the great impression which the former had made with this building complex, and,
in particular, with the magnificent dedication games, waste away in the shadow of
his brilliant celebrations in the year 46 bc. Coupled with his fourfold triumph, he
staged a sweeping festival of the gens Iuliaand its successful scion. He dedicated
the promised temple to the victorious Venus as Genetrix on the Forum Iulium, and
consecratory games, such as had never previously been seen, were intended to let
Pompey be completely forgotten (Cass. Dio 43.22.2–23.5). However, the public games,
held from July 20 to 30 (permanently so from 45 bc), and entrusted to a collegium
of organizers, were not entered into the festival calendar of the Roman state as ludi
Veneris Genetricis. The ludi Victoriae Caesaris, as they were called instead accord-
ing to the evidence of precisely these festival calendars, made most notable reference
to the games instituted by Sulla, though they were modified in their function, as
the epithet of the goddess of victory alone revealed. As Caesar’s rise and extraord-
inary position proved, Victoria had long since concentrated her favor on this one
man. Her second permanent games, inaugurated by her sole protégé, were intended
to surpass the existing ones by being linked with the date of the foundation of her
old sanctuary (August 1), while preceding it. The celebration of victory now
observed annually by games sustained the recollection that it was Caesar’s victories
that the res publica Romanacommemorated henceforth. The fact that in it the
dictator perpetuoto be was the first man then also emphasized the honors connected
with the public games.
The honors made use of the wealth of forms rooted in the state cult of the gods
and developed over centuries, and substantiated in a quite subtle manner Caesar’s
outstanding position. The vestments adopted for all the spectacles, the vestis Iovis
Optimi Maximiand the laurel wreath, as well as the right to give the starting signal
at the circenses, showed the dictator as the praeses omnium ludorum publicorum
(Cass. Dio 43.43.1, 43.14.5; cf. above). The participation of his decorated statue in
the pompa circensis, as well as the heightening of this distinction by decreeing a tensa
(“chariot”) and a pulvinar(“couch”) of his own, and finally the award of the golden
chair and wreath for the dramatic performances, implied Caesar’s inclusion in the
“liturgy” of the ludi publici, bringing him closer to the gods (Cass. Dio 44.6.3, 43.45.2;
Suet. Caesar76.1; Cic. Philippicae2.110). In sum total, the basis for the phenomena
of the imperial period was laid with Caesar’s interference with the venerable system
of games of the Roman republic.
Religion and Politics
As an integral part of the public cult and festival order, the ludi publiciwere intended
to secure the favor and assistance of the gods. However, at the same time, the nobil-
ity developed the public games into a universal instrument of their internal and exter-
nal policy. The assimilation of Greek models, above all the adoption of the drama
and reorganization of the procession, with the simultaneous emphasis on specifically
Roman forms and contents, served, not least, the Roman aristocracy’s interests in
education and public order. When the games gathered the senate and people of Rome,
232 Frank Bernstein