Roman imperial cult

The cult of the Egyptian god Antinous is discussed in the paper. Antinous acted in the image of Osiris and Horus, absorbed the features of Apollo, Dionysus and other heroes, showed himself as a divine child and the pharaoh, was deified in Egyptian and Greco-Roman models that included the elements of apotheosis of the emperor and the posthumous journey of the Egyptian king to heaven. All these images allowed matching Antinous and the emperor. The Roman ruler was worshipped in Egypt as Theos Synnaos along with Antinous. Comparing the emperor with the deified Hadrian’s minion was a form of the Interpretatio Aegyptiaca of the image of the Roman ruler in the valley of the Nile. During the Great Antinous Games, in which boys and girls took part, Antinous received the images of a hero, a god, and a demon-spirit, from whom miracles and predictions were expected. The image of Antinous was combined with the image of a wreath that symbolized the victory over death, the birth of the divine child and rebirth in the afterlife.

Drawing on Mikhail Bakhtin’s theory of double-voicedness and James Scott’s theory of public and hidden transcripts, this essay investigates the colonial context of Romans 13:1–7 with particular attention to the Roman imperial cult. It is my contention that Paul attempts to persuade the audience to resist the imperial cult, whilst negotiating colonial power and authority. It is assumed that colonial discourse is, by nature, a double-voiced discourse in that the public transcript of the dominant and the hidden transcript of the suppressed coexist in a continued state of internal tension and conflict. Seen in this light, Paul as a colonised subject parodies the public transcript of the elites in his own hidden transcript. However, Paul’s doubled-voiced discourse finally turns out to be subversive against the dominant culture by suggesting that ultimate honour, fear, and authority should not be due to the rulers of the Roman Empire but to God.

Are Scandinavian monarchs worshipped as state gods, as part of an inherited  mystery apotheosis cult? Her Majesty Queen Margrethe II of Denmark is the supreme authority of the state Church of Denmark (Den Danske Folkekirke.) Supreme authority means; she is the greatest,utmost in power, rule and dominion of the Imperial cult temples of Denmark. Could her Majesty the Queen be in-fact the implied divinity (deity/god) worshipped by the state cult religion, alongside the deceased and deified monarchs of old?
In ancient Scandinavia, reigning monarchs claimed divine lineage to the pagan gods Odin and Freyr. In Christianized Scandinavia this legitimation of the divine right of monarchs would be based on descent from saintly kings. In order to understand this mystery, we must turn to the bible and history, making a careful examination in order to determine which god (or gods) are truly being worshipped in Scandinavia, under the state religion.

Agrippa's Pantheon remains the subject of lively debates. A much-discussed passage is found in Cassius Dio's Roman History (53.27.2-3), which is most often treated as a stand-alone, self-explanatory whole. However, in order to be comprehensible, each text needs a broader range of reference points in order for meaning to be extracted. In this paper, I analyze part of that contextual spectrum (including Dio's attitude to the so-called imperial cult and the roles played in his narrative by the cults of both Augustus and Caesar), and I argue that we should view his account of the Pantheon with considerable caution. That account contains three different narrative threads: one based on the annalist tradition, but also one which drew on the author's own experiences, and one that constituted a literary and rhetorical overlay aimed at realizing the general objectives of the Roman History. In this account, the 'former Caesar' has been placed in between twice over: between the author's historical knowledge and his present circumstances, and between the realms of gods and humans. That imprecise nature of this expression was no accident. I believe the expression was not so much a reference to a specific statue as a figure of speech emphasizing the difference, fundamental from Dio's perspective, between the incumbent emperor and his deceased predecessor.

Rome matters. Roman religion is, basically, the religion of one of the hundreds of Mediterranean city states. Many features of this type of territorially bound religion, centred around a politically independent community, characterise Roman religion down to the end of antiquity. However, Roman cults, gods, iconography, rituals, texts, were exported to many places throughout the Roman Empire. A change of the point of view produces similarly ambivalent results. Many of the religious traditions or concepts that attracted people in Rome originated outside of Rome and were shared by many non-Romans. At the same time, even the major religious traditions of antiquity gained distinct features at Rome and these Roman varieties informed developments outside Rome. After all, Rome was a capital, politically for the Imperium Romanum, religiously not only for the cult of the Capitoline triad, but for Isis or Christianity as well. It is one of the many attractions of the theme of “Roman religion” that in dealing with the traditions of a metropolis (and its growing “hinterland”) we are able to look into transformations reaching far beyond. At the same time we are reminded of one of the truths of modern globalisation: place and local culture matters.
Religion matters. Ancient religion is not longer the object of – at best – antiquarian research, interested in “Altertümer” and pre-rational behaviour, i. e. the European exotic. With the cultural and the following “turns,” religious institutions, signs and practices, religious mentalities and language, have come to the centre of mainstream historical and literary studies. Thus, analysis of religion itself can no longer be handled as an isolated sector of culture but has to be contextualized within its cultural, social, and economic setting and has to be analysed for its political function and its use in legitimating power or resistance.

Aims
The volume aims to help its readers
- put the manifold religious symbols, discourses, practices, which they encounter in literally every field of ancient studies, into a larger framework;
- offer a broad range of methodological approaches to seemingly intransigent phenomena; the presuppositions and limits of these approaches will be made explicit;
- offer basic information about the most important religious symbols and institutions; and
- attempt at coherent narratives, yet not to formulate new orthodoxies, but rather to suggest that narrative is an important form of historical explanation and a didactically useful tool.

It has been long recognized that chap 13 of the book of Revelation is a thinly veiled polemic—using language from Daniel 7—against the Roman Imperial cult 1 The two beasts presented in this chapter represent respectively the Roman Imperium and the political-cultic personnel connected with its cult us on the local level 2 A problem, however, arises with vv 13-15, a description of signs and wonders performed by the second beast in the imperial cult It (the second beast) works great signs, even making fire come down from heaven to earth in the sight of men, and by the signs which it is allowed to work m the presence of the beast, it deceives those who dwell on earth, bidding them make an image for the beast and it was allowed to give breath to the image of the beast so that the image of the beast should even speak Is this to be taken as simply part of the mythological imagery of the chapter as a whole, which can speak of the Empire, for example, as a "beast rising out of the sea, with ten horns and seven heads, with ten diadems upon its horns and a blasphemous name upon its heads" (v 1), or which can speak of the local cult officials as a "beast which rose out of the earth," having horns like a lamb, but speaking like a dragon (v 13)? Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1906) 374, 358 2 The second beast arises from the land, that is, locally (v 11), the first beast is its source of authority (v 12), the second beast forces the population to make an image of the first beast (v 14) and to worship it (v 15)

Résumé:
La consécration d’un autel aux cultes impériaux est un acte complexe entre prescription rituelle, affirmation d’une allégeance à Rome et autoreprésentation du dédicant. L’étude de l’emplacement des différents monuments permet de mettre en avant  ces stratégies dédicatoires et d’analyser chaque échelle de célébration du culte. Cependant, réfléchir à la place prise par l’autel à la période julio-claudienne revient finalement à étudier l’apparition et l’intégration des cultes liés à l’empereur dans les cités de Gaule. Ainsi, plus qu’une enquête sur la visibilité de l’autel, l’objectif principal de cette tentative de remise en contexte est un questionnement sur le caractère structurant des cultes impériaux dans l’organisation urbaine des cités au début de l’Empire.

Abstract:
The consecration of an altar to the imperial cult is a complex act between the ritual prescription, the affirmation of allegiance to Rome and the self-representation of the dedicant. The study of the location of some different monuments allows us to highlight these dedicatory strategies and analyze each stage of the worship celebration. However, thinking about the role played by the altar during the Julio-Claudian period actually means studying the emergence and the integration of the cults associated with the emperor in the cities of Gaul. Thus, more than an investigation on the visibility of the altar, the main objective of this suggested recontextualization is a reflection on the structuring nature of the imperial cult in the urban organization of the cities at the beginning of the Empire.

"The Roman principia with chapels of the Standards, the Genius castrorum and the Imperial cult in Egypt are of special interest. There were some examples of principia with such chapels and temples. As a rule, these monuments were built not earlier than at the end of the 3rd century A.D., during the Diocletian’s reign. These examples are found in such fortresses as ‘Abu Sha’ar, Dionysias, Narmouthis, el-Kab, Nag el-Hagar and Tell el-Herr. However there are some principia which were erected early in the 1st – 3rd centuries A.D. in such Roman fortresses of Egyptian Eastern desert as Mons Claudianus, Maximianon and Qasr Banat. The most interesting example of principia was located in the Roman fortress which was built around the Luxor temple at the beginning of the 4th century A.D. There the temple of the Imperial cult and Genius castrorum with wonderful paintings became the centre of the significant late Roman fortified ensemble.
One could suppose that main part of principia in Egypt have more common features with civil Imperial cult temples of the 2nd — 3rd centuries A.D. and their Hellenistic prototypes than earlier examples of these monuments. This fact can be explained by the general tendency of monumentalization of these edifices in the Roman Empire on the whole during the period of the 2nd – 3rd centuries A.D. The architecture of the principia became more luxurious because of increase of the Imperial cult’s significance.
On the one hand, these principia were influenced by the Roman military culture which was connected with creating camps and fortresses. On the other hand they were impacted by the Orient and hellenistic cults of the kings. The architecture of the Roman Imperial cult temple in Luxor was connected with some aspects of the ancient Egyptian cult of divine kingship. The architectural peculiarities of these monuments and iconography of their visual art which appeared in the case of these influences gave some effect on the Christian culture. Such elements as apse, ciborium or baldachin and nimbus got a wide expansion in the Christian art and architecture. Some of these features came to Rome from the culture of the ancient Orient. Therefore temples of the Imperial cult and Genius castrorum in Egypt are examples of the connection between art of the ancient Orient and Byzantine, early Christian and Medieval art and architecture."

La nascita e la diffusione dei cicli statuari giulio-claudii come autentico fenomeno sociale caratterizzante la società urbana romana della prima età imperiale, indissolubilmente legate all'affermazione dell'idea dinastica ai vertici della res publica romana. Augusto elabora i valori di una vera e propria religione civile che riconosce in lui e in quanti della sua famiglia sono legati alla successione i soli destinatari di manifestazioni di culto e fa di ogni cittadino romano un sacerdote. Gli edifici intorno ai quali ruota la vita urbana sono i santuari di questa religione. Tutto ciò su un binario parallelo a quello del culto imperiale rivolto ai principi in qualità di divi.

Before Vespasian returned to Rome to take up the reins of imperial government, he reportedly had a vision in the Serapeum of Alexandria and, as the New Serapis, healed two men. These wonders came to define Vespasian's time in Egypt and yet, for modern readers, their prominence in the story of the emperor's rise to power creates an apparent inconsistency. The same man who on his deathbed joked about his impending divinization also apparently played the part of a god at the beginning of his reign. Such contradictions are to be expected in the colourful accounts of emperors' lives, but this particular one invites further investigation because of its significance to the historical development of the conception of the emperor's divinity. Through detailed consideration of the prospects for reception of these wonders both during and after the Flavian dynasty, this article seeks to demonstrate the predominance of Domitianic influence on the story of Vespasian's wonders. Domitian's reign saw a new emphasis on the living emperor's divinity, which diminished again under Trajan. Nevertheless, wonders were a means through which the charisma of the emperor was manifested in Flavian Rome and later.

In this short, introductory essay, I introduce the Revelation of St. John by providing the following elements: a short overview of the work, the historical context in which the book was written, some examples of the elements that make this work an example of the apocalyptic genre, and my own beliefs about the purpose for the writing of the book itself. I also provide a bibliography of sources for further reading.

Roman Ephesos had a diverse religious community. Numerous studies have focused on one or several Ephesian cults, but few have emphasised the intertwinement of these cults. This article stresses the intimate connection between two of the most important cults of Roman Ephesos — the cult of Artemis Ephesia and the imperial cult — and the Ephesian civic institutions. Though approaching the cults as local institutions, and therefore acknowledging the power relations at play within the city of Ephesos, it also takes the involvement of the Ephesian community into account. The intertwinement of both cultic institutions and the city, summarised by the term ‘Ephesian triad’, becomes evident through my discussion and interpretation of the urban topography, the religious activities and the civic coinage of Roman Ephesos. In view of its connection with the cult of Artemis Ephesia, the rise and impact of the imperial cult in Ephesos had fundamental consequences for the communal civic identity of Ephesos: did Ephesos continue to be the city of Artemis Ephesia it had been for so long?

The establishment of Augustus’ monarchy sees the development of a whole set of new means aimed at visualizing the princeps’s position, a position notoriously hard to frame in legal terms and the more so relying on what has been felicitously dubbed ‘the power of images’. As the principate settles, evolves and adapts, what becomes of those quintessential signs of Augustus’ public persona? This study attempts to trace the post-Augustan uses three of them are put to over especially the first two centuries AD: the civic crown; Augustus’ ‘lucky’ sign, the Capricorn; and the shield of virtue dedicated by SPQR. While acting as powerful and established signifiers of specific qualities of the emperor, at the same time these images conceptualize him in a way increasingly at odds with new political realities. The differing ways in which varying agents in subsequent generations (particularly in the timeframe of 69-98 AD) reuse, overwrite and process these symbolic expressions in various visual media shed a light on strategies both of legitimization and of relating oneself to the emperor.

The erection of the monopteros of Roma and Augustus marked a significant transformation of the spatial concept of the Athenian Acropolis, which had remained virtually unchanged for the following centuries since the Periclean building program in the second half of the 5th cent. B.C. Whereas recent research was mainly concerned with the historical contextualization of the monopteros, several problems regarding its archaeological evidence have long been neglected.
This desideratum gave reason to reanalyse the monopteros in its entire spectrum, i.e. in respect of its architecture, its localisation in the spatial and ideal concept of the Acropolis and finally its meaning in the sociopolitical context of Augustan Athens. In contrast to the traditional localisation, the ashlar foundation in the east of the Parthenon must be excluded as the original site of the monopteros, as indicated by the reconstructed stratigraphy. However, due to the lack of firm evidence, the actual location remains unknown. Subsequently the supposed Augustan dating of the repair of the Erechtheum, which is based on a circular argument anyway, must be called into question. The dedication of the monopteros was carried out as an initiative of the Athenian elite in late summer of 19 B.C. and programmatically referred to Augustus‘ diplomatic victory over the Parthians.

Настоящая книга представляет собой пятый том монументального труда великого русского филолога Ф. Ф. Зелинского «История античных религий». Если два первых тома были известны русскому читателю по изданиям начала XX века и переизданиям в постсоветский период, то третий, четвертый и пятый тома впервые переведены нами с польского языка, на котором были написаны остальные тома, создававшиеся ученым в 1920–1940-х годах в Польше и Германии.

Abstract
In Res Gestae 8, 5 Augustus boasts of having renewed «multa exempla maiorum» and of being himself responsible of «multarum rerum exempla». This could appear in line with Roman tradition about mos mairoum; actually, this statement, while giving moral excellence to Augustus (as the Greek RGDA declare more explicitly), can supports a monarchical rule. This is shown by comparison with Greek political thought (Isocr. Nic.; Pl. Leg. 709ss.; Arist. Pol. 1285a-b), with Cicero, with several texts of Julio-Claudian age.

Key-words: Res gestae; monarchy; example.


M. Capasso (a cura di), Quattro incontri sulla Cultura Classica (I Quaderni di ‘Atene e Roma’, 6), Lecce, Pensa Multimedia 2019 (il volume contiene gli Atti dell’VIII Congresso Nazionale dell’Associazione Italiana di Cultura Classica, Roma 18-19 ottobre 2014, “La pacificazione di Augusto fra realtà e propaganda”), pp. 103-148.

A lo largo de sus tres siglos de historia en la época imperial romana, la función principal de la Guardia Pretoriana fue la protección de la figura del emperador allí donde este se encontrara, ya fuera actuando permanentemente como su escolta y guardia personal  en el palacio imperial o como última línea de defensa en el ámbito militar. Pero como cuerpo de élite del ejército romano acantonado en la capital del Imperio también se les encomendó el mantenimiento y, en su caso, restablecimiento del orden allí donde fuera necesario. Así, la Guardia Pretoriana se conformaría como una de las piezas clave en la historia imperial romana como uno de los actores principales no solo a nivel militar sino también a nivel político, papel este último muy alejado de las funciones iniciales para las que fue creada pero que poco a poco fue cobrando especial relevancia tanto por su cercanía a la figura de los sucesivos emperadores como por su acantonamiento en la capital imperial. Consciente de su poder, no fueron pocas las ocasiones en que los pretorianos utilizaron su posición e influencias para dirigir y aprovechar los habituales cambios políticos en la cúspide del poder . Pero, aun siendo menos conocida, no sería menor la importancia bélica que en los campos de batalla protagonizarían los pretorianos en numerosas ocasiones como unidad militar y que a la postre les consagraría como uno de los pilares fundamentales del régimen imperial prácticamente desde su creación, en tiempos de Augusto , hasta su desmantelamiento llevado a cabo por el emperador Majencio.
Como cuerpo de élite del ejército, reconocidos como los mejor entrenados y preparados como demostraron en no pocas ocasiones, y en base a su especial misión recibían una paga superior al del resto de soldados; y su tiempo de servicio era varios años menor, por lo que resultaban ser la envidia del resto de unidades militares y en particular de aquellos que servían en el limes del imperio . Es por ello que trataremos aquí de realizar un estudio esquemático sobre su formación, estructura, actuaciones, etc. con el fin de ahondar en el conocimiento de esta institución muchas veces denostada por algunas de sus intervenciones.

his article surveys various concepts of imperial deification and its historical evolution. Three stages are identified. In the first stage, an eyewitness of the apotheosis is attested and a senatorial decree awarding divine honours is issued after the funeral. In the second stage, a senatorial decree is  routinely issued before the funeral and an apotheosis is performed symbolically, by the release of an eagle  from the funeral pyre. In the third stage, Roman emperors are often buried in a double funeral, although the exact motives of this practice are still disputed.

An unpublished Master's Diploma Thesis, which deals with the Imperial cult and propaganda during the reign of Roman emperor Domitian  (I apologise for little mistakes (mostly grammar/spelling and numbering of pictures), which were not fully edited out).

El sistema monárquico, inspirado en los patrones de gobierno helenísticos, se instauró a fines del siglo I a.C. en Roma. Para fundamentar la estabilidad de una sociedad en crisis, desintegrada y heterogénea, fue necesario levantar el Estado sobre los altares, sacralizar la política y a su principal representante, el princeps. El poder monárquico fue legitimado a través de la recuperación de mitos y de ceremonias de tradición republicana que permitían la exaltación de individuos considerados “salvadores de la patria” y “benefactores de la comunidad” y por medio de la creación de una imagen ideal de la familia imperial. El tema de la tesis ha sido abordado desde una perspectiva semiológica, que permite diferenciar claramente propaganda política de culto imperial, en función de los impulsores y emisores de los mensajes políticos. Aunque se ofrece en una primera parte una visión general del fenómeno propagandístico y de la política religiosa romana durante los dos primeros siglos de nuestra era, a través de una relectura crítica de las fuentes clásicas, el análisis se centra en la manifestación de este fenómeno en las ciudades hispanas: en las tres capitales provinciales, en municipios y en ciudades estipendiarias. Se ha reconstruido el contexto urbano en el que cobraron sentido los epígrafes y grupos escultóricos imperiales, rodeados de los monumentos dedicados por el consejo decurional, provincial o por las clientelas personales, a los miembros más destacados de las elites locales, con cuyo apoyo fue posible la transformación urbanística de todo el occidente europeo. El análisis de las fuentes epigráficas, escultóricas, numismáticas, arqueológicas e historiográficas permite descartar por completo la adscripción funcional de determinados espacios al culto imperial y ofrecer nuevas propuestas de interpretación. [ABSTRACT]The monarchical system, inspired by patterns of Hellenistic government, was established in Rome in the late first century BC. In support of the stability of a society in crisis, disintegrated and heterogeneous, it was necessary to lift the state on the altars, to make sacred politics and his representative man, the princeps. The monarchical power was legitimized through the reinstatement of myths and ceremonies of the republican tradition, that allowed the exaltation of individuals regarded as "saviors of the motherland" and "benefactors of the community", and by creating an image of the ideal imperial family. The theme of the thesis has been approached from a semiologic perspective, which allows to distinguish clearly political propaganda from imperial worship, depending on who were the issuers of political messages. Although offered in the first part an overview of the phenomenon of political propaganda and roman religious politic during the first two centuries AC, through a critical re-reading of the classical sources, the analysis focuses on its manifestation in the Hispanic cities: the three provincial capitals, municipalities and oppida stipendiaria. The urban context is been rebuit in the sense that claimed the headings and imperial sculptural groups, surrounded by monuments dedicated by the decurional council, the provincial council or by personal customers, the most prominent members of local elites, whose support was possible the urban transformation throughout Western Europe. The analysis of the epigrafical, sculptural, numismatic, archaeological and historiographic sources completely ruled out allowing the attachment of certain functional spaces at the imperial worship and offer new proposals for interpretation.

Tiberius Claudius Nero, 16 Kasım M.Ö 42’de Roma’da doğdu. Annesi ve babası Claudius’lar ailesine mensuptur. O daha 3 yaşında iken annesi Livia Drusilla, babasından boşanarak Augustus ile evlendi. Annesinin yaptığı bu evlilik Tiberius’un hayatında dönüm noktası oldu.
M.Ö 24’de Augustus’un teşvikiyle quaestor olarak siyasete dahil oldu. Böylece Tiberius’un imparator olmadan önceki serüveni başlamış oldu. Augustus tarafından pek fazla sevilmedi. Hatta Augustus onun yaşamının son bulması için çok tehlikeli Parth, Germen ve Gallia seferlerine göndermiştir. Bu seferlerde görev alan Tiberius ise Augustus’un istediğinin aksine başarıyla dönmüştür. Hatta Tiberius imparator ile olan görüş ayrılıklarından dolayı da Rodos’a inzivaya çekilmiştir.
Augustus’un kızı Julia ile yaptığı evlilik Tiberius’un artık devlet içerisinde gün geçtikçe büyüyen hakimiyeti sağlar. Ayrıca Augustus’un aile içerisinde halefi olarak düşündüğü kimselerin de talihsiz olarak yaşamlarını yitirmeleri Tiberius’u tek varis durumuna getirmiştir. Augustus’un 14 yılında ölmesiyle, senatonun toplantısı sonrası Roma imparatoru olmuştur.
Tiberius’un döneminde devlet otoritesi artmış, toplumun ahlak ve eğitim gibi sorunları ile yakından ilgilenilmiş, dış politikada dikkatli davranarak başkalarının zafiyet durumlarından yararlanma durumunu bırakmış, fetihler yerine devletin askeri gücünü yapılandırmış, tasarruf politikaları uygulanmış, meydana gelen doğal afetler sonrası yerleşim yerleri yeniden imar edilmiş, Augustus döneminde başlayan Romalılaştırma politikaları sürdürülmüş ve imparatorların Roma’da dini bir kült haline gelmesine ise karşı çıkmıştır. 16 Mart 37’de Misenum’da 77 yaşında ölmüştür.

Political image-making -- especially from the Age of Augustus, when the Roman Republic evolved into a system capable of governing a vast, culturally diverse empire -- is the focus of this study. Explored are how various artistic and ideological symbols of religion and power, based on Roman Republican values and traditions, were taken over or refashioned to convey new ideological content in the constantly changing political world of imperial Rome from the fourth century B.C.E. down to the second and third centuries C.E.  Religion, civic life, and politics went hand-in-hand and formed the very fabric of ancient Roman society.  Visual rhetoric was a most effective way to communicate and commemorate the ideals, virtues, and political programs of the leader of the Roman State.  Public memorialization could keep Roman leaders and their achievements before the eyes of the populace in Rome and in cities under Roman sway.  A leader’s success demonstrated that he had the favor of the gods -- a form of legitimization crucial for sustaining the Roman Principate, or government by a “First Citizen.”

This thesis is concerned with the foundations of Livia’s position in the Roman state. They are delineated by an investigation of important events of her life, the diverse privileges given to her, and the patterns that were established to enable subjects to express their loyalty to her and the imperial power. The study is based on a multifarious collection of material including literary texts, inscriptions, statues, coins, and gems. The material is organized, both theoretically and methodologically, according to the three principal roles Livia performed, viz. mater/uxor, patrona, and diva. The focus is on analysing how the content and enactment of these roles were transformed as a consequence of the development of the principate and Livia’s increasing status within it. The thesis has, therefore, a chronological structure and spans a hundred years, from Livia’s birth in 58 BCE up until her deification in 42 CE.
    The three roles provide the structure of this study and are discussed in one chapter each. In the concluding chapter they are placed side by side and a comprehensive view is taken of their chronological progression so as to present a thorough analysis of the stages in the formation of Livia’s position. A picture emerges of how female imperiality became a constituent part of the early principate, and how Livia was established as its princeps femina.

The imperial cult, emerging at the end of a long evolutionary process including the worship of notable individuals, Hellenistic kings, Roman officials and the goddess Roma, and based upon the same model of benefactory exchange, constituted the natural reaction of Greek cities to the appearance of dominant Rome, the characteristically Greek way of incorporating the superior emperor into the familiar political and religious order. The traditional cult provided the requisite institutions: priests, temples, statues, sacrifices, festivals and games. In the Peloponnese, the onomastic and iconographic assimilations of emperors to traditional Greek gods, their shared worship, the reuses and reconsecrations of temples and the festivals of the Kaisareia and Sebasteia constituted the primary expressions of the imperial cult. The worship of members of the domus augusta as well as of prestigious local benefactors, its complex ritual, the grandeur of the sacred procession, the duties of the city officials and their control mechanism are laid out in elaborate detail in the lex sacra of the city of Gytheion. In the brief reply letter of Emperor Tiberius, the polite refusal of isotheai timai manifests the self-restricting tendencies of the Roman emperors in the handling of their own cult.

The book attempts to present –for the first time in the international bibliography– a detailed description of the historical life of Abydos (Άβυδος) of Hellespont (Ελλήσποντος, Δαρδανέλλια); the latter was an important ancient and medieval Greek city, situated on the Asiatic shore of Dardanelles, at the once narrowest part of the local Straits (usually named "Stenon of Abydos") and in the surrounding area of the promontory of Nara (an Ottoman and modern Turkish naval base, where free access is prohibited). The monograph also detects the  relations between Abydos and other known settlements in the wider region of northwestern Asia Minor (Troad, Hellespont, Mysia, Hellespontine Phrygia).

Αbydos was founded predominantly as a colony of Miletus (ca. 680-650 BC) and had a continuous historical life that lasted about 2.000 years (mid. 7th c. BC - early 14th c. AD). The prosperous ancient city minted various coins between 6th c. BC - 3rd c. AD. Its lively port was used for centuries as a key point for the passage from Europe to Asia and the cruise from the Mediterranean to the Black Sea (and vice versa) as well as a major customs station ("telonion Abydou" during the Roman imperial years, "demosion teloneion" or "kommerkion" or "dekateuterion Abydou" during the medieval period of the city). Byzantine Abydos was also an important administrative center, a military and naval base and an ecclesiastical seat (bishopric and later metropolis).

However, the long and turbulent history of Abydos and its region is virtually unknown in modern years, despite the fact that the city's reputation was particularly widespread during ancient and medieval times in the Mediterranean world. Moreover, for many reasons noted in the book, the settlement does not exist archaeologically in the last two centuries. In short, Abydos constitutes a very interesting case of a virtually lost city during the modern times.

For various reasons, also described in the book, the importance of Abydos had declined during the 13th c. AD and the city was finally abandoned by its population in the early 14th c. AD., mainly because of the Turkish threat in the area. From mid. 15th c. AD the new city of Çanakkale was established gradually (initially named as Kale-i Sultaniye) 5-6 km to the south of Abydos. The ruins of the abandoned urban area of ​​the latter have been systematically pillaged -mainly for construction and other purposes- between the 14th - early 19th c. AD.

For the reconstruction of  the long historical life of Abydos (mid. 7th c. BC - early 14th c. AD) and an in-depth analysis of its numerous and largely unknown institutions, the study relies though on the information providing by the written (ancient and medieval) texts but also on the scarce and dispersed epigraphic and the much richer numismatic (the city minted coins between 6th c. BC - 3rd c. AD) and sigillographic data and other archaeological findings regarding (or deriving from) the city. It also takes into account all the contemporary related publications.

[VANIAS publications,  Thessaloniki 2017,  752 pages,  ISBN: 978-960-288-342-6,  text in Greek language with an English summary]

L'articolo è stato pubblicato nel volume  "Vestigia" in onore degli 80 anni di Filippo Coarelli. Sulla base delle evidenze architettoniche riconoscibili all'interno del Mausoleo di Adriano si propone una lettura degli itinerari che si percorrevano dall'ingresso fino alla sommità, dove era collocata la rotonda dedicata, con ogni probabilità, al culto dinastico. L'interpretazione del progetto adrianeo qui proposta si basa sull'evidenza di due elementi oggi persi: l'originario corridoio di ingresso, privo dell'atrio da cui oggi parte la rampa elicoidale, e un vestibolo in marmo collocato alla fine della rampa elicoidale.