David Dutton Research Exercise 3 THRS 320 2.18.

2012

This book discuses the prevalence of Roman imperial cult facilities throughout the territories of Asia Minor. This book emphasizes both the religious and political aspect of this system and how people were involved in it. By comparing the emperor to a deity they made a very clear parallel to the people on how the emperor behaves; give him your respect and offerings and he will show you favor. S.R.F. Price. Rituals and power: the Roman imperial cult in Asia Minor. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1984.

This journal article discusses the imperial cult not as one form of religious thought or even just the deification of the emperor but the process of recreating, hybridizing and suppressing local theological deities as being part of the process of being brought into the imperial cult. Stresses how the imperial cult directly affected the societies of the provinces under the control of Rome. It also identifies the main paradox of the imperial cult being the one constant across all of the Roman Empire, yet being different in almost every territory including Rome itself. Fishwick, Duncan. A critical assessment: on the imperial cult in Religions of Rome. Religious Studies and Theology 28, no. 2 (2009): 129-174

Using the missionary work and travels of St. Paul around 30-60 c.e. a better view of the level of control of the imperial cult in cities is shown. While there was still an influence of imperial culture and spirit there werent as many temples and shrines built to the emperor as most believed from sources they get from Roman officials. It could be that Rome simply attempted to inflate the sense of their own control and power over their provinces or that they had really thought they had so many structures dedicated to the emperor, but due to the bureaucracy of such a larger empire, they never got done. Outside of this St. Paul also shows that the people of Asia Minor, while not devotees to the emperor, still considered him among the pantheon of the other gods, both local and Roman. As well too, they still feared any outside or atheist ideas, knowing that their control by Rome would not warrant it. Miller, Colin. The Imperial Cult in the Pauline Cities of Asia Minor and Greece. Catholic Biblical Quarterly 72, no. 2 (2010): 314-332

This Article looks at how the Jewish people lived under rule of the Roman imperial cult. While they still were under their control, they were able to still practice their faith so long as they gave offerings and respect to the emperor. In contrast the early Christians, who refused to give offerings or concede to the emperor, the majority of the Jewish people were willing to work under Roman rule so as to be able to freely practice their faith. While there were some incidents of disobedience and some trouble with making the Temple in Jerusalem both for their God and for the emperor which was difficult, they seem to be much more amicable than Christianity McLaren, James S. Jews and the Imperial Cult: From Augustus to Domitian. Journal for the Study of the New Testament 27, no. 3 (2005): 257-278

Since this author is a professor with a Ph.D in classical studies, it means this books should be a pretty reliable resources. While it talks about Roman life in general, it does references the imperial cult, shrines to deceased emperors and the genius of the living emperor. Considering these include primary source documents, this should make for pretty good evidence. Harvey, Brian. Roman Lives: Ancient Roman Life as Illustrated by Latin Inscriptions. Chicago: Focus Publishing, 2004

Fishwick is a accredited writer in the field of Roman religion and life and so made a good choice for a source. While my paper does focus on the effects of the imperial cult in the provinces, I was mostly focused on Asian Minor. This book provides a new sources of information based around the spread of the imperial cult West of Carthage in North Africa and in Spain and parts of Gaul. While I may end up focusing more on the Eastern provinces, this is still a valuable source to consider. Fishwick, Duncan. The imperial cult in the Latin West : Studies in the ruler cult of the western provinces of the Roman Empire. New York: New York University Press, 1987

This article looks at three different situations of life in North Africa under Roman rule, from the wealthy client rulers allowed to run things in Romes place to the more rural villages. With the Kingdoms of Numidian rulers, who already and their own sort of deification, it was not hard for them to adopt to a method of seeing the emperor as a god-figure. In another case, Thugga, a village close to Carthage, quickly became a center for Roman immigrants and thus had a quickly growing imperial cult with a temple dedicated to Tiberus. While the locals had a separate cult from the Roman immigrants, it became clearly that adopting the imperial creed

became a fast way to adopt power in the Roman territories and many political positions were reserved to locals for that very reason. Rives, J. B. Imperial Cult and Native Tradition in Roman North Africa. Classical Journal 96, no. 4 (2001): 425-436

While not published by a university press, at first I was skeptical of this book, but I could not pass up a title that directly hits at my topic. This book emphasizes the unique dichotomy between the adherence to imperial creed by those living in Rome and those in the provinces. Clearly, it was a different sort of creature in each different province and in Rome itself, it was the most passive where emperors were not fully deified until they died. Whereas in the provinces the living emperor was always deified and had shrines built in their honor. This book also notes particular examples like Caligula and Nero, who even in life believed they were gods.

Gradel, Ittai. Emperor Worship and Roman Religion. New York: Clarendone Press, 2002

The author of this book explores the connections between the writing of Revelations by John and the imperial cult he seeks to critique in the first century. He shows how important and how powerful the imperial cult was, or by extension the Roman government, and gives evidence to prove that Revelations was not meant as a vision of the end of the world, but more of a message of the evils of imperial persecution and the cruelties of the emperor. Friesen, Steven. Imperial cults and the Apocalypse of John : Reading Revelation in the ruins. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001

While a rather old document that still questions whether the imperial cult was used primarily as a tool or whether it was truly meant to be in reverence to the emperor, this short book does seem to have some merit. It is written in a style that brings out many facts on the status of the imperial cult, but also brings up questions on certain conditions of how the people carried out their dedication to the emperor and thus, provides good questions for my paper. Matthews, Louis. Roman Emperor Worship. New York: New York University Press, 1991