This book offers a novel approach to the study of the Roman imperial cult, disrupting the traditional Eurocentric narrative and tendency to relativise the cult’s religious dimension in favour of its political implications. Instead, this collection argues for understanding the imperial cult within diverse local contexts, where it evolved through intricate interactions with existing religious traditions and institutions. Consequently, this volume also contends that the often-promoted, singular narrative of the imperial cult fails to capture its complexity and multipolar nature, making it essential to speak of imperial cults in the plural. 

This book examines the cult’s flexibility and regional specificity through epigraphic numismatic, literary and archaeological evidence from Greece, Hispania (Baetica and Lusitania), Asia Minor, Italy, the Lower Danube region, Crete and Cyrene, Egypt and Germania, from the first century BCE to the fourth century CE. These sources reveal that the imperial cult was deeply embedded in local religious and social fabrics, while also engaging with distinct socio-political conditions and impacting various religious discourses, including those of Christian authors. By focusing on the local adaptations and religious innovations that characterised the imperial cult, the book advocates for a more nuanced and context-sensitive analysis.

Chapters 1, 2 and 13 are available open access under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License via link.springer.com.

Sofia Bianchi Mancini is currently a Postdoctoral Researcher, Junior Fellow and Principal Investigator at the Max-Weber-Kolleg für kultur- und sozialwissenschaftliche Studien at the University of Erfurt, Germany.

Lorena Pérez Yarza is a Postdoctoral Researcher (adiunkt) at the University of Warsaw, Poland, and currently affiliated with the Spanish research groups Hiberus and Historia e Historiografía de las Religiones.

Silvia Fogliazza is an archaeologist currently affiliated with the International Study Centre of Ancient Religions (Ca’ Foscari University), the research group Poikilia and the Istituto Nazionale di Studi Etruschi ed Italici (Sezione Etruria padana e Italia settentrionale), Italy.