Religion and politics. The imperial cult in Crete
Abstract
The headquarters of the provincial imperial cult in Crete, in charge of the Cretan Koinón, is established in Gortyn, the capital of the Roman administration of the island. In this way, the city of Gortyn, as a provincial politicalreligious capital, takes an important role as an integrator at the service of Roman imperial power. In Crete, the royal power of the Roman administration on the island is closely linked with the priestly power of the cult of the emperors, which favours in a great measure the politic unification of the different cities and territories of Crete, promoted by the emperor. The priests of the imperial cult belonged to the dominant noble families of Crete which were close to the emperors or to the representatives of the Roman power on the island. Some associations and identifications of the imperial cult and the cult of other divinities are produced on some occasions, as we can see in a dedication of the city of Phoenix in the South of Occidental Crete to the Emperor Trajan in which the cult of the emperor is associated with the cult of Iupiter Sol Optimus Maximus and of the god Serapis. On the other hand, gladiatorial games were closely linked with the cult of the emperors and in Crete they were successfully introduced, as in the rest of eastern Greece.
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