It is my great pleasure to announce that Emperors and the Divine – Rome and its Influence (edited by Maijastina Kahlos) has just been published. The volume comes in the series COLLeGIUM, Studies Across Disciplines in the Humanities and Social Sciences (vol. 20), published by Helsinki Collegium for Advanced Studies.
In the course of history, the divine sphere has often been harnessed to serve the needs of political leaders. Political power has frequently been legitimized as authorized by the divine forces. The articles of this volume analyse the relationship of the Roman emperors to the divine – their support of different divinities, their role as the mediators between the divine and humankind, and their religious policies. Emperors and the Divine brings together scholars from different disciplines, history, classics, comparative literature, archaeology, comparative religion, Biblical studies, church history and Roman law.
The contents:
Maijastina Kahlos: Introduction: Roman Emperors and the Divine: Shifts and Downshifts
Emperors and Their Divine Honours
William van Andringa: Rhetoric and Divine Honours: On the “Imperial Cult” in the Reigns of Augustus and Constantine
Janneke de Jong: Emperor Meets Gods: Divine Discourse in Greek Papyri from Roman Egypt
Mika Kajava: Gods and Emperors at Aigeai in Cicilia 56
Emperors – Legitimation and Criticism
Jussi Rantala: Gods of Cultivation and Food Supply in the Imperial Iconography of Septimius Severus
Tobias Georges: Tertullian’s Criticism of the Emperors’ Cult in the Apologeticum
Emperors and Christians – Identity Formation
Outi Lehtipuu: “What Harm Is There for You to Say Caesar Is Lord?” Emperors and the Imperial Cult in Early Christian Stories of Martyrdom
Maijastina Kahlos: The Emperor’s New Images – How to Honour the Emperor in the Christian Empire?
Imperial Authority and Divine Knowledge
Alan Cameron: Pontifex Maximus: from Augustus to Gratian – and Beyond
Caroline Humfress: Ordering Divine Knowledge in Late Roman Legal Discourse
Emperors – Praise and Mockery
Chiara O. Tommasi Moreschini: Coping with Ancient Gods, Celebrating Christian Emperors, Proclaiming Roman Eternity: Rhetoric and Religion in Late Antique Latin Panegyrics
Sari Kivistö: Satirical Apotheosis in Seneca and Beyond
