Gaius Iulius Caesar Germanicus (Caligula), 37-41 CE

Caligula & the deified Augustus

Roman Empire under Augustus

Roman Empire under Claudius

Claudius’ letter to the Alexandrians:Part 1 on Emperor worship (Select Papryi II [Loeb

Classical Library, edd. A.S. Hunt and G.C. Edgar, 1934)

“Tiberius Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus, Imperator, Pontifex Maximus, Holder of the Tribunician Power, Consul Designate, to the City of the Alexandrians, greeting. Wherefore, I gladly accepted the honors given to me by you, though I have no weakness for such things. And first I permit you to keep my birthday as a dies Augustus as you have yourselves proposed; and I agree to the erection in their several places of the statues of myself and my family; for I see that you were anxious to establish on every side memorials of your reverence for my house. Of the two golden statues, one … shall be erected at Rome; and the other … shall be carried in procession … in your city, and it shall be accompanied by a throne adorned with whatever trappings you choose ….”“But I deprecate the appointment of a high priest to me and the building of temples, for I do not wish to be offensive to my contemporaries, and my opinion is that temples and such forms of honor have by all ages been granted as a prerogative to the gods alone.”

Claudius’ letter to the Alexandrians:Part 2 on Greek-Jewish relations (ARD

443)“… If you do not end this deadly and willful anger against one another, I will be forced to show you what even a benevolent leader is like when turned to righteous anger. Therefore, I entreat you, the Alexandrian (Greeks), to behave benevolently towards the Jews, since they have lived in the same city as you for many years, and not to abuse the religious rites which they practice in the worship of their god, but to allow them to observe their own customs which they observed also in the time of the deified Augustus ….”“… I order the Jews not to agitate for more indulgence than they enjoyed in the past, and not to send in the future a second, separate delegation, as if they live in a separate city; for such a thing has never been done before …. Otherwise I will prosecute them in every way as transmitters of a general disease infecting the whole world. If, however, both sides leave behind their quarrels and indicate a willingness to live together in tolerance and benevolence, then I will show the utmost care for the city.”