Scholar, who notes that the text needs republishing: [νικ]άσαντα ἐ[γκ]ωμίοις [ἐν]ταῖς ἐπισημοτάταις τͺᾶς ᾿Ασί̣ας πόλεσι ἔς τε τὸν κτίσταν τᾶς πόλιος Σεβαστὸν Καίσαρα καὶ τὸς εὐεργέτας Τεβέριον Καίσαρα καὶ Γερμανικὸν Καίσαρα καὶ τὸν ὅλον οἶκον αὐτῶν καὶ [ἐς τὸς ἄλ]λος τὸς ἐν ἐ[κάσταις ταῖς πόλεσ]ι θεός -καὶ Παναθήναια- ᾿᾿Ισθμια.
97 Frei, J., De certaminibus thymelicis (Diss. Bâle 1900) 34–41Google Scholar; Robert, , Etudes (n. 83) 21–30Google Scholar. Add Ann.Ep. 1974 602Google Scholar and SEG xxix 452 (Thespiae); Corinth viii. 1 14.87 and 19.1–3, 5–7Google Scholar; viii.3 153 with Robert, L., REG lxxix (1966) 743Google Scholar; Hesp. xxxix (1970) 79–83Google Scholar = Ann.Ep. 1969–1970 587Google Scholar with J. and Robert, L., REG lxxxiv (1971) 434 no. 307Google Scholar (Caesarea, Corinth); Hesp. suppl. xii (1967) 189Google Scholar line 22 (Athens, fragmentary). Note also the epideictic speeches delivered by Aelius Aristides at meetings of the provincial assembly (Orr. xxiii, xxvii, xxviii, xxxiv K).
98 E.g. Apollo at Didyma: Robert, L., Hellenica xi–xii (1960) 446–9Google Scholar. Robert suggests that the praise earlier given to the Romans acted as a spur.
99 Nock, A. D., Gnomon viii (1932) 517–18Google Scholar; CAH x (1934) 481Google Scholar. He later collected a number of exceptions to his rule: ‘Deification and Julian’, JRS xlvii (1957) 115–23Google Scholar = Essays (n. 58) 833–46.
100 den Boer, W.; ‘Heerserscultus en ex-voto's in het Romeinse Keizerrijk’, Mededelingen der Koninklijke Nederlandse Akademie van Wetenschappen, Afd. Letter-kunde xxxvi.4 (1973)Google Scholar; he repeated the case in Entr. Hardt xxvi (1980) 36–41Google Scholar.
101 There has been a similarly misconceived discussion about miracles. Many have felt that their extreme rarity is crucial (Nock, ‘Deification and Julian’ [n. 99]), though Morenz, S. (Würzburger Jb. f. d. Altertumswissenschaft iv (1949–1950] 370–8)Google Scholar attempted to use one miracle to show that the imperial cult was not an empty shell. But it is arbitrary and ethnocentric to use the ‘royal touch’ as the criterion of significance; the practice is found almost exclusively in France and England and for peculiar historical reasons.
102 Heiler, F., Prayer (trans. 1932) xiiiGoogle Scholar. Versnel, H. S., ‘Religious mentality in ancient prayer’, in Faith, hope and worship, ed. Versnel, (Leiden 1981) 1–64CrossRefGoogle Scholar accepts that ‘it is possible to describe a phenomenology of prayer in general’ (p. 3).
103 Lienhardt, G., Divinity and experience (Oxford 1961) 219Google Scholar.
104 Votives were made only by individuals; Kötting, B., RAC ix (1976) 1069–70Google Scholar gives the exceptions.
105 SEG ii 718 (?Pednelissus): Αὐτοκράτορι Καίσαρι Τραϊανῶι Ἀδριανῶι Σεβαστῶι καὶ τῷ δήμῳ τὴν εὐχὴν Σάλμων Θ[έ]ονος? ἱερεὺς ⊿ιὸς καὶ προθύτης τ[ῶν Σεβ]αστῶν γενόμενος [ἀνέθη]κεν σὺν γυναικὶ(δηνάρια) σ´.
106 MAMA i 23 (Laodicea Combusta). See also IGR iv 363 (Pergamum, τύχη ἐπήκοος of emperor); MAMA vi 370 (Synnada) is perhaps a votive jointly to Zeus and the emperor; Denk.Öst.Ak. Wiss. lxxv. 1 (1952) 40 no. 78 (Claudiopolis, Antinous)Google Scholar; IGR iv 93 (Mytilene) may be a prayer to Zeus and Augustus, but the text is uncertain (IG xii suppl. p. 23); IG iv 584 (Argos), votive? to Titus; PSI 1261, a private letter from Egypt (212–17), talks of the ‘fortune’ (τύχη) of the emperor saving someone, presumably following a prayer.
107 Div. Jul. 85: ‘apud earn (sc. columnam) longo tempore sacrificare, vota suscipere, controversias quasdam interposito per Caesarem iure iurando distrahere perseveravit (sc. plebs).’
108 Philostorgius, , Kirchengeschichte (Die griechischen christlichen Schriftsteller xxi 3 [1981] 28 no. 17)Google Scholar. Cf. Weinstock, S., RE xxiii (1957) 824–5Google Scholar on propitius.
109 Cf. the disparity between the numbers of votives for Apollo and Dionysos (Taşlıklıoǧlu, Z., Anadolu'da Apollon kült'ü ile ilgili Kaynaklar [Istanbul 1963]Google Scholar; Quandt, W., De Baccho ah Alexandri aetate in Asia Minore culto [Diss. phil. Halle xxi.2 1913])Google Scholar or in the usage of epēkoos (Weinreich, O., ‘ΘΕΟΙ ΕΠΗΚΟΟΙ’, Ath.Mitt. xxxvii [1912] 1–68Google Scholar = Ausgewählte Schriften i [Amsterdam 1969] 131–95Google Scholar).
110 V. G. i 40–2, Aen. i 286–90. Cf. earlier Plut. Dion 29; hymn and prayer to Demetrios Poliorcetes (Ath. 253e); and the Jewish response to Antiochos Epiphanes (Jud. iii 8; Dan. vi 6–14). Such prayers had a long history: A. Supp. 980–2, Eupolis, , Demoi (fr. 117 K)Google Scholar, Xenophon of Ephesus i 12. Similarly Prudentius, looking back from a Christian perspective at the beginning of the fifth century, assumed that prayers formed apart of the ruler cult: c. Symm. i 245–8, 271–7.
111 Odes iv 5Google Scholar:
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
et magni manor Herculis.
112 Epist. ex Pont. iv 9Google Scholar:
nee pietas ignota mea est: videt hospita terra
in nostra sacrum Caesaris esse domo.
stant pariter natusque pius coniunxque sacerdos,
numina iam facto non leviora deo.
neu desit pars ulla domus, stat uterque nepotum,
hie aviae lateri proximus, ille patris.
his ego do totiens cum ture precantia verba,
Eoo quotiens surgit ab orbe dies.
See also the earlier Trist. iii 8. 13–14 and v 2. 43–78.
Livy i 16 talks of prayers to the apotheosized Romulus.
113 Philostr. VA viii 5 (p. 299 Kayser), 7 (p. 310).
114 Aristides, Or. xxvi (K) 32 (with comments of Oliver, J. H., The Ruling Power, Trans. Amer. Philos. Soc. xliii. 4 [Philadelphia 1953] 918)Google Scholar: . I assume the double prayer to be more significant than the change of preposition in the two limbs. The speech dates to AD 143: Klein, R., Die Romrede des Aelius Aristides (Darmstadt 1981) 77Google Scholar.
115 Libanius, Or. xviii 304: . Nock, ‘Deification and Julian’ (n. 99) argued for Christian influence on this passage, but my other parallels show that this is not a necessary assumption.
116 Panegyr. Lat. xii 6.4 (Budé): ‘talem esse debere qui gentibus adoratur, cui toto orbc terrarum privata vel publica vota redduntur, a quo petit navigaturus serenum, peregrinaturus reditum, pugnaturus auspicium.’ Some scholars believe that language of this sort is merely metaphorical, a rhetorical commonplace found in Pliny, Pan. iv 4. I do not believe that the distinction between the literal and the metaphorical is clear or useful; still less do I accept that only the ‘literal’ is significant. A more helpful position, which I cannot argue here, is presented by Sperber, D., Rethinking Symbolism (Cambridge 1975)Google Scholar.
117 Aquinas, , Summa Theologiae Ia 13. 9–10Google Scholar; Geach, P., God and the soul (London 1969) 57–8, 108Google Scholar; also Durrant, M., The logical status of ‘God’ (London 1973) ch. 1CrossRefGoogle Scholar. Note the debate in the early church inspired by the challenge of Arius: Williams, R. D., ‘The logic of Arianism’, JThS xxxiv (1983) 56–81, esp. 81Google Scholar (though note the very different emphasis in Gregg, R. C., Groh, D. E., Early Arianism—a view of salvation [London 1981])Google Scholar.
118 Butterworth, G. W., ‘The deification of man in Clement of Alexandria’, JThS xvii (1915–1916) 157–69Google Scholar; Gross, J., La divinisation du chrétien d'après les pères grecs (Paris 1938)Google Scholar. Note also the Indians' predication of deva (‘god’) of their kings: Gonda, J., Ancient Indian kingship from the religious point of view (Leiden 1966) 24–33Google Scholar.
119 O'Neill, C., New Catholic Encyclopedia xii (1967) 962–3Google Scholar. Anglicans, for whom the practice of invocation was proscribed by one of the 39 Articles, tend to be unhappy and ignorant about the invocation of saints. Note the interesting Anglican controversy reflected in Stone, D., The Invocation of Saints 2 (London/N.Y./Bombay 1909)Google Scholar.
120 Chantraine, P., La notion du divin depuis Homère jusqu'à Platon, Entr. Hardt i (1954) 60Google Scholar: ‘L'aspect humain des dieux est un trait essentiel. L'anthropomorphisme des dieux n'est pas seulement plastique, il est fondamental.’
121 Griffin, J., Homer on life and death (Oxford 1980) ch. 5Google Scholar.
122 Gordon, R. L., ‘The real and the imaginary: production and religion in the Graeco-Roman world’, Art History ii (1979) 5–34CrossRefGoogle Scholar.
123 Vernant, J. P., Myth and thought among the Greeks (London 1983) 328Google Scholar. Cf. Rudhardt (n. 76) 55–111, and ‘Considérations sur le polythéisme’, Revue de théologie et de philosophie xvi 3 (1966) 353–64Google Scholar, = Du mythe, de la religion grecque et de la compréhension de l'autrui (Geneva 1981) 71–82Google Scholar. For a helpful survey of other literature on the naming of gods see Gladigow, B., RAC xi (1981) 1202–38Google Scholar.
124 Philol. lxxx (1924–1925) 339Google Scholar with RhM cxii (1969) 48–53Google Scholar.
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I quote these two maxims from a longer list of maxims preserved on a second-century AD papyrus, but the ideas they express were commonplace. Cf. Artemidorus, , Oneirocr. ii 36, 69Google Scholar, with Dölger, F. J., Antike und Christentum iii (1932) 128–31Google Scholar.
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