About the ruler cult and Dea Roma in the Hellenistic World: The poleis and the policy of reciprocity

Abstract

This work deals with the cults voluntarily offered to the Hellenistic monarchs and Dea Roma by the poleis of the Greek East. The issue of the isotheoi timai (statue, sacrifices and festivals) offered to the Hellenistic kings is analyzed from a historical point of view; and the creation of an original cult of Rome with similar characteristics is also taken into account. In this sense, we are interested in investigating the role that these cultural practices had in the establishment and development of the diplomatic relations between the Greek poleis and ethne with the Hellenistic kings and Rome. These two kinds of cults show continuities which reveal the strategic and pragmatic condition of these social practices. We believe that the study of this phenomenon will provide elements to set the active role of the poleis in the Hellenistic period within an international context characterized by the supremacy of the Hellenistic monarchies at the beginning, and of Rome at a later period.