Relief Of The Imperial Family On The Ara Pacis Augustae (Altar of Augustan Peace), Rome (13-9 B.C.). This detail is thought to show Agrippa (with head veiled in the customary
Roman manner for the priest about to sacrifice), his son L. Caesar and his wife Julia, Iullus Antonius (the son of Mark Antony), and Augustus' nieces, the two Antonias, with their
respective families. (Cf. below, pp. 776 f.)
By and large, Augustus' policy was followed by his Julio-Claudian successors, although neither Tiberius nor Gaius nor Nero was posthumously deified. Tiberius indeed seems to
have entertained a sceptic's distaste for such matters; but a temple to the living god Claudius was early established at Camulodunum in the new province of Britain (he had to wait for
Vespasian's accession for a temple at Rome itself), and Gaius notoriously came to have exaggerated notions of personal divinity. Vespasian could take it all in his common-sense
stride: as he lay dying, he blandly observed, 'My goodness, I think I am turning into a god!' He was right, as usual, and like subsequent Emperors whose memory was not officially
damned he duly became 'divus'.
Augustus took pains to restore the gods, and especially the old deities of Rome and Italy, to their pre-eminent place in public life. Many decayed or dilapidated temples and shrines
were rebuilt, many traditional rites and ceremonies renewed or reinvigorated. He aimed to restore public confidence in divine providence, duty to fatherland, and a secure sense of
continuity and order and permanence. Yet here too the might and majesty of the princeps and his family were kept well in evidence. New temples of the Deified Julius, Mars the
Avenger, Venus the Progenitress of the Julian line, and his own special patron Apollo enriched the capital; a temple and altar of Vesta, goddess of the sacred hearth of the
commonwealth, actually formed part of his home on the Palatine; on his return to Rome from Greece and Asia in 19 B.C. an altar was dedicated to Fortune the Home-Bringer; vows