1 Caesars as gods

See the Roman imperial cult and mos maiorum for background.

Portrait Name Dates Comments
Julius 48-44 BC Julius Caesar was a successful and popular military general before being appointed dictator. ‘Julius Caesar was the first historical Roman to be officially deified.’ (“Julius Caesar” 2016)
Augustus 27 BC - 14 AD In 30 BC the provinces of Asia and Bithynia requested permission to worship him as deliverer (saviour). ‘He “had come into being” through the Julian star and was therefore the divi filius (son of the divinity).’ (“Imperial Cult (Ancient Rome)” 2016)
Tiberius 14-37 AD ‘Tiberius refused to be worshipped as a living god, and allowed only one temple to be built in his honor at Smyrna.’ (“Tiberius” 2016)
Caligula 37-41 AD ‘Augustus had the public worship his spirit on occasion, but Dio describes this as an extreme act that emperors generally shied away from. Caligula took things a step further and had those in Rome, including senators, worship him as a tangible, living god.’ (“Caligula” 2016)
Claudius 41-54 AD ‘He refused the request of Alexandrian Greeks to dedicate a temple to his divinity, saying that only gods may choose new gods.’ ‘Already, while alive, he received the widespread private worship of a living Princeps and was worshipped in Britannia in his own temple in Camulodunum.’ (“Claudius” 2016)
Nero 54-68 AD He ‘allowed the cult of his own genius as paterfamilias of the Roman people.’ ‘Tacitus reports a senatorial proposal to dedicate a temple to Nero as a living divus.’ (“Imperial Cult (Ancient Rome)” 2016)

Notes:

  • Camulodunum (Camelot?), now Colchester, was capital of Roman Britain.

2 Caesars, Jews, and Christians

Tiberius expelled Jews from Rome in 19 AD, allowing them to return in 31 AD: ‘When the cult of Isis was driven out of Rome (19 C.E.) the Jews also were expelled… The synagogues were closed, the vessels burned, and 4,000 Jewish youths were sent upon military service to Sardinia. After the death of Sejanus (31) the emperor allowed the Jews to return.’ (Jacobs and Ochser 1906)

Claudius expelled Jews from Rome in 49 AD. According to Suetonius, “Since the Jews constantly made disturbances at the instigation of Chrestus, he expelled them from Rome.” (“Suetonius on Christians” 2016) See also Acts 18.2.

In 64 AD Nero blamed Christians for the fire of Rome. According to Tacitus (Annals XV.44):

The next thing was to seek means of propitiating the gods, and recourse was had to the Sibylline books, by the direction of which prayers were offered to Vulcanus, Ceres, and Proserpina. Juno, too, was entreated by the matrons, first, in the Capitol, then on the nearest part of the coast, whence water was procured to sprinkle the fane and image of the goddess. And there were sacred banquets and nightly vigils celebrated by married women. But all human efforts, all the lavish gifts of the emperor, and the propitiations of the gods, did not banish the sinister belief that the conflagration was the result of an order. Consequently, to get rid of the report, Nero fastened the guilt and inflicted the most exquisite tortures on a class hated for their abominations, called Christians by the populace. Christus, from whom the name had its origin, suffered the extreme penalty during the reign of Tiberius at the hands of one of our procurators, Pontius Pilatus, and a most mischievous superstition, thus checked for the moment, again broke out not only in Judaea, the first source of the evil, but even in Rome, where all things hideous and shameful from every part of the world find their centre and become popular. Accordingly, an arrest was first made of all who pleaded guilty; then, upon their information, an immense multitude was convicted, not so much of the crime of firing the city, as of hatred against mankind. Mockery of every sort was added to their deaths. Covered with the skins of beasts, they were torn by dogs and perished, or were nailed to crosses, or were doomed to the flames and burnt, to serve as a nightly illumination, when daylight had expired. Nero offered his gardens for the spectacle, and was exhibiting a show in the circus, while he mingled with the people in the dress of a charioteer or stood aloft on a car. Hence, even for criminals who deserved extreme and exemplary punishment, there arose a feeling of compassion; for it was not, as it seemed, for the public good, but to glut one man’s cruelty, that they were being destroyed.

References

“Caligula.” 2016. Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Caligula&oldid=728199259.

“Claudius.” 2016. Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Claudius&oldid=728424613.

“Imperial Cult (Ancient Rome).” 2016. Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Imperial_cult_(ancient_Rome)&oldid=725249203.

Jacobs, Joseph, and Schulim Ochser. 1906. “ROME.” Jewish Encyclopedia. http://jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/12816-rome.

“Julius Caesar.” 2016. Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Julius_Caesar&oldid=728143724.

“Suetonius on Christians.” 2016. Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Suetonius_on_Christians&oldid=715460427.

“Tiberius.” 2016. Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Tiberius&oldid=728702533.