Original scientific paper

The cult of the goddess Roma in the Roman province of Dalmatia

Ivana Jadrić-Kučan

Abstract

In 42 BC, Caesar was deified by decision of the Senate, thereby
becoming the first Roman to be posthumously worshipped as a
god. Reverence for the cult of the Divine Julius (Divus Iulius) also
incorporated the Dea Roma, the personification of the Roman
Republic. Octavian saw the value of Caesar’s deification as a validation
of this own strength, while the appearance of a comet (sidus Iulium)
during Caesar’s funeral games was interpreted as the spirit of the
Divine Caesar. Despite the decree issued by Augustus to include
Roma in the cult, ancient writers left this goddess out of their works,
probably deeming her role secondary, ascribing the entire matter to
reverence for the emperor. In the Roman Empire’s western provinces
there had been no earlier tradition of worship for the goddess Roma
as in the Greek lands, and the goddess appeared generally as a symbol
of the entire Roman Empire. Reverence for the cult of the goddess
Roma was organized as part of the imperial cult, and the earliest
temple in Croatia’s territory was constructed in the colony of Pola.
Archaeological remains from Oneum, Aequum, the municipium of
Bistuensium, and Doclea testify to organized reverence for her cult in
the territory of the Roman province of Dalmati

Keywords

Dea Roma; Pola; Oneum; Aequum; Doclea; municipium Bistuensium; sacerdos; flamen; sexvir; Augustales

Hrčak ID:

75369

URI

https://hrcak.srce.hr/75369

Publication date:

30.11.2011.

Article data in other languages: croatian

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