RELIGION 191status and future prospects. Jupiter’s connection with the emperor and the
imperial cult was particularly close. A contract inscribed on a wooden tablet
found at London was sealed by an oath to Jupiter Optimus Maximus and
the Genius of the Emperor Domitian. Trajan began a fashion when he shared
the face of coins with Jupiter. A certain Fortunatus set up a monument at
Maktar in Numidia in the Severan period consecrated to Jupiter for the
safety of the emperors. In the East, the cult of Zeus, the Greek equivalent of
Jupiter, prospered. The temple of Olympian Zeus at Athens was completed
under the direction of the emperor Hadrian, who took the title Olympios as
the earthly representative of the god.^8
What was the effect of the massive exportation of Roman gods on native
religions? The question, framed in this way, has very limited relevance for
the East, outside Roman colonies and the Roman army, which were certainly
outposts of Roman religion and culture. Augustus and his successors set
about breaking the independent political and economic power of the large
sanctuaries, but in Asia Minor, at least, the cults themselves were unaffected.
This is unsurprising, in view of the substantial degree of overlap between
Roman and Greek religion, and Rome’s ‘failure’ to make any impression on
Hellenic culture in general. In this case, moreover, the emperors showed
their commitment to the spread of Hellenism by turning over the temples
and their priesthoods to the authority of the cities, the seats of Hellenic
culture. There was no question of subjecting them to direct Roman control,
much less altering or deforming the cults by introducing the more obviously
Roman aspects of Roman religion. In Egypt, considerable damage was done
to local cults, as the priesthood was gradually shorn of its wealth,
independence and privileges and the less powerful temples went into decline.
In this, the circumstances of Augustus’ rise to power, the distaste of Romans
for animal- worship, and the strong tradition of bureaucratic government as
opposed to local, civic autonomy in Egypt each played a part.^9
What occurred in Egypt was rather less than the repression of cults
judged to be ‘non-Roman’. In general, Rome’s contact with alien religions
was marked by peaceful penetration rather than coercion. The consequence
of Roman cultural dominance outside the East was none the less the
disintegration, or at best the simplifi cation, of local religions. Coexistence of
Roman and native cults can be illustrated, as in the high plains of Sitifi s in
Mauretania Caesariensis, where a market was placed under the protection
of Jupiter, the deifi ed king Juba and the local guardian spirit the Genius
Vanisnesi ( ILS 4490). But syncretism or fusion was the more common
phenomenon. In north Africa, Saturn was increasingly associated with
Jupiter, Caelestis with Juno. The Roman-Celtic Mercury was Lug in another
guise, and Taranis was readily identifi ed with Jupiter. Minerva found
counterparts in a number of local deities, including Sulis, the water goddess
of Bath (Aquae Sulis). Mars coalesced with and then absorbed the Iberian
Cosus. Local gods that never received Roman names can be assumed to
have faded out, at least in the urban environment, which was the stage