Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Classical Association of Canada Phoenix: This Content Downloaded From 193.231.9.1 On Fri, 21 Apr 2017 14:08:16 UTC
Classical Association of Canada Phoenix: This Content Downloaded From 193.231.9.1 On Fri, 21 Apr 2017 14:08:16 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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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