Caesar's Apotheosis

Introduction

Until the late Republic, the deification of a Roman mortal was conventionally disapproved. Only two Romans had been deified: Romulus, the founder and first king of Rome, and Aeneas, the Trojan prince who founded Lavinium and is said to have fathered the Roman race. Both legendary heroes and the offspring of gods, their deifications as Quirinus and Jupiter Indiges were hardly radical. And, even for these men, their parents, Mars and Venus respectively, had to beseech Jupiter to obtain their child’s divine status.[1] Yet, after Julius Caesar’s death in 44 B.C.E., in a shift that seemed to contradict the past 600 years of precedent, mortal deification became a socially acceptable practice in Rome. In this paper, I examine why the apotheosis of Caesar in 42 B.C.E was readily accepted by the Roman mass.[2]

A silver tetradrachm of Antiochus IV (king of the Seleucid Empire) bears the inscription ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ~ΑΝΤΙΟΧΟΥ~ΘΕΟΥ~ΕΠΙΦΑΝΟΥΣ~ΝΙΚΗΦΟΡΟΥ. Translation: King Antiochus, God manifest, bearing victory.

Contributing Factors

Deification was not an inherently Roman idea. Rather, the practice was borrowed from the East, where Pharaohs and Ptolemies were worshipped as divine in life and death. As the Romans began to absorb the remnants of Alexander the Great’s empire, such divine honors were bestowed upon the generals/proconsuls who ruled there. Thus, it was natural that when Caesar was declared dictator-for-life, he was declared a god in the East. One inscription found in Ephesos called Caesar “dictator…the god from Ares and Aphrodite,…[and] the common savior of the human life.”[3] It should be noted that while it was acceptable for a Roman to be given divine praise in the East, it was not acceptable for such divine honors to be transferred to the West.

Another factor that led to Caesar’s deification was the Roman veneration of the individual human spirit, the genius. At his core, the quintessential Roman would not only worship the external forces to his life but also the power that acted within him. Indeed, in any gens (clan), the genius of the paterfamilias (father of the family) was worshipped in connection with the household gods (i.e. the Lares and Penates). Certainly, the idea of the ruler of the nation being its “father” was quite familiar to the Roman people; the title Pater Patriae which was bestowed upon Caesar unquestionably induced Romans to hold a certain amount of divine reverence for him. Though the spirit of the genius was said to die with each Roman, such idolization likely instigated a level of worship for Caesar.[4]

Respectively: CAESAR DICT[ator] QUART[us] (Caesar, dictator for the 4th time), and CAESAR PARENS PATRIAE (Caesar, parent of the fatherland) 

In addition to the precedent of the East and the worship of his genius, from the period 46-44 B.C.E., Caesar, himself, seems to express his contentment for divine treatment by accepting numerous gifts, which, Suetonius says, “were too great for mortal man.”[5] One of the first overt examples occurs after Caesar conquered Pharsalus in 46 B.C.E., where a statue named him a god. Though Pharsalus was a Greek city (not Roman), the mere existence of such a statue evidences the movement of the idea of treating Caesar as a god from the East to the West.[6] As Caesar continued to grow in power, numismatic examples show that he was willing to take bolder steps in revealing his divinity. Until 44 B.C.E., no living Roman had been depicted on a Roman coin. This was an honor usually reserved for gods. Yet, in 44 B.C.E., Roman moneyers minted coins with Caesar’s portrait. Indeed, one such coin is inscribed with the phrase Caesar Parens Patriae (Caesar, the parent of the country). Another coin named Caesar as the dictator (for which he was given a gold crown and throne[7]) of four years. The presence of such coins and their inscriptions prove Caesar’s desire to be viewed as divine. Another example lies in the Temple of Quirinus, where a statue that bears the inscription deus invictus (unconquered god) was commissioned in the image of Caesar. Cicero snidely remarks “I would rather see him [Caesar] sharing the temple of Quirinus than of Safety”[8] and calls Caesar a “puppet messmate of Quirinus.”[9] Hence, Cicero suggests that Caesar cared more about his divinity than the safety of the Roman people. Although Caesar never dared to name himself a god, the mere acceptance of these gifts[10] served to create an atmosphere that granted him quasi-divine rights and established his divinity postmortem.

Apotheosis of Caesar(?) at Belvedere Altar, Rome. Depicts Caesar ascending to the heavens, while he stands in a chariot.

Official Deification:

Upon Caesar’s death, Suetonius remarks that “[he] was numbered among the gods, not only by a formal decree but also in the conviction of the common people.”[11] Whatever Cicero’s quips might have been to Atticus, Caesar’s status as a deity was immediate upon his death. Perhaps this was because the “very night before his murder he dreamt now that he was flying above the clouds, and now that he was clasping the hand of Jupiter.”[12] Indeed, this is another example of Caesar creating a connection with Jupiter as a part of his effort to remind Rome of his divinity. This was an effective strategy. By the time of Caesar’s cremation, many Romans wished to scatter his ashes at the Temple of Jupiter.[13] Though this request was denied by the Senate, both Suetnoius and Ovid write that a comet supposedly shone above Caesar’s funeral altar for seven days to commemorate Caesar’s acceptance in the heavens.[14] This funeral altar was erected with the words “father of the country,” where sacrifices to Divus Julius (divine Julius) were made.[15] His apotheosis, while accepted in the eyes of the people, was not official until 42 B.C.E., when the Second Triumvirate ratified it. At this point, such a course of action was mostly symbolic, although, for Augustus, it served to consolidate his power and give him an upper hand in his struggle with Marc Antony. Simultaneously, the Second Triumvirate commissioned the Aedes Divi Iuli (the Temple of Divine Julius) to be built. The construction itself, which was executed by Augustus alone, further emphasized the relationship between Augustus and Caesar.[16]

Significance

Caesar’s apotheosis was one of the fundamental reasons for the vast power of Augustus, who called himself Divi Filius (son of a god) and used his uncle’s deification to legitimize his rise to power. In a broader historical context, Caesar’s apotheosis created a precedent for the countless deifications that took place after his death. From Caesar’s death to the fall of the Roman Empire in the 5th century C.E., almost every emperor (including Augustus) was deified. Seventy-four people were deified in Rome from the rule of Julius Caesar to Valentinian III, of whom thirty-eight were rulers of the whole or part of the empire, and sixteen were women.[17] Caesar’s apotheosis was a formative moment for Rome’s religious and socio-political landscape.

Apotheosis of Claudius at the National Library of France

Apotheosis of Titus at the Arch of Titus, Rome

Apotheosis of Antoninus Pius and Faustina at the Column of Antoninus Pius, Rome.

Notes

[1] Ov. Met. 14.581-608, 14.805-828; Livy Ab Urbe Cond. 1.2

[2] Though Vergil claims Caesar to be descended from Aeneas, this claim is questionable. Even if it was true, the chronological distance between the two men would not have justified Caesar’s apotheosis by “old” Roman standards.

[3] "Ephesos 947."

[4] Burton, "The Worship," 81.

[5] Suet. Iul. 76.1

[6] Kreitzer, "Apotheosis of the Roman," 212.

[7] Ibid, 213.

[8] Cic. Att. 12.45

[9] Att. 13.28

[10] As opposed to his outright refusal of the laurel wreath from Marc Antony.

[11] Suet. Iul. 88.1

[12] Iul. 81.3

[13] Iul. 84.3

[14]  Iul. 88.1, Ov. Met. 15.745-842

[15] App. B Civ. 3.3

[16] Mon. Anc. 4.2

[17] Burton, "The Worship," 83; note that apotheosis was not always accepted by Roman society; see, for example, Sen. Apocol., whose title literally translates to The Pumpkinification of (the Divine) Claudius.

Bibliography

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