Ruler Cult

Жажда Александра Великого, влекшая его к покорению мира, не была всего лишь жаждой военной власти. Его цель была выше и грандиознее: образовать "ойкумену", общий мир. Его последователи, при всем их величии, власти и долголетии, не обладали ни харизмой Александра, ни его убежденностью в "божественном сыновстве" для объединения всех народов мира. После смерти Александра наступила полоса бесконечных войн диадохов и сменивших их преемников. Налицо была разница между эпическим временем Александра, практически живым мифом, и печальной реальностью. Переход от полисного сознания к восприятию себя жителем "ойкумены" поселил в сердцах людей того периода чувство одиночества и разобщенности, исчезала надежда на традиционные культы и богов. Людям была свойственна жажда спасения, "сотерии", освобождения от тягот и злоключений человеческой жизни, и эту жажду сопровождала жажда того, кого они называли "сотером", "эвергетом", "эпифаном" – жажда явления бога среди них. Словно осколки Александра, появлялись многочисленные "спасители", "благодетели", "явленные боги", своим огромным количеством уже свидетельствуя как о неполноте иерофании в них, как и об ожидании такой иерофании. Неверно было бы видеть в этом культе только государственный официоз, насаждаемый сверху и не находящий искреннего отклика в сердцах верующих.
Научно-богословский журнал "Христианское чтение" СПбДАиС, 2013, №3, стр. 165-234
http://old.spbda.ru/news/a-3605.html

В статье рассматривается сознанный Фирдоуси образ Искандера в «Шахнаме» через призму онтологической безопасности. Под онтологической безопасностью понимается защищенный горизонт между онтологическим ядром человека и внешним миром. Как исторический аналог горизонту Э. Гуссерля рассматривается «завеса» Али ибн Усман аль-Худжвири. Искандер «Шахнаме» – это идеальный государь, царь-философ, проповедник ислама, устанавливающий горизонты мироздания. Требования онтологической безопасности влияют на процесс отбора и адаптации чтений источников, что приводит к разрыву с персидско-зороастрийской традиции изображения Александра как жестокого завоевателя; повествование отрывается от изображения исторических фактов, наполняется легендами и фантазиями, иллюстрирующими «завесы»-печати сущего мира иранца X века / The article considers the image of Iskander realized by Ferdowsi in “Shahnameh” through the prism of ontological security. Ontological security refers to a protected horizon between the ontological core of man and the outside world. As a historical analogue to the horizon of E. Husserl, the “veil” of Ali Ibn Uthman al-Hudjwiri is considered. Iskander “Shahnameh” is an ideal sovereign, a philosopher king, a preacher of Islam, setting the horizons of the universe. Ontological security requirements affect the process of selecting and adapting source readings, which leads to a break with the Persian-Zoroastrian tradition of depicting Alexander as a cruel conqueror; the narrative is detached from the depiction of historical facts, filled with legends and fantasies illustrating the “veils” of the present world of an Iranian man of the 10th century

"Representations", N. 129, Winter 2015.

The essay analyzes the project of maintaining the body of V. I. Lenin in the Mausoleum in Moscow for the past ninety years, focusing on the unique biological science that developed around this project, and the unexpected political role this body has performed.

The imperial cult, emerging at the end of a long evolutionary process including the worship of notable individuals, Hellenistic kings, Roman officials and the goddess Roma, and based upon the same model of benefactory exchange, constituted the natural reaction of Greek cities to the appearance of dominant Rome, the characteristically Greek way of incorporating the superior emperor into the familiar political and religious order. The traditional cult provided the requisite institutions: priests, temples, statues, sacrifices, festivals and games. In the Peloponnese, the onomastic and iconographic assimilations of emperors to traditional Greek gods, their shared worship, the reuses and reconsecrations of temples and the festivals of the Kaisareia and Sebasteia constituted the primary expressions of the imperial cult. The worship of members of the domus augusta as well as of prestigious local benefactors, its complex ritual, the grandeur of the sacred procession, the duties of the city officials and their control mechanism are laid out in elaborate detail in the lex sacra of the city of Gytheion. In the brief reply letter of Emperor Tiberius, the polite refusal of isotheai timai manifests the self-restricting tendencies of the Roman emperors in the handling of their own cult.

Il seguente lavoro di tesi è stato iniziato sotto la guida del prof. Enzo Lippolis ed ultimato dal prof. Massimilano Papini a causa della prematura morte del primo. Tale elaborato archeologico è stato discusso da Michele Porcaro il 26 Marzo 2018 all'Università degli Studi di Roma Sapienza.

Il culto del sovrano (anche detto Ruler Cult o Herrscherkult) nelle sue diverse forme, tra cui l’apoteosi, la creazione di riti e l’edificazione di tempi dedicati al dinasta, rappresenta l’instrumentum regni più evidente della stagione ellenistica, che ha innegabili riverberi in epoche successive, dall’età di Alessandro Magno e dei Diadochi all’epoca imperiale e medievale, per non parlare delle possibili corrispondenze con la cosiddetta ‘religione della politica’ che contraddistinse i regimi monocratici e dittatoriali del XX secolo . Già negli ultimi decenni dell’epoca classica abbiamo attestazioni di culti (eroici o divini) riservati a dei mortali, tributati dalla cittadinanza sia in vita che post mortem del suddetto personaggio: le timai eroiche concesse dagli Anfipolitani prima all’ecista ateniese Agnone e poi allo spartano Brasida ; la scoperta archeologica di tracce di un presunto heròon dedicato allo spartano esiliato Cleandrida a Turi, nel quartiere di Parco del Cavallo ; la notizia esplicita, trasmessa da Duride , scrittore e politico di Samo, di un culto tributato nell’isola a Lisandro nel 404, con il conseguente cambiamento delle feste in onore di Era in Lisandrie  attestato almeno fino al 401 a.C. ; una serie di onori eroici conferiti ai Dinomenidi di Siracusa e, non ultime, alcune pretese regali e divine rivendicate dai tiranni di Eraclea Pontica Clearco, che si proclamò figlio di Zeus, Timoteo, che ebbe i titoli di Keràunos, Sotèr, Euèrgetes e Chrèstos, e Dionisio, che ultimò il proprio culto della personalità portando la propria regalità al pari delle altre dinastie ellenistiche . Alle origini del culto dinastico vi sarà stata anche l’esigenza del re greco-macedone di rafforzare i culti greci legati alla dinastia e di costituire un proprio pantheon familiare distintivo nella grande varietà ed estraneità religiosa dei nuovi regni multietnici, fornendo dunque una forma di religiosità intima per il re e per la famiglia, e una religione nella quale il vasto numero dei funzionari, dei burocrati e dei soldati direttamente legati al basilèus, trovavano identità e aggregazione consolidando il lealismo nei confronti del re e della dinastia . Nel culto del re ellenistico bisogna dunque distinguere fra culti cittadini e culto dinastico: i culti cittadini in onore del basilèus, spesso intrecciati con cerimonie festive e religiose comuni che non implicano necessariamente forme dirette di culto del sovrano, sono manifestazioni apparentemente spontanee delle poleis libere ο soggette, interne ο esterne al regno. Sono però anche indizio del desiderio delle città di manifestare prontamente le proprie buone attitudini nei confronti del basileus del momento per ottenerne benevolenza e vantaggi, dunque esprimono il diffuso stato di incertezza e di insicurezza delle città di fronte al potere dei re ellenistici e di fronte agli eventi che le coinvolgono e le sovrastano. A sua volta, il re ellenistico corrisponde alle attese delle città svolgendo a loro favore la funzione generale di protettore e di evergete per eccellenza in àmbito politico, economico e fiscale. Non tutte le dinastie ellenistiche sono ricorse al culto dinastico, che è ben attestato per i Tolomei d’Egitto, per i Seleucidi di Siria e per i re di Commagene, mentre è assente, meno evidente, o comunque non pienamente concretizzato né per gli Antigonidi di Macedonia né per gli Attalidi di Pergamo. Se dunque i culti cittadini del basilèus dipendono dalla iniziativa interna della pòlis e dalle sue convenienze, il culto dinastico è invece un culto ufficiale istituito dai re per gli antenati (prógonoi), per sè stessi o per la regina e non interferisce con i culti cittadini spontanei e locali. Il culto dinastico aveva dunque lo scopo di rafforzare l’influenza e il potere della dinastia con la onnipresenza del re-dio sul territorio del regno. Obiettivo di questo lavoro di tesi è dunque ricostruire le modalità, i contesti e l’importanza che il culto dinastico svolgeva nelle corti ellenistiche per ottenere il consenso dei sudditi e per affermare il proprio potere, e come l’attuazione di questo stratagemma politico si riscontri nella cultura materiale e immateriale in nostro possesso, partendo dalla conformazione urbana delle capitali ellenistiche e ricostruendo come gli edifici, i santuari, le monete e, più in generale, i reperti in nostro possesso siano stati dei potenti mezzi di cui i sovrani dell’epoca post-alessandrina si sono avvalsi per valorizzare il proprio potere.  Nel primo capitolo dell’elaborato sarà tracciato un profilo storico generale: partendo dalle presunte origini eroiche, divine o semidivine rivendicate dai sovrani ellenistici (primo tra tutti Alessandro Magno, identificato come il prodromo più illustre del fenomeno del culto della personalità ellenistica), attraverso un lavoro di ricerca sulle fonti storiche e archeologiche, sarà opportuno evidenziare come l’affermazione del potere si riscontri anche nella cultura materiale, giunta fino a noi in maniera integrale o frammentaria (o, in alcuni casi, solo testimoniata da fonti). Inoltre, nello stesso capitolo, l’analisi si concentra sulla questione dei processi di divinizzazione e di eroizzazione, tenendo sempre a mente come queste due liturgie, già presenti nella figura di Alessandro III di Macedonia, siano state sfruttate dai Diadochi a proprio vantaggio. Nei capitoli 2 e 3, verranno analizzati, tra le tante famiglie che si contendono l’ecumene mediterraneo durante la stagione ellenistica, due casi, che ci mostrano due differenti situazioni di culto del sovrano e della personalità: quello della dinastia tolemaica (o lagide) d’Egitto e quello della dinastia pergamena degli Attalidi. In entrambi i casi verrà trattata l’organizzazione dello spazio urbano come rappresentazione del dinasta, delineando le opportune differenze tra le due capitali ellenistiche: Pergamo e Alessandria. In Egitto, partendo dalla divinizzazione post mortem di Alessandro, attuata da Tolomeo I Sotèr (e sfruttata a suo vantaggio come manifesto del proprio culto della personalità), si vedrà come il dinasta e i suoi discendenti attueranno raffinati sistemi propagandistici che avranno come punto d’arrivo la divinizzazione e l’istituzione di culti sacrali dedicati ai sovrani d’Egitto (basti pensare alla titolatura dei dinasti tolemaici e ai culti dei Theoi Adelphoi e dei Theoi Soteres) e Alessandria rappresenterà, nel suo impianto urbano e nella sua suddivisione amministrativa, una testimonianza concreta del sistema di potere messo in atto. A valorizzare quest’affermazione sarà preso in esame il fatto che un’enorme porzione di superficie della capitale tolemaica fosse occupata dai palazzi reali e da costruzioni architettoniche che indubbiamente mostravano la magnificenza della dinastia regnante (il Museo, il Sema di Alessandro e la Biblioteca) e un notevole indicatore degli strumenti usati da Tolomeo e dai suoi successori per costruire il culto della personalità.
Lo studio del culto dinastico della famiglia attalide nella città di Pergamo, che occuperà l’intero terzo capitolo dell’elaborato, si mostra più limitato rispetto a quello in merito ad Alessandria, ma non per questo meno interessante. Sebbene infatti i sovrani pergameni scelsero di non farsi divinizzare in vita e di non ricevere a Pergamo quegli stessi riti pomposi dedicati ai sovrani che troviamo invece nell’Egitto tolemaico o nella Siria seleucide, optarono invece per una politica evergete e soprattutto filellena, ponendosi culturalmente e politicamente all’interno del mondo ellenistico come i continuatori ideali dell’Atene classica e come difensori dello spirito greco.
Questo lavoro di ricerca, supportato da una collettività di studi internazionali che da poco meno di un secolo si è concentrata sullo studio di tale argomento, ha permesso di analizzare e ricostruire molti importantissimi fattori legati al culto del dinasta durante l’epoca ellenistica, soprattutto nel periodo compreso tra gli ultimi anni del regno di Alessandro Magno (326-323 a.C.) e la fine del II secolo. Una summa dei risultati sarà esposta dettagliatamente nelle conclusioni finali della tesi, accompagnata dall’insieme delle tavole e delle figure di alcune opere citate durante l’elaborato di tesi.

The cult of the ruler, its ideology and practice and the related official art are among the most interesting and challenging issues of historical knowledge. In different cultural circles and societies the manifestations of the ruling cult have a diverse character, and their study from a modern perspective helps us to get a deeper and truer knowledge of the past.

English: How can a new deity, with her/his specific attributes, timai and epiphanies, be created? By whom? And for what purposes? Who will her/his priests and believers be? Hellenistic documentation brings an historical perspective to the cultic, social and ideological aspects of religious phenomena, and ruler cults are a particular case of establishing/accepting new gods. Female ruler cults have only recently received specific attention. The paper examines the cases of Berenike I, Arsinoe II, and Laodike V in order to provide new interpretations of some dynastic festivalsand to study the relationship between ruler cults and the legitimation of female power. The discussion relies mostly on papyri and inscriptions, but the final analysis of Theocritus XVII argues that the poetic logic of power legitimation is consistent with the one displayed in non-literary sources.

Français: Comment une nouvelle divinité, munie de ses attributs spécifiques, ses timai et ses épiphanies, peut-elle être créée ? Par qui ? Et à quelles fins ? Qui seront ses prêtres et ses fidèles ? La documentation hellénistique confère une perspective historique aux aspects cultuels, sociaux et idéologiques de ces phénomènes religieux et les cultes des souverains sont un cas particulier de l’établissement et de l’acceptation de nouveaux dieux. Les cultes de souveraines n’ont que très récemment reçu l’attention qu’ils méritent. L’article étudie les cas de Bérénice Ire, Arsinoé II et Laodice V afin de fournir de nouvelles interprétations de quelques fêtes dynastiques et d’étudier la relation entre les cultes de souverains et la légitima­tion du pouvoir féminin. La discussion repose surtout sur des papyrus et des inscriptions, mais l’analyse conclusive de l’Idylle XVII de Théocrite montre que la logique poétique de la légitimation du pouvoir entre en résonance avec celle qu’attestent les sources non littéraires.

Spomenik knezu Milošu u Požarevcu jedna je od glavnih karakteristika grada i njegov nadaleko prepoznatljiv simbol. Postavljen u vreme naglašene glorifikacije dinasije Obrenovića, već duboko zašle u krizu, spomenik predstavlja jedan od karakterističnih egzemplara vladarske ideologije Kraljevine Srbije  s kraja 19. veka, a manifestacija povodom otkrivanja spomenika, na Ivandan 1898. godine, bila je događaj koji je okupio oko polovine ukupnog broja tadašnjih žitelja, kao i gotovo celokupni državni, vojni, politički i verski vrh Srbije - neponovljiv do današnjeg dana

This paper offers an alternative view on  Plutarch' Moralia 360c on Antigonos Gonatas, king of Macedonians.The poet Hermodotos declares the king a God and addresses him as the son of the Sun. To that, the old king sarcastically retorts  that “the servant who carries my night pot knows I am not a god”. I argue that Gonatas does not reject divine honours, but only his supposed godlike nature in a different context, where a king ought to exhibit humility. Plutarch builds a case against a very common practice, divine honours for mortal kings, not against the very existence of this practice. He lists examples and on the most crucial turn of his argument he adds the anecdote about Antognos Gonatas. If Antigonos had never been worshipped as a god, this example would have been meaningless. There would be no better argument than citing a king’s disapproval of this practice, but a king who - like all those listed before and after him - had indeed received divine honours
.
This different interpretation and contextualisation adds a literary source to the inscriptional evidence at hand which indicate that Antigonos Gonatas had been indeed honoured with divine honours.

In AD 274/275 the imperial mint of Serdica issued a highly unusual series of aureliani with a 'deo et domino' legend, assigning to the roman emperor Aurelian (AD 270–275) the title “god and master”. The coins are well known to scholars of Roman antiquity, but the series has never been properly analyzed. This paper provides the first comprehensive and systematic investigation of the coins: A detailed technical examination (production scheme, die analysis etc.) lays the basis for a historical (re)appraisal. The paper shows that (a) the quantities of coins minted were significantly higher than expected, (b) the coins imitate characteristic features of Roman provincial coinage, and (c) they were produced for a ceremonial occasion of public largesse in the presence of the Emperor. These insights have broader implications for our understanding of the increasing tendency towards deification of the Roman emperors.

[If you want to read the paper, please feel free to contact the author]

An "Alexandrian" encomiastic epigram in honor of Augustus (Supplementum Hellenisticum 982), "Aevum Antiquum" 11 (1998), 255-344

Contents:
1) Papyrological evidence. Hypothesis on the period and on the circumstances of the composition of the epigram. [The first known Greek epigram on papyrus with pentameters in eisthesis].
2) Epigram as Encomium and encomiastic ekphrasis. Possible epigraphical destination of SH 982.
3) Encomium as a hymn to the laudandus' divinity.
4) The Text.
5) August as a Zeus Eleutherios/Liberator: the Roman-Egyptian interpretation of the "Basileis soteres" Hellenistic tradition.
6) The Personification present in the epigram: a picture of the "Golden Age".
7) August as Nilotic ruler, bringer of Prosperity.
8) Iconography of the Augustean Apollo: the princeps and the elaboration of his own divine image.
9) Apollo "Actius" and Apollo "Leucadius".
10) Mutual influences of the Greek and Latin encomiastic poetry in the Augustan age: two different ways of expressing the same ideology.
11)  Appendix: the documentary texts of the tomos (P.Lond II 256 a, d, e) with translation and commentary.
12) Bibliography.

В центре данной работы стоят взаимоотношения власти и народа в их институциональном оформлении, а именно проблематика соотношения власти правителя, действующей общественной нормы и ее носителей. На широком конкретно-историческом материале, включающем традиционные и модернизирующиеся общества, прослеживаются такие аспекты данной проблематики, как характер представлений о непогрешимости или, напротив, несовершенстве правителя и политической системы, возможности правителя по отношению к действующим социальным нормам, возможности критики в адрес правителя и принудительных общественных санкций в его адрес, понятия о легитимности правителя и ее источниках, концепция высших целей существования института верховной власти и др. Используемый конкретно-исторический материал обобщается на основе формализованного выделения ключевых параметров, характеризующих данные феномены с установлением корреляций между ними, что позволяет осуществить типологизацию социумов с точки зрения исследуемой тематики.

Seeing how the idea of the ‘ruler cult’ and the necessary ‘myth-making’ to establish it exists to this day, as seen with the regime of a 21st century dictator like Kim Jong-il, it would be most interesting to see what parallels exist between cases of divine leadership and what we might learn about our contemporary cult rulers when looking at the dynamics of the two-millennia-old cult of the deified Emperor Augustus. As such, I have formulated a central question that focuses on the reign of Divus Augustus, and in doing so provides opportunity to extrapolate from it new insights in similar but contemporary figures of leadership. A clear case of 'to understand motives in the present, one must look at actions in the past.'

The paper provides an anthropological analysis of the socio-political system of the Kingdom of Benin during the longest and most important period of her history: from coming to power of the ruling up to now Second (Oba) dynasty presumably in the 13th century till the British colonial conquest in 1897. The course of this system formation and its basic characteristic features are outlined. It is argued that the Benin Kingdom of the 13th – 19th centuries was a supercomplex society which yet was not a state, as it was lack of the latter’s fundamental parameters. Particularly, the Benin society was not based on suprakin (territorial) social ties and there was no professional (bureaucratic) administration in it. The kin-based extended family community always remained this society’s focus, and the supracommunal institutions were built up by its matrix, what is impossible in a state. So, notwithstanding its overall socio-cultural supercomplexity, Benin was not a state but rather a specific alternative to it, labeled “megacommunity”. Its structure can be depicted as four concentric circles forming an upset cone: the extended family, the community, the chiefdom, and finally the kingdom. A number of other African and non-African examples of this underconceptualized and understudied by now type of socio-political organization are offered.

The existence of the ruling cult is questioned on the basis of coins which are the most important evidence of the founding periods of Amastris, which was rebuilt by a queen in the Hellenistic Period in Paphlagonia Region and named after her. The head dressed in tiara on the front of Amastris coins depicts the queen herself, emphasizing her
religious and racial origins. The depiction of Aphrodite Anahitis / Ourania on the back represents the Greek and Macedonian aspect of the queen. The most important feature of the ruling cult is that it provides unifying power for the kingdoms to hold different peoples together. It also proves the existence of a conservative cult of the city
of Amastris, where Tieion, Sesamos, Kromna and Kytoros, which the queen independently managed, are brought together. After her death, she was heroized by the people of Amastris and honored as ktistes. The Persian origin of Amastris and its involvement in the Macedonian court culture is the first and the best bassileia that bears the images of the Macedonian-Persian ruling elite that Alexander the Great tried to create.

The article deals with the cult of Antigonos the One-Eyed and Demetrios Poliorketes in Athens. Problem of establishment of this cult in 307 BC is discussed in details. The author shows that cultic veneration in the center of Greek freedom and democracy was used by the first Antigonids for creation of "ideal basileus" image before official assumption of the kingship in 306 BC.

Classical archaeology, like most disciplines, was not left
untouched by the totalitarian regime instituted in 1933 by
Germany’s Nazis. Through the figure of Richard Delbrueck
(1875–1957), this article examines the position a scholar
could adopt in face of the regime and how that could affect
his work from the years between the wars to the end of
World War II. Taking into account Delbrueck’s gradual
shift in focus from Antiquity to Late Antiquity, the paper
analyses the role that this “fraught period” played in the
regime’s and scholars’ use of history through the concepts
of leader-figures and physiognomy.

Makalede Bergama ay adı Eumenios´un ve Attalos´lar hakimiyeti altındaki bölgelerde görülen Zeus Eumenes isimli tanrının epithetonunun Eumenes adını taşıyan bir yöneticiden esinlenerek verilmemiş olduğu anlatılmaktadır. Bergama şehri takvimi hellenistik devirde herhangi bir onursal ay adı içermemektedir. Tanrıların yan isimleri olarak Eumenes çok nadirdir ama çok ta alışılmadık bir durum değildir. Ayrıca adları yönetici adlarından esinlenerek oluşturulan ay adlarının hellenistik dönemde sadece İlion, Lykos nehri kıyısındaki Laodikeia ve Smyrna´da saptandığına da makalede değinilmektedir.

The Titulature of the First Arsacids and Its Religious Connotations

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The coins of the first Parthian ruler Arsaces I (ca. 247–217) feature, apart from his name, the titles of autokrator and karanā-. Arsaces was certainly well familiar with the titulature of the rulers and leaders of the Greco-Macedonian world, where the title autokrator, appearing most frequently in the collocation strategos autokrator became synonymous of potentates who came to rule following a military success. With the title autokrator Arsaces emphasized that he had won power solely thanks to himself and his conquests, consciously setting an essential turning point in the history of Iran. The title kārana- originated from the Achaemenid tradition. In the post-Achaemenid period there came a time in the Iranian world for the “karans”, or rulers of individual countries, which drew on the Achaemenid tradition.
The coins of Arsaces I do not bear the title of king (gr. basileus). However, in the light of the accounts of Iustinus 41.5.5 and Isidoros of Charax (“Stathmoi parthikoi” 11), it follows that Arsaces considered himself a king, but his monarchic concept, which contained a reference to the sacred fire, was essentially Iranian and departed substantially from the Greco-Macedonian tradition.
The antique sources emphasize the significance of the very name and title of Arsaces (Iustinus 41.5.6; 41.5.8; Ammianus Marcellinus 23.6.5). With these testimonies in mind, one should conclude that Parthians did not intend merely to commemorate the name of the dynasty’s founder, but to transform the name into a title binding on the successors of Arsaces I. Once we approach the name of Arsaces as a title, it becomes necessary to stress its Avestan roots. In terms of etymology, Arsaces, Parthian Aršak, is a hypocorism of Old Iranian Aršan, a “hero”. The name Aršak, used by Parthians as a title, associated Arsacids with Avestan Kayanids — a dynasty whose memory had to be alive both in eastern Iran including Parthia and the Iranians-Dahaeans of the steppe, from whom Arsaces descended.
The concept of deification of Arsacids had partly Zoroastrian partly steppe/Iranian roots. Zoroastrian traditions clearly favoured the development of the cult of late rulers, and within the concept of xvarenah they enabled the ruler to be granted the status of gods’ chosen one while still alive. The steppe factor led to the recognition of Arsaces I as a god. Also several successors of Arsaces used titles which implied their divine status during their lifetime. Such deification did not denote a status equal to the highest gods, but admission into the range of lower-order gods, as evidenced by the examples of Persis, Sasanians and Kushans. The influence of dynastic cults of the Greco-Macedonian type, albeit probable, was not decisive for the early Arsacides, who put Iranian and steppe traditions first. The widespread character of the cults of the dead and living rulers in various Iranian countries, from Afghanistan to Commagene and from Choresmia to Persis indicates that this was not a superficial external influence, but a broader and essentially native phenomenon. Not only Arsaces I but also Friyapat played a considerable role in the development of the monarchy of early Arsacides and their political programme. The research desideratum is a coherent interpretation of the Old Nisa, a Parthian religious-dynastic centre, which expanded under Mithradates I and his successors. Understanding the function of the buildings of the Old Nisa depends on the correct perspective of the Parthian religion and the chief aspects of their royal ideology, especially in the domain of the so-called Selbstdarstellung.

Культ императора существовал в Римской империи с восшествия на престол первого императора Октавиана Августа и до обращения в христианство императора Константина в 312 г. по Р.Х. Между императорским культом в Риме, Италии и присоединенных в результате завоеваний провинциях Малой Азии и в Египте имелись существенные различия. Религиозное восприятие фигуры правителя-императора римлянами (как в самом Риме, так и в Италии) разнилось с эллинистическим. Это отличие было обусловлено иным, чем у греков, религиозным мироощущением римлян: в божестве они видели не столько абстракцию, сколько действие. Религиозный, неметафизически ориентированный, но сильный и живой ум римлян питал интерес к конкретному событию. Поклоняющийся императору поклонялся не господину, «dominus», или главе семьи, «pater familias», или патрону, но живому божеству. И это возводило поклоняющегося на совершенно другой уровень — он не был клиентом, он был «участником жертвенника» живого бога — императора. Отсюда религиозный энтузиазм римлян нельзя свести просто к лести и человекоугодничеству. Поклоняющиеся богу-императору, а не его гению, не желали быть клиентами у патрона — они хотели быть свободными римлянами перед своим живым богом.
Научно-богословский журнал "Христианское чтение" СПбДаИС, 2012, №2
http://old.spbda.ru/news/a-2171.html

The purpose of this paper is to provide a snapshot of the discourse of power in the Ottoman Empire of the early to mid-1840s by means of an exercise in close textual analysis based on two letters written by the voyvoda of Moldavia (1834-1849), Mihail Sturdza (Mihal Isturzazade), to sultan Abdülmecid.  This correspondence was occasioned by the births of the sultan’s first and third sons – Mehmed Murad Efendi in 1840 and Mehmed Reşad Efendi in 1844.  It merits attention for a number of reasons.  First, the epistles paint a detailed picture of regional celebratory activities in honor of the two newborn princes and, by extension, of the sultan himself.  In doing so, they afford us an important parameter for gauging the nature and extent of the sultan’s symbolic power in the principality.  Second, the letters contain a substantial and intense metaphoric dimension.  While on the surface it may be easy to dismiss it as empty rhetoric poised to do little more than ingratiate a distant imperial patron, a closer look yields insights into the dynamics of the contemporary ruler-ruled constellation, pointing to key shifts in imperial ideology and policy.  Third, since these two letters bear the voyvoda’s personal seal, they attain an additional layer of significance in establishing the axes of bureaucratic-cum-diplomatic exchange between the utmost periphery and the imperial core, between an autonomous provincial ruler and his imperial sovereign.  Finally, the historically salient element of Moldavia’s strategic importance as a highly contested imperial borderland between the Ottoman and Russian Empires makes the present endeavor even more worthwhile.

A chapter which will (hopefully) form a minor, but necessary part of my thesis. A review of the influence which Hellenistic Ruler Cults had on all the elements of power in the Roman Republic and Principate. Although there is a considerable body of literature surrounding this topic, much of which recognise the influence which the worship of Hellenistic monarchs had on Roman practices, I hope that in conjunction with my other chapters, a more nuanced understanding of just how large an impact this had on the course of Roman history will be achieved.