At the battle of Pharsalus, Caesar also vowed a temple, in best republican fashion,
to Venus Victrix, almost as if he were summoning Pompey’s protectress to his side
in the manner of an evocatio. Several years earlier Caesar had begun preparations to
build an additional forum adjacent to the traditional one in Rome; when the com-
plex was dedicated three years after the battle of Pharsalus, it contained a temple to
the goddess Venus Genetrix, apparently in fulfillment of the vow. The new epithet
for the goddess is significant, for it clearly marked her as the ancestor of the Julian
clan and of the Roman people, and not merely as the bringer of victory. In raising
a private family connection to the level of a public cult and in claiming descent from
a divinity in order to enhance his personal stature, Caesar laid the groundwork for
further innovations. Though he followed in the footsteps of Pompey and the other
late republican leaders of Rome, Caesar sought to create a divine aura around him-
self more clearly than any of them. Apparently even before his assassination in 44
bce, Caesar was given a special priest, or flamen, of the type that were attached to
the most ancient cults of Rome, the right to have his statue carried among the gods
in processions, and other honors that assimilated him closely to the gods (Suet. Caesar
76; Dio 44.4 – 6.). Though the degree to which he desired to be considered a god
himself during his lifetime remains a matter of controversy, these honors made it
easier after his death for the senate to pass a formal decree of deification, enshrin-
ing Caesar in the Roman pantheon (Suet. Caesar88; Dio 47.18).
A discussion of the cult of the emperors must be reserved for subsequent chapters
(see chapter 22), but here it is worth noting that again there are good republican
precedents for what at first glance may seem the most significant religious innova-
tion of the imperial period. As early as 196 bceTitus Flamininus, the “liberator”
of Greece, had received divine honors in Greece for his actions in restoring freedom
to the Greeks (Plutarch, Flamininus16). Over the subsequent century two relatively
obscure proconsuls, Manius Aquilius and Mucius Scaevola, would be honored with
a special sacrifice, complete with a special priest, and a festival respectively. But these
honors were offered by Greek cities of the east; Pompey and Caesar brought these
types of honors to Rome itself, and so made a lasting impact on the religion of the
city as well as the empire. When Caesar was deified in Rome after his death, it set
an important precedent, and Octavian was able to capitalize on this development
both politically, in his struggles with Mark Antony, and religiously, in his subsequent
religious program. Roman religion had consistently developed hand in hand with
political events, and the Roman revolution was to prove no different.
FURTHER READINGThe fundamental study of Roman religion in the middle and late republic is Wissowa (1912),
though it is badly outdated; Beard et al. (1998) has now become the indispensable tool for
all aspects of Roman religion, both specific incidents and broad theoretical issues. On priest-
hood and the role of the Roman senate, see Beard (1990) and Rüpke (2005a); Szemler (1971)
established the essential identity between priests and magistrates. MacBain (1982) is funda-
mental to the study of prodigies, but now see also Rosenberger (1998) and Rasmussen (2003);Urban Religion in the Middle and Late Republic 69