Imperial Cult

Episode Four

The creation of the Roman Republic was a rebuke to tyrants. The Roman people rejected their Etruscan king in favor of a Senate, which was an extremely limited form of democracy among the heads of the wealthiest families. So great was their distaste for having kings, they put several processes in place to prevent a single man from ruling except in periods of calamity. Their executive office was held by two men chosen by the Senate for one year terms. Anything they couldn’t agree on would go to the Senate for a decision. Pressure on this system increased as Rome grew beyond the boundaries of what the Senate could effectively manage.

The magic Roman cement of politics was the house system. Every house was a family headed by a single man who ruled as a tyrant within his realm, and all the members of that house – men, women, children, and slaves – would literally worship and praise the spirit of their paterfamilia – the father of the house. The houses were then related to each other hierarchically, such that every man who ruled a house had someone who ‘ruled’ them. This network of interconnecting control was the foundation upon which the republic and the empire were formed. Every Senator was at the peak of such hierarchies. Ultimately, the power of the Emperor came from his being atop this entire hierarchy of houses: everyone in the empire was subject to his house and expected to worship and praise his spirit.

As a key part of the rise of Gaius Octavian to Augustus Caesar in 27 bce, his deceased adoptive father Julius Caesar was elevated by the Senate to the position of a god in the heavens, and the Senate directed Augustus to establish the Imperial Cult in all of the major cities of the empire dedicated to the celebration of the Holy Spirit of Rome; the Father, Caesar in the heavens; and the Son, Caesar in Rome. In this way, Julius Caesar became the chief and most holy deity in the Roman pantheon, and Augustus became the most powerful man in all of Rome. This cult had a dedicated priesthood that took orders directly from Caesar, they celebrated important days and major victories of Augustus, and served as a major propaganda arm for empire.  The Imperial Cult was the institutionalization of Augustus Caesar’s position with respect to his citizenry at the head of the social hierarchy, and became the scaffold upon which future imperial families affixed their power.

The Romans prayed to Caesar: “Our Father Caesar in the heavens, holy is thy name. Your will be done on earth and in the heavens. Give us today’s bread and forgive our errors. For thine is the kingdom, power, and glory.” They gathered in the Temple of Vesta or the imperial cult temple, offered incense to a bust of Caesar, and professed their creed: “I believe in God the Father almighty; and in His only Son, our Lord, Who was born of the Holy Spirit…” The Trinity of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit is fundamental to Roman culture – this formula predates the Gospels by at least 50 years and shows most clearly that the origins of Christianity start with the Roman Imperial Cult.

The political structure of the Roman Republic had prevented the rise of a tyrant for centuries, so Augustus’ Imperial Cult was extremely important for maintaining his position of power. Once his family was no longer able to take the position, technically, the power should have dissolved. Instead, generals fought for the right to lead the imperium until the Flavians took control. Once there, the Flavians needed a myth to tie their family into the Imperial Cult.