it's often taken for granted that the imperial cult of the roman empire is a concept taken wholesale from the greek-speaking eastern provinces where various ruler cults have existed in the greek city-states and perhaps primarily in the later hellenistic kingdoms for centuries but strands of a sort of ruler cult in the latin west goes back to early republican rome where they honored the spirits of their dead ancestors rather than a living ruler and this distinction proved to be an important one in the development of the early imperial cult during augustus's reign julius caesar was publicly cremated in 44 bc and upon his ashes one of his greek freedmen erected a pillar and offered cult to the dead dictator as being now resident with the gods caesar would later be declared as a deity by the senate in rome as devos julius this also meant that octavian caesar's adopted son could style himself as divi phillies son of a god and he would come to formulate the guidelines for an acceptable provincial cult to the emperor but it seems that the initiative came from the provinces themselves in the winter of 29 bc embassies arrived from asia and bithya to rome with a request to be allowed to establish a cult and build a temple to him in their cities augustus understood that excessive honours in rome might cost him public support he didn't want to appear more than just the first citizen the princeps he was still very much operating in the transformation phase from republic to the imperial system so too much public honours might cause a backlash or claims that he wanted to become king extravagant homage that had been poured on caesar after his victory in the civil war irritated his enemies and was doubtless one of the influences that led to his assassination so to strike a good balance between eastern traditions and roman traditions augustus made it permissible for the provincials to offer cult to him if deo roma was included in the worship dei aroma was a female deity who personified the city of rome the roman citizens on the other hand were instructed to worship deo roma and devas julius that is to say the emperor's ancestor was worshiped not the emperor himself but of course the religious prestige of the father was reflected on augustus the imperial cult or any ruler worship is a very foreign concept to our modern sensibilities did the romans really believe that the emperor was divine it's a complex question the term belief itself a christianized term that suggests a certain degree of emotional engagement whereas pagan religion in the ancient world was more of a mechanical process the ritual was most important not the belief and there was a technical difference between a deus and a divas the deus was a full god whereas the divas had become a god caesar and subsequent emperors might become gods a devi but they would not become day the divas augustus is pictured as being with the gods as for the greek east though there was no such distinction only one word for a god a deified individual was a god in their eyes the worship of the aroma was a greek invention and temple to her honor was first erected in the second century bc her cult would later become associated with that of the emperor the first temple erected to the aroma in rome itself was during hadrian's reign when a massive temple was built between the forum and the flavian amphitheatre when the imperial cult had been established it spread quickly in the eastern provinces in the west most of the imperial cult sites were established by someone from the imperial household which suggests that it came from the highest levels but it soon came to function as a means to bring aristocrats and representatives together where they could show their loyalty to the emperor and the imperial cult centers came to serve as rallying points for the citizenry to express its devotion to rome and the emperor subsequent emperors gradually increased the influence of the imperial cult so that in the second century the imperial cult's power had become so absolute and so consolidated that the cult was effectively a civil religion and a test of loyalty so naturally when a new monotheistic religion started to spread in the empire christianity who refused to offer cult to the emperor and regarded emperor worship as idolatry they were considered atheists and the enemies of the state in the trials of people being accused of being christians a statue of the emperor was present so that the appropriate sacrifices could be carried out by the accused absolving them of any wrongdoing here in the west we tend to see the imperial cult and the pagan religions from a christian point of view but in the eyes of the pagan romans christians were the enemies of the gods disturbing the pax deorum peace of the gods and of the roman state the cult in the eyes of the inhabitants of the roman empire assured the well-being of the state and its inhabitants so when someone declined to offer cult to the emperor and rome that was paramount to treason roman religion was originally animistic a belief in spirits or powers and the personality of the individual the genius of the man and the juno of the woman was the duplicate of that personality identical with the self yet somehow superior to him and determining his earthly destiny and from our earliest records the genius of the peter familius the head of the family was worshipped in every home in connection with the rest of the household gods and the concept of the ruler as the father of the country was very familiar with the romans the title of peter patriot father of the fatherland had been handed out to prominent benefactors of rome a title bestowed to augustus as well so offers were made to the genius or the spirit of augustus not directly to augustus himself many of the cult sites in the latin west were constructed by the imperial family but it's false to assume that every case of the imperial cult was forced on the locals in the provinces the priesthoods of the imperial cult were a prestigious position to hold and it became an important step in the career ladder in the provinces as we've seen the main point was not really the belief in the emperor's divinity but the connection with the imperial cult and the advantages you could derive from it the majority of the surviving evidence for the priesthood consists of honorific inscriptions detailing their deeds while holding the priesthood which sacrifices were carried out what games were held and the feasts honoring the emperor the priesthood also carried a political aspect these priests would often be sent on the behalf of their cities as embassies to the emperor romanization and the emperor cult went hand in hand it changed the relationship between the inhabitants of the provinces and the emperor most people never met the emperor in person but even in the remotest parts of the empire they had direct communications to the ruler the empire had a divine leader who because of his divinity was reachable through sacrifices it carried a new and positive sense of belonging to the roman empire by accident or by design the cult became a key tool to romanize the inhabitants of the empire and a good way to propagate official ideology and as a side note sacrificing to the emperor could actually bring real change to the provinces and the lives of the inhabitants of the empire he was not a remote dictator anymore if he was pleased he poured his blessings on the community if not his curses the cult also generated a sense of commonality among the peoples of the empire who observed a wide range of religious practices imperial worship included features of cult rites generally seen in the roman system temples and altars were consecrated to deified emperors and family members it included prayers addressed and him sung to the divi often accompanied by a range of traditional sacrifices including offerings of wine or water at ritual cakes celebration and sacrifice to the cult was often linked to important days in the life of the divi like birthdays ascension day or occasions of good news communicated from rome like the birth of an heir a battle won or coming of age of an imperial air the imperial cult was initiated by augustus and it changed the whole roman world and it quickly came to spread throughout the empire evidence for worshiping the emperors has been found everywhere in the empire the new stability of the roman empire with augustus's reforms called pax ramana the roman peace equal to that was the pax dioram the peace of the gods in an empire which was relatively unified in sacrificing to the gods refusal to sacrifice to the divine emperor and to the gods meant refusal of the state the worship of the previous emperors as a state cult was officially abolished by the time of maxinimus in the 230s however the cult would continue in some provinces and in special cases within the army but it gradually decreased with the christianization of the empire in the third and fourth centuries thanks for watching the video we hope you like it and don't forget to subscribe to get notified when we upload new videos you