This paper presents and discusses the main aspects of the worship of the Roman emperors (cult places, festivals, priesthoods) in the cities of the Peloponnese. The evidence shows the tendency of Peloponnesian cities to integrate them into their religious life as well as their political, social and cultural world at large. Indeed, pre-existing sacred buildings were re-consecrated to the emperors (e.g. the Metroon of Olympia), imperial contests were added to traditional Greek festivals (e.g. the Kaisareia added to the Isthmian games), and the emperors were onomastically and iconographically assimilated to traditional gods in inscriptions, coins and statues (e.g. Augustus represented in the guise of Zeus in the Metroon of Olympia). Members of local aristocracies had a fundamental role in the organization of the various “events” of emperor worship, particularly through the assumption of the office of priest of the imperial cult, usually assigned to prominent and well-to-do individuals. The pre-eminence of the Peloponnesian imperial priests, together with the other kinds of evidence that illustrate different aspects of emperor worship in the cities of the Peloponnese, contribute to proving the importance played by this region in imperial Greece.

Κατάσταση τεκμηρίου: Δημοσιευμένο

Ερευνητικη ομάδα ΕΙΕ: southGR

Document status: Published