The Imperial Cult in Roman Britain

Author(s): Duncan Fishwick

Source: Phoenix, Vol. 15, No. 3 (Autumn, 1961), pp. 159-173
Published by: Classical Association of Canada
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1086674
Accessed: 21-04-2017 14:08 UTC

REFERENCES
Linked references are available on JSTOR for this article:
http://www.jstor.org/stable/1086674?seq=1&cid=pdf-reference#references_tab_contents
You may need to log in to JSTOR to access the linked references.

JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted
digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about
JSTOR, please contact [email protected].

Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at
http://about.jstor.org/terms

Classical Association of Canada is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to
Phoenix

This content downloaded from 193.231.9.1 on Fri, 21 Apr 2017 14:08:16 UTC
All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms
 THE IMPERIAL CULT IN ROMAN BRITAIN

DUNCAN FISHWICK

IT is a familiar procedure in studies of the Imperial cult to draw a

preliminary distinction between Eastern and Western provinces of the
Roman Empire. The divinity of the ruler had been an article of oriental
faith since Sumerian and Egyptian times and in the old Eastern iov'& or
provincial assemblies there already existed the administrative machinery
which could be immediately geared to the worship of the Roman
Emperor. The Latin provinces presented a radically different challenge.
Here Rome had to create a medium for the cult, though wherever pos-
sible the new worship was grafted on traditional institutions and
accommodated to local religious beliefs. The development in the older,
long-civilized provinces was largely spontaneous and therefore hap-
hazard; but in newly pacified territories the installation of the Imperial
cult appears to have marked a crucial phase in an official programme of
deliberate Romanization.
The origin of the Western cult can be traced to 25 B.C. when the
citizens of Tarraco set up an altar to Augustus in celebration of the new
pre-eminence of their city in the province of Hispania Terraconensis.'
The example was soon followed in Narbonese Gaul, where a similar
municipal altar at Narbo dates from A.D. 11.2 The first official move came
in 12 B.C., when Drusus dedicated the famous altar to Roma and
Augustus at the confluence of the Rhone and the Sa6ne.3 The old festival
of Lug with his eisteddfod at Lugdunum provided an ideal foundation
on which to establish the Roman official religion; and it was an obvious
step to reconstitute under Imperial control the traditional annual
concilium of the Gallic tribes (cf. Caesar B.G. 4.6.5; 5.2.4; 5.24.1;
5.54.1; 6.3.4; 6.44.1). A high priest was chosen and a complex organiza-
tion built up (Livy Epit. 139). In the Rhineland Ara Ubiorum was
undoubtedly planned as the political and religious hub of a Roman
Germany whose development was dramatically shattered by the annihila-
tion of Varus' legions in A.D. 9.' We also learn from Dio (55. 10a. 2-3) that
1Quint. Inst. Orat. 6.3.77; cf. R. Etienne, Le Culte impiriale dans la pininsule ib/rique
d'duguste J Dioclitien (Bibl. des Ecoles frang. d'Athenes et de Rome, fasc. 191; Paris
1958) 367-378.
GCIL 12.4333; Dessau, ILS 112; cf. L. R. Taylor, The Divinity of the Roman Emperor
(Middletown 1931) 282.
3Dio 54.32.1; Suet Claud 2; CIL 13. 1664-1725; cf. F. Stihelin, Die Schweiz in
riimischer Zeit3 (Basel 1948) 499-506.
4Tac. Ann 1.39, 57; Dio 56.18; cf. A. L. Abaecherli, "The Imperial Cult in the Western
Provinces," Studi e materiali di storia delle religioni 11 (1935) 156-160.
159

PHOENIX, Vol. 15 (1961) 3.

This content downloaded from 193.231.9.1 on Fri, 21 Apr 2017 14:08:16 UTC
All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms
 160 PHOENIX

when L. Domitius A
he set up an altar
however, have been
with new victories
propagate his worsh
strategic headquarte
A.D. 74, probably in
familiar pattern.5
Sestian altars seems
of North-West Spai
Tiberius' reign that
territories of Baet
Narbonese Gaul and
reforms of Vespas
line soon after thes
in the time of Traja
Roman Britain con
disastrous start at t
spread presently t
practised corporate
private individuals. B
which throw inval
army of occupation
this survey to collat
cult within the follo
military, and relate
assess the significa
Roman religious pol

PROVINCIAL CULT

Almost a century after Julius Caesar's expedition Claudius' legions

landed on the South Coast and immediately overran Kent, Essex, and

6Ptolemy 2.11.5. The Tabula Peutingeriana, a "world" map of the third or fourth
century, designates a place in this locality by the words Aris Flavis; cf. K. Scott, The
Imperial Cult under the Flavians (Stuttgart-Berlin 1936) 34-35.
"Pomponius Mela 3.13; Ptolemy 2.6.3; Strabo 3.4.19-20, p. 166; Pliny HN 4.20.3.
For full discussion see Etienne (above, note 1) 378-386.
7Abaecherli (above, note 4) 162-169.
8For arguments supporting an earlier provincial cult in both provinces see Abaecherli
ibid. 169-181. Later evidence has confirmed the Flavian dating for Gallia Narbonensis
and with it Africa Proconsularis (Phoenix 14 [1960] 119).
9Abaecherli ibid. 185. In other Western provinces evidence is insufficient to date the
establishment of a provincial cult, though all had municipal cults.

This content downloaded from 193.231.9.1 on Fri, 21 Apr 2017 14:08:16 UTC
All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms
 THE IMPERIAL CULT IN BRITAIN 161

the Thames estuary. The event is recorded

where an allusion to Imperial altars empha
new land:
Ausoniis nunquam tellus violata triumphis
icta tuo Caesar fulmine procubuit,
Oceanusque tuas ultra se respicit aras.
qui finis mundo est non erat imperio.10

The crowning victory of the campaign of A.D. 43 was the capture of

Camulodunum, the royal capital established by Cunobelinus, King of
the Catuvellauni (Suetonius Calig. 44.2). Six years after Claudius'
triumphal entry army veterans began construction of a new provincial
capital by the site of the old royal city. Despite its lack of defensive
walls,' work was pressed ahead on an ambitious building programme;
and within eleven years Camulodunum could boast a theatre and senate-
house, a monumental altar, and a magnificent temple to the living
Emperor.
The temple of Claudius and its complementary altar were an integral
feature of the Roman colony at Camulodunum.11 One of the principal
aims of colonial foundations under the late Republic had been to provide
for the needs of time-expired veterans, but after the introduction of the
Imperial system of discharge-bounties colonies were planted primarily
as political and cultural bridgeheads within newly-conquered provinces.
So too in Britain:12 Tacitus asserts that over and above its military
purpose, subsidium adversus rebellis (Ann. 12.32), the colony of veterans
was deliberately designed as an instrument for the indoctrination of
the native aristocracy in Roman law, morality, and religion: imbuendis
sociis ad officia legum (ibid.). The cultural r6le of Camulodunum is
reflected in the senate-house and theatre; its religious pretensions can
be gauged from the architectural remains of the temple and altar.
There can be little doubt that the altar in Britain was modelled on the
famous prototype at Lugdunum. Strabo (4.3.2, p. 192) provides a graphic
description of this imposing structure inscribed with the names of some
sixty Gallic civitates. His account is corroborated by engraved fragments
of the original marble altar,18 still preserved at Lyons, and by a series
10Anth. Lat. 1.1.419. These lines have been attributed to Seneca, though for no
compelling reasons.
"The colony (Colonia Victricensis or Colonia) was founded in A.D. 49 on the initiative
of the governor of Britain, Ostorius Scapula, and the temple was planned on the eve
of the decisive struggle against the Silures and Caratacus (Tac. Ann. 12.32).
"For a discussion of the character of the colony see the fundamental article of I. A.
Richmond, Arch 7 103 (1946) 57-64.
a"H. Dragendorf, "Der Altar der Roma und des Augustus in Lugdunum," JDAI
(R) 52 (1937) 111-119; cf. RA (1938) 337-338.

This content downloaded from 193.231.9.1 on Fri, 21 Apr 2017 14:08:16 UTC
All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms
 162 PHOENIX

of bronze "altar" coin

These portray a bro
insignia and guarded
Excavations at Colchester have recovered the base of a similar monu-
ment flanked by two oblong pedestals, together with a statue of Victory.1
As at Lyons, the Colchester altar is located on the fringe of the settle-
ment, away from the main urban centre, where in all probability la
the senate-house and theatre. In contrast to the Gallic scheme, however
the British altar is immediately adjacent to the Temple of Claudius,
majestic octostyle edifice that dwarfs the normal temples of colonia
and is outstripped only by the provincial temple of Narbonese Gaul
It is now certain that the remains of Claudius' temple are to be found in
the vaulted substructure discovered beneath the keep of the eleventh-
century Norman castle. The temple platform may even be the original
Claudian foundation though vestiges of subsidiary buildings shoul
probably be related to the later temple, as it was rebuilt after the revolt
of A.D. 60.16
This striking combination of temple and altar at the seat of the
rudimentary provincial administration strongly suggests that Colchester
like Lugdunum, was ordained to be the official centre for the Imperial
cult. As such it would in due course have housed the concilium provinciae
a representative body of former high priests and delegates elected annuall
by the townships and cantons of the province and meeting each yea
under the presidency of the provincial sacerdos orflamen. In its maturity
a provincial Council played a key r61le in the religious and secular life
of its province.'? Its formal responsibilities were the upkeep of the pro
vincial temple, the superintendence of the games in honour of th
deified Emperor and Imperial Household, and the general administration
of the observances and services of the Imperial cult. But it also promul-
gated official decrees, and by rewarding efficient administrators o
bringing civil actions against negligent governors could exercise con
siderable authority in the conduct of provincial affairs.
"H. Mattingly, Roman Imperial Coinage (London 1923) I, 92 ff.
"For a detailed description of these remains see M. R. Hull, Roman Colchester (Oxford
1958) 175-177 (hereafter cited as Hull, Colchester); cf. also xxv-xxviii (Introduction by
I. A. Richmond).
"The theory that the foundations under Colchester Castle were those of Claudius
temple was first proposed by Sir R. E. M. Wheeler and P. G. Laver, "Roman Colchester,
7RS 9 (1919) 147; cf. Royal Commission on Historical Monuments (RCHM): Essex
North-East 3 (London 1922) 25-26; Hull, Colchester 162-171.
"1The best account of the duties and functions of provincial councils remains the
definitive work of P. Guiraud, Les assemblies provinciales dans rlempire Romain (Pari
1887). For a discussion of the composition and character of the Western concilia see
J. A. O. Larsen, Representative Government in Greek and Roman History (Berkeley 1955)
126-144.

This content downloaded from 193.231.9.1 on Fri, 21 Apr 2017 14:08:16 UTC
All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms
 THE IMPERIAL CULT IN BRITAIN 163

At Camulodunum all this development la

evidence has been found for any of these va
clue to the early existence of any cult or
Tacitus' cynical reference to the oppressive
delecti sacerdotes specie religionis omnisfort
Some notion of the plight of these priests may
of the Imperial cult in its developed form
centuries a provincial sacerdos was normally
discharged his local liturgies, but he was
munera personalia (cf. Cod. Theod. 12.1.75 [3
was warranted, for the office entailed co
Not only was the incumbent obliged to t
centre but he was also expected to defray out
expenses of the elaborate cult ceremonial
penditure was the immense prestige attache
ample evidence that the provincial priestho
censor, came to be regarded as the culmi
service.18 There can have been no compensati
of Camulodunum. Instead, the burdens o
heavy, particularly for the chieftains of th
even cites the intense unpopularity of the
causes of Boudicca's revolt: ad hoc templu
quasi arx aeternae dominationis aspiciebatur
Although our knowledge of provincial cu
fined to the bare fact of its existence, the t
ably marks an important development i
policy. Here Claudius is honoured to a de
Imperial practice. Augustus had permitted t
himself by non-Roman provincials, but onl
that dea Roma shared in the worship (Sueto
6-7). There is no record of this goddess a
be presumed that she was excluded. Beyon
the official cult is in question. We have a lit
of Claudius in the Apocolocyntosis (8.3.): de

IsE.g., Pliny Ep. 2.13.4: scis quod iudicium provin

provincial high priest is usually described as hono
cf. CIL 13. 1698 et passim.
10"mnis fortunas is here taken in the sense of om
possibility is that omnis fortunas might be equival
burdens of office proved so severe that the priests
fellow-tribesmen. Whether these exactions would in t
of their own personal contributions is uncertain. On e
the costliness of the Imperial Cult had become a nat
The Annals of Tacitus: Book XIV (London 1954) 11

This content downloaded from 193.231.9.1 on Fri, 21 Apr 2017 14:08:16 UTC
All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms
 164 PHOENIX

templum in Britanni
unpoC OPLXc arov rvX
composed after Cla
literary circle, and i
Colchester temple ca
Our only other evid
constitutum (Ann. 1
here the despatches
comparison with oth
that the historian m
normally reserved
memoriae. It is mos
religious sense and m
Nor would this evide
The official establi
radical step and is
importance in a new
Emperor of native
justify the further a
at Camulodunum as
distaste for such ext
Alexandrians, even to
to the one he found
priest and temple est
like myself and judgi
and reserved for th
respect for the nicet
odium (cf. lines 29, 3
officially took the m
Ti(berii) Claud(ii) o
practice, however, th
numen and that paid
Seneca may well be
unadulterated divine veneration.
In A.D. 60 the original foundation at Colchester was abruptly exter-
minated in a revolt whose near-success seriously undermined the possi-
20It is here assumed that Seneca was the author of the Ludus de Morte Claudii; for
a comprehensive discussion of this question see G. Bagnani, Arbiter of Elegance (Toronto
1954) 27-46.
21M. P. Charlesworth, Documents Illustrating the Reigns of Claudius and Nero (Cam-
bridge 1939) 4, no. 2, lines 35-38. The political significance of Claudius' "refusal" is
discussed by L. R. Taylor, "Tiberius' Refusals of Divine Honours," TAPA 60 (1929)
87-101; cf. M. P. Charlesworth, "The Refusal of Divine Honours," PBSR 15 (1939)
1-10.

This content downloaded from 193.231.9.1 on Fri, 21 Apr 2017 14:08:16 UTC
All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms
 THE IMPERIAL CULT IN BRITAIN 165

bility of any permanent occupation (cf

Britannia deducere exercitum cogitavit, n
parentis gloriae videretur destitit). When
restored, the temple of Claudius was
whether Colchester ever regained its for
the signs are that it was London, ideally
now emerged as the leading Roman se
Roman London22 is not germane to the p
possible that the town at some stage supp
vincial religious centre.
The evidence is extremely slight. In 1
Nicholas Lane near Cannon Street was fou
of the first or second century. By 1859 t
from the Guildhall Museum, and all that
drawing made at the time. The facsimile
fourth letter on the first line may hav
stone is believed to have read:

NVMC
PROV
BRITA

(CIL 7. 22).
The restoration is again uncertain but the
expanded to: num(ini) C[aes(aris) et genio] prov
"to the divinity of the Emperor and the genius
It has been suggested that C might even re
London, 59), but this seems unlikely since that
title was Tiberius Claudius. Had this stone surv
have been interpreted as indicating provin
London. It is difficult, however, to see how an
based upon the dubious copy of a fragmentary
peared over a hundred years ago.
Further evidence is sought in a memorial d
dated by its letter-forms to roughly the same
was written on one side of a small hexagonal c
the London Coffee House, Ludgate Hill: D(is
Marti I nae an(norum) xix I Anencle Itus I provinc(i
h(ic) s(ita) e(st) (CIL 7.28; cf. RCHM: London
originally proposed by Hiibner (cf. F. Haverfie
provincialis might here be equivalent to servus
indicate the existence in London of cult servan
2nFor this see Sir R. E. M. Wheeler, "The Status of
mission on Historical Monuments (RCHM): London 3 (Lo

This content downloaded from 193.231.9.1 on Fri, 21 Apr 2017 14:08:16 UTC
All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms
 166 PHOENIX

any documentary
seems to have carrie
tion is possibly to b
provinciales seems to
Hedistes vix(it) an(no
piissimae posue runt
curaver(unt) I(Bullet
cf. RA ser. 6, 2 [193
placed on a passage i
provinciam transd
exercitu et provincial
ex ea populos in Mo
from Dacia of mer
however, seems an u
later expansion of th
to understand provin
and it is precisely in
D(is) M(anibus) et m
cialis quae vixit ann
1880; cf. 2037). The
with the problem of
purchase to be fugit
provincialibus servis
Anencletus was emp
is therefore open to
proof.
Equally speculative is a theory arising from the discovery in 1834 of
a bronze Head of Hadrian near the third arch of the new London Bridge,
opposite Fresh and Botolph Wharves. The Head belongs to a colossal
statue of the Emperor dressed in heroic costume, and it has been sug-
gested that this might have been a memorial ordered from Rome by the
provincial Council and possibly erected on the occasion of Hadrian's
visit to Britain in A.D. 122 (RCHM: London, 44). There seems no good
reason to saddle the Council rather than some provincial official with
any such hypothetical commission, nor is there any justification for
connecting the Head with a cult image rather than with some public
monument in the vicinity of the bridge.
In view of the insubstantial nature of the evidence the r6le of London
2*M. Friedwagner "Ober die Sprache und Heimat der Ruminen," Zeitschrift fiir
romanische Philologie 15 (1934) 647.
2*Cf. Pliny Ep. 9.23.2: Italicus es an provincialis? It is possible that in the second
century provincialis meant "provincial Roman citizen." As an adjective provincialis
means simply "of or belonging to a province" (Lewis and Short s.v. provincialis).

This content downloaded from 193.231.9.1 on Fri, 21 Apr 2017 14:08:16 UTC
All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms
 THE IMPERIAL CULT IN BRITAIN 167

in the religious life of the province must remain c

certain is that after the great rebellion the temple
restored and all traces of burning scrupulously rem
recently been suggested (Hull, Colchester xxvi), was
purification, it is quite possible that Colchester ret
matters of religion.
No further tangible record has been found to illum
the British provincial cult. Even the precise tit
priests is unknown, except that, if Tacitus is not sp
sacerdos rather than flamen.26 Indirect evidence fo
vincial Council may, however, be concealed in the cu
Italian notables, both of whom acted as patrons
Britain: M(arco) Vettio M(arci) f(ilio) I An(iensi) Vale
c(iae) IMacedon(iae) quaestori pleb(is) Iseviro eq(uiti) [R
leg(ato) provinc(iae) [Nlarbonens(is) I[iurid(ico)] prov
[leg(ato)] leg(ionis) xv Apollinar(is) jprovincia(e) B
(CIL 11.383);26 [C(aio)] lulio Aspro co(n)s(uli) Ipr
Appiae soda[l(i)] August[al(i) ]jtrib(uno) [pleb(is)] q
Africae curat(ori) laedium sacrarum lprovincia(e)
(CIL 14. 2508).27
One of the major duties of a patronus provinciae
complaints and legal actions of deputies of the p
Such was the r6le, e.g., of Rufus Varenus, patron o
5.20.1). Pliny himself acted on one occasion as pa
3.4; 10.3) and there is epigraphical evidence for pat
(CIL 9. 1430), the Maritime Alps (CIL 5. 7917), and t
(CIL 8. 9047, 9362, 9368, 9699; CIL 14. 2516). Patr
citizens either from Italy or from the provinces an
administrative background in the Imperial or local
If there were patrons of the province of Britain th
have existed a British concilium provinciae.
2SSacerdos is the word normally used to describe priests of
Minerva CIL 7.39, 53.
*6There are three inscriptions in CIL 11 dedicated: M. V
The earliest of these, no. 395, is dated A.D. 66 and is believ
father of the individual mentioned in no. 421 (dated A.D.
383, probably refers to the grandson, in which case its da
Cf. PIR (Berlin 1897-98) 3. s.v. M. Vettius Valens; G. E. F
(Oxford 1941) 92-93.
2'In A.D. 212 the consulship was held by two individuals, bo
It is probably the younger of these, the son, who is named
2509 it appears that he was also patron of Mauretania Tingitana
probably inherited from his father (cf. no. 2516); see A. Degr
Impero Romano (Rome 1952) 59.
"8The patron of the Maritime Alps had been the provincial fla

This content downloaded from 193.231.9.1 on Fri, 21 Apr 2017 14:08:16 UTC
All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms
 168 PHOENIX

MUNICIPAL CULT

In contrast to the provincial cult at the official centre it was the rule
for Roman communities, whether coloniae or municipia, to undertake a
corporate civic worship. This independent municipal cult was usually
expressed in the form of an altar or temple to living and dead members
of the Imperial House and in the services and prayers which the civic
authorities offered in due season to the Emperor. Evidence for this
facet of the cult is again meagre in Britain, but inscriptions have been
found confirming the existence of a cognate institution, the municipal
Sevirate. The increasing importance of the freedman population had
led Augustus to create a new office in which the civic ambitions of the
business classes could be realized to the benefit of the communities where
they resided. Patronage of games and festivals and financial support for
local public works could thus be rewarded by election to a corporation
of six priests who were specially charged with the maintenance of the
Imperial cult and bore the honorary title of Seviri, Augustales, or Seviri
Augustales.29
The principal British inscription in this connection comes from
Bordeaux where a stone slab dated A.D. 273 commemorates the dedication
of an altar to the goddess Tutela Boudiga by Marcus Aurelius Lunaris, a
freedman wine-merchant and sevir Augustalis of both York and Lincoln:
Deae Tutel(a)e Boudig(ae) [M(arcus) Aur(elius) Lunaris se vir Aug(ustalis)
col(oniarum) Ebor(aci) etljLind(i) prov(inciae) Brit(anniae) Inf(erioris) I
aram quam vover(at) ab Eboraci (sic) avect(us) jv(otum) s(olvit) 1(ibens)
m(erito) Perpetuo et Corne(liano consulibus) (7RS 11 [1921] 101-107;
E. Esp&randieu, Recueil ginlral des bas-reliefs, statues et bustes de la Gaule
romaine 9. 6932). A similar official, also engaged in the wine trade,
appears at York (CIL 7. 248)30 and it is quite possible that the Seviri
existed at other leading centres such as Gloucester, London, or Colchester.

PRIVATE CULT

Although the evidence we possess is lamentably inadequate, it is cle

that the provincial and municipal cults were intended to serve as a foc
of loyalty and Romanization. The success of this policy can be judged

2'The precise distinction between these titles is disputed. For recent discussions
G. E. F. Chilver (above, note 26) 198-207; A. D. Nock, "Seviri and Augustales,
Milanges Bidez (Brussels 1934) 627-638; cf. also L. R. Taylor, TAPA 45 (1914) 231-
7RS 14 (1924) 159-171. The functions and development of this corporation are discu
by J. H. Oliver, "Gerousiae and Augustales," Historia 7 (1958) 481-496.
3?The York inscription records a Biturigan from Bourges with a Greek name: Mar
Verecundius Diogenes.

This content downloaded from 193.231.9.1 on Fri, 21 Apr 2017 14:08:16 UTC
All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms
 THE IMPERIAL CULT IN BRITAIN 169

the extent to which emperor-worship penet

provincial society. Our only index to this is
dedications, both native and Roman, in
prolific. Pride of place here goes to worshi
numina Augustorum. The custom of pouring
paterfamilias had been a legitimate form of
times, and the growing popularity of the cu
Odes 4. 5) had culminated in the establishm
of the genius Augusti, a thinly disguised fo
The guardian deity or spiritual power of th
known generally as the numen Augusti.3' I
within the state religion when Tiberius con
numinis Augusti shortly before Augustus' d
Only one civilian example has been found i
Numen Augusti by itself, a votive dedicatio
or fourth century: numinib(us) Aug(usto
curavit ... ] (Eph Ep 7. 871; cf. CIL 7. 170)
the numen Augusti or numina Augustorum i
or abstraction are plentiful. In this categor
deities are represented. Mercury is honoure
stone set up by a college of his worshippers
deo Merc(urio) sign(um) posulerunt cullto
(CIL 7. 1070; cf. CIL 12. 22); and the same
tablet from Colchester: numinib(us) IAug(u
(CIL 7. 87). At Carvoran a similar formul
or altar to Mars and the numina: deo M[arti?] I
(CIL 7. 755). Lincoln has produced a fine b
by Celatus, the coppersmith. The statue wa
Bruccius and Caratius, and inscribed: de
Aug(ustorum) ... (CIL 7. 180). In a curious
Mars is assimilated to the Rhenish god L
4030), the Celtic god Ocelus (cf. Eph Ep
Celtic god Vellaunus (cf. CIL 12. 2373). Th
his various guises and the numina, and reco
Nonius, who was admitted to membership o
without payment of the usual entrance fee
deo] Marti Lenol[s]ive Ocelo Vellaun(o) et
M(arcus) Nonius Romanus objimmunitat
1009). Jupiter Optimus Maximus is less f
31The terms may at first have been synonymous. Fo
ficance see Etienne (above, note 1) 314-317 with bib
32L. R. Taylor, "Tiberius' Ovatio and the Ara Nu
185-193.

This content downloaded from 193.231.9.1 on Fri, 21 Apr 2017 14:08:16 UTC
All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms
170 PHOENIX

tions of this kind t

the sister of a decea
secrated: I(ovi) O(p
Ep 9. pp. 516-517; cf
appears on a tablet f
of a temple: numin
In addition to the
associated with a wh
deity Belatucadrus
desses at Chesterhol
near Slack (CIL 7.
(Eph Ep 7. 920); Ar
with gods of every
ter clearly became a
from sickness: deo
Aug(ustorum) . . .
Cumberland & Wes
46 [1946] 140); the
Fortunae etlnumin
dedication of a tem
[nu]minib(us) I[Aug(u
(Eph Ep 7. 946; cf. E
milestones from W
(.RS 47 [1957] 230; C
example of a form
(Epigraphica 15 [19
nymph Brigantia,
describes himself as
cf. Eph Ep 9. p. 60
undoubtedly fostere
act of divine wors
devotion to the Em
declaration of genu
formality may be d
With the worship o
entered a new pha
was directly relate
transformed into
proved of such pra
brace a variety of
$*I. A. Richmond, Rom

This content downloaded from 193.231.9.1 on Fri, 21 Apr 2017 14:08:16 UTC
All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms
 THE IMPERIAL CULT IN BRITAIN 171

from Maryport, Hermione, the daughter

dedication: Virtuti Augustael... (CIL 7. 397)
from Risingham records a similar inscri
abstraction: Fortunae Aug(ustae) I ... (CIL 7
lying such dedications seems to be that the
fount or author of the blessings designated
twist the same epithet came to be applied al
great state and Capitoline deities but even
which were worshipped throughout the Em
Nevertheless, cult paid, for example, to M
towards Mars, not the Emperor; nor was
simply in order to flatter. The procedure se
survival of the old republican practice by w
as the guardian deity of a particular family
god described as "August" imply that the go
the gens Augusta or domus Augusta. August
but Mars Augustus occurs at Lanchester (C
that an altar at Bath records a votive ded
(CIL 7. 46). This meagre record may be due t
but it may also indicate that these forms of
remote provincials and that such subtleties a
unprofitable in Britain and allowed to lapse.
Part and parcel of this same development
The exact sense of this term is uncertain, b
house founded by a divus" (i.e., Augustus
"the house whose members are divine.""35 Wh
significance the Divine House soon achieved
to that of the numen Augusti. Its earliest a
inscription from Chichester (Noviomagus) r
temple to Neptune and Minerva by a guild o
of Tiberius Claudius Cogidubnus, King and
The inscription, which is beautifully cut in P
in defining the exact nature of the authority
for his services to the Roman cause. Cogidub
citizenship and legatine authority is expr
[pr]o salute do[mus] divinael(CIL 7. 11). A
probably to be seen in the reappearance a
House on the base of a statue dedicated to Ne
block of sandstone sculptured on three sides
84W. F. Otto, "R6mische Sonderg6tter," RhM 64 (1
35D. M. Pippidi, Recherches sur le culte impirial (In
Collection scientifique, no. 2; Paris 1939) 132-133.

This content downloaded from 193.231.9.1 on Fri, 21 Apr 2017 14:08:16 UTC
All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms
172 PHOENIX

words: I(ovi) O(ptim

[1936] 264). With this
divi[nae]I . . . et nu
Brough-on-Humber
memorates the dedic
magistrate of Petua
tiny vicus, it had a R
took his civic duties
munity at his own e
upon official directi
Vindolana dedicated
Augustorum . . . (B
probably sanctioned
doubtless paid for ou
tion of how indepen
accord to honour the
civilian example of a
goddess Brigantia M
vowed for the welfa
Marcus Aurelius Seve
dolmus divinae eius
The importance of d
earlier than on the C
other provinces. Onl
the Chichester insc
Gaul, dated betwee
provinces the Divin
time of Antoninus P
divinity of the Impe
Septimius Severus
clearly complementar
able to the same poli
of Claudius at Cam
8"The Divine House occu
cf. A. B. West Corinth 8
"7Whether Imperial poli
is unknown. Apart from
[1938] 319-332) classical
the strange episode of M
engineered the Gallic rev
preted as evidence for C
based on Celtic names
(Caesar B.G. 7.62) or Bo
Irish kings and Welsh ki

This content downloaded from 193.231.9.1 on Fri, 21 Apr 2017 14:08:16 UTC
All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms
 THE IMPERIAL CULT IN BRITAIN 173

cult worship focused upon the Emperor an

for swift and effective Romanization.
to be continued

in the Irish Mythological Cycle came to Ireland as head of the Tuatha D' Danann
(cf. A. B. Cook, "The European Sky-God," Folk-Lore 17 [1906] 27-71). These "divine"
personages, however, are almost all unhistorical and their adventures are first chronicled
in such eleventh- and twelfth-century Irish MSS as Leabhar na h Uidre, Leabhar Laignech,
Book of Ballymote, Yellow Book of Lecan, or the fourteenth-century Welsh Mabinogion,
Triads, Taliesin, and documents of the Arthurian cycle. No more convincing are survivals
of folklore linking the fertility of crops with the King's Justice and the ritual observance
of taboos, a connection which is common to the cult of the divine king in all primitive
religions (Black Book of Carmarthen 56; Yellow Book of Lecan 181b9; cf. M. Dillon
"The Hindu Act of Truth in Celtic Tradition," Modern Philology 44 [19471137-140).
A pre-Roman Celtic belief in the divinity of the ruler is therefore at best a bare possi-
bility. There is certainly no solid evidence to substantiate its existence.

This content downloaded from 193.231.9.1 on Fri, 21 Apr 2017 14:08:16 UTC
All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms