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This book offers a novel approach to the study of the Roman imperial cult, disrupting the traditional, Eurocentric narrative and tendency to relativise the cult’s religious dimension in favour of its political implications. Instead, this collection argues for understanding the imperial cult within diverse local contexts, where it evolved through intricate interactions with existing religious traditions and institutions. Consequently, this volume also contends that the often-promoted, singular narrative of the imperial cult fails to capture its complexity and multipolar nature, making it essential to speak of imperial cults in the plural.
This book examines the cult’s flexibility and regional specificity through epigraphic numismatic, literary and archaeological evidence from Greece, Hispania (Baetica and Lusitania), Asia Minor, Italy, the Lower Danube region, Crete and Cyrene, Egypt and Germania, from the first century BCE to the fourth century CE. These sources reveal that the imperial cult was deeply embedded in local religious and social fabrics, while also engaging with distinct socio-political conditions and impacting various religious discourses, including those of Christian authors. By focusing on the local adaptations and religious innovations that characterised the imperial cult, the book advocates for a more nuanced and context-sensitive analysis.
Sofia Bianchi Mancini earned her PhD from the University of Erfurt, Germany. She is currently a Postdoctoral Researcher and Junior Fellow at the Max-Weber-Kolleg für kultur- und sozialwissenschaftliche Studien at the University of Erfurt. As Project Leader, she is researching religious property and appropriation mechanisms in the Roman Empire, with a focus on structural changes in the Imperial period.
Lorena Pérez Yarza is a Postdoctoral Researcher at the University of Warsaw, Poland, and holds a PhD from the University of Zaragoza, Spain. Her current research explores religious interactions among specific population groups in the western Mediterranean and the transition of epigraphic practices into late antiquity within the ERC project STONE-MASTERS.
Silvia Fogliazza is an archaeologist with extensive expertise in ancient religions and local cults, including their Roman contexts. She earned her PhD from La Sapienza University of Rome, Italy, in an international cotutelle with Paris Nanterre University, France. She is currently affiliated with the International Study Centre of Ancient Religions (Ca’ Foscari University), the research group Poikilia and the Istituto Nazionale di Studi Etruschi, Italy.
List of contents
1 The Polyhedron of Power: Imperial Cults Between Universality and Locality.- 2 The Imperial Cult in Roman Attica: The Temple of Nemesis at Rhamnous.- 3 Hadrianus Augustus Fecit: Emperor’s Agency and Local Traditions in the Configuration of the Imperial Cult in Italica.- 4 Beyond Imposition–Spontaneity: The Establishment of the Imperial Cult in Roman Lusitania.- 5 Augustus, Tiberius, and the Concept of Sōtēr in the Asian Peninsula: An Epigraphic Survey.- 6 Genius, Numen, Divus: Preliminary Reflections on the So-Called Imperial Cult in the Piacenza Area.- 7 Imperial Cults in the Greek Communities of the West Pontic Koinon.- 8 The Representation of the Imperial Figure in the Province of Crete and Cyrene: One Administration and Two Different Realities.- 9 A Study of the Egyptian Kōmastērion and the Imperial Cult.- 10 Epigraphic Representation of the Imperial Figure in the Pass to the Third Century CE in Germania.- 11 Political Legitimacy Through Sacralisation in the Third Century CE.- 12 The Deification of Antinous: From the Imperial Cult to the Christian Apologetic Controversy.- 13 The Empire’s Two Bodies: Some Thoughts on the Christian Emperor in Late Antiquity.
About the author
Sofia Bianchi Mancini earned her PhD from the University of Erfurt, Germany. She is currently a Postdoctoral Researcher and Junior Fellow at the Max-Weber-Kolleg für kultur- und sozialwissenschaftliche Studien at the University of Erfurt. As Project Leader, she is researching religious property and appropriation mechanisms in the Roman Empire, with a focus on structural changes in the Imperial period.
Lorena Pérez Yarza is a Postdoctoral Researcher at the University of Warsaw, Poland, and holds a PhD from the University of Zaragoza, Spain. Her current research explores religious interactions among specific population groups in the western Mediterranean and the transition of epigraphic practices into late antiquity within the ERC project STONE-MASTERS.
Silvia Fogliazza is an archaeologist with extensive expertise in ancient religions and local cults, including their Roman contexts. She earned her PhD from La Sapienza University of Rome, Italy, in an international cotutelle with Paris Nanterre University, France. She is currently affiliated with the International Study Centre of Ancient Religions (Ca’ Foscari University), the research group Poikilia and the Istituto Nazionale di Studi Etruschi, Italy.
Summary
This book offers a novel approach to the study of the Roman imperial cult, disrupting the traditional, Eurocentric narrative and tendency to relativise the cult’s religious dimension in favour of its political implications. Instead, this collection argues for understanding the imperial cult within diverse local contexts, where it evolved through intricate interactions with existing religious traditions and institutions. Consequently, this volume also contends that the often-promoted, singular narrative of the imperial cult fails to capture its complexity and multipolar nature, making it essential to speak of imperial cults in the plural.
This book examines the cult’s flexibility and regional specificity through epigraphic numismatic, literary and archaeological evidence from Greece, Hispania (Baetica and Lusitania), Asia Minor, Italy, the Lower Danube region, Crete and Cyrene, Egypt and Germania, from the first century BCE to the fourth century CE. These sources reveal that the imperial cult was deeply embedded in local religious and social fabrics, while also engaging with distinct socio-political conditions and impacting various religious discourses, including those of Christian authors. By focusing on the local adaptations and religious innovations that characterised the imperial cult, the book advocates for a more nuanced and context-sensitive analysis.
