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EASTERN CULTS Introduction Despite the Roman Attitude of Religious Tolerance, Assimilation, and Syncretism, Eastern Cults Were N

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EASTERN CULTS Introduction Despite the Roman Attitude of Religious Tolerance, Assimilation, and Syncretism, Eastern Cults Were N CHAPTER TWO EASTERN CULTS Introduction Despite the Roman attitude of religious tolerance, assimilation, and syncretism, Eastern cults were not widely embraced by Rome on an administrative level. Augustus officially discouraged cults from the near East, especially the Egyptian cult of Apis, though he tolerated some ancient cults (Suetonius Augustus 93). Tiberius upheld this policy (Tacitus Annals 2.85), as did Claudius (Tacitus Annals 11.15). Despite the fact that the Flavians favored Isis, Eastern cults were cat­ egorically restricted from the official military worship at least through the middle of the third century: they were not included in the camp shrine, excepting a few votivcs to Serapis and .Jupiter Dolichcnus, nor were monuments to Eastern deities erected in the courtyards of the praetorium, the centers of official army religion; and temples were built outside the camp walls. 1 No Eastern ritual is mentioned in the Feriale Duranum,2 despite the fact that some cults, especially that of Jupiter Dolichenus, most popular under Severus and Caracalla, had enjoyed wide acceptance prior to the issuance of this military festi­ val list, and, furthermore, that a fresco from Dura shows Roman military units venerating local gods. 1 1 Hoey, "Official Policy," 458. The exception is Dura, a camp which was built around a pre-existing city, an unusual circumstance. Found within the camp walls are the .\Iithrat'um, the joint temple to l\Tithras and Dolichenus and the temple to Artemis Azzanathcona, all of which were standing before the camp was built: RostovtzefT, Dura-A'uropus and its Art, 51-2. ' Fink, Roman ;v/ilitary Records, 421-22. 1 Dedications made· to Jupiter Dolichenus before the Severan dynasty include CIL VII 26BO (/LS 431 la; .\1286 [AD 125/6]), 1\174 (AD 13B:'), l\1175 (AD 163), l\117 (AD 167-180:'), 1\11 Li (AD 180-183), Cl/, XIV 110 '.1\1264 [AD 186];, :\1274 (AD 185-192), Cl/, XIII 6646 (M'.301 [AD 191J), CIL VI 31172 (/LS 2193; M23B), Cl/, VJ 31181 (C/MRJ! 37'.'l; :\1239), :\1221, Cl/, XIV 22 :\126) [191 192]'. Cl/, VI 414 !JLS 4315b; 1\1224 [AD 191]!. A fresco from Dura, in tlw Yale collection, show a Syrian triad dressed in Roman military costume . .Julius Tercntius, commander of the Palmyrene troop. offers sacrifice for his unit: :\lac.\lullen, Paganism, BO BI. EASTERN CULTS 63 Eastern cults continued to thrive, and some of them even received official sanction: Elagabal served as priest of the Sun god; Aurelian included Sol lnvictus prominently with the state gods, and Constan­ tine recognized Christianity as an official state religion. Abundant evidence suggests that oriental cults were treated with the widest tol­ erance. Nonetheless, mystery rites, which offered hopes for an after­ life and potential rewards for service accomplished under rather bleak circumstances of earthly existence, were widely embraced from the second century onwards, especially among the more mobile classes: soldiers, merchants, slaves, and aristocrats in imperial service. Jupiter Optimus Maximus Dolichenus The widely worshipped Jupiter Dolichenus attracted senators, gov­ ernors, traders, and soldiers. 4 The cult of this old Hittite storm deity Teshub-who evolved into a god of heaven and fertility-arose orig­ inally in Commagene (Diiliik, near Gaziantep, eastern Turkey) between the Taurus mountains and the Euphrates river. 5 Nothing of the god and his cult is known until 64 BC, when Rome annexed Syria, whence, presumably, Dolichenus and his cult diffused into the Roman world (Plutarch Pompey 24). A temple building inscription from Lambaesis, Africa provides the earliest positive Roman documen­ tation of his cult, AD 125/6.6 Provincial governors, it would seem, actively supported the Dolichean Jupiter, and other religions from the near East, including Mithraism, enabling the cults to expand and attract worshippers. 7 The Commagenean cult continued to grow in popularity, reaching its climax under the Severi.8 + Speidel, Jupiter Dolichenus, 2. 5 Lewis, Temples, 115; Speidel, Jupiter Dolichenus, 1: Harig, ''.Jupiter Dolichenus," 2139 2140. 6 Pro s[alute] et incolumitate I imp(eratoris) Cae[s(aris) Traia]ni Hadriani Augusti I Sex(tus) Iuli[us iHaio]r I legatus ipsius pro praetore I templu[m l(ovi) O(ptimo) M(aximo) D]olicheno dedicavit (CIL VIII 2680 [!LS 431 la]). Sextusjulius Maior was a Greek senator from Nysa (Tralles) in Asia who grew up closer to the cult than many. Dedicating the temple does not necessarily suggest that Sextus commissioned its building. Interest­ ingly, documentation for the cult of Mithras first appears at about the same time at Histria (CIMRM 2296). No pre-Roman Hellenistic or Persian evidence survives, nor has the site of the original temple on Di.iluk Baba Tepe been excavated. 7 Speidel, Jupiter Dolichenus, 5. 8 Speidel, Jupiter Dolichenus, 10. Some have argued that Severan support guaran-.
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