The Imperial Cult

Only three Roman cities in central Anatolia outside the province of Asia have yet been excavated on a substantial scale: Ancyra, Pessinus, and Pisidian Antioch. In each case the central feature of these excavations has been a temple dedicated to the imperial cult, built in the time of Augustus or Tiberius. Emperor worship was from the first an institution of great importance to the provincial communities, and one that had, quite literally, a central role to play in the development of the new cities.1The diffusion of the cult of Augustus and of other members of his family in Asia Minor and throughout the Greek East from the beginning of the principate was rapid, indeed almost instantaneous. In 29 BC Octavian gave authority to the inhabitants of Asia and Bithynia to set up sanctuaries in their leading cities, Ephesus and Nicaea, dedicated to the cult of Roma and his deified father Julius Caesar, where resident Roman citizens could worship.

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