PRINCEPS A DIIS ELECTUS. THE DIVINE ELECTION OF THE EMPEROR AS A POLITICAL CONCEPT AT ROME

This study was begun in the spring of 1969.

,ln its original form it was submitted in June, 1970 to the Depart- ment of History in Haryard University as a Ph.D. disserta- tion.

Since that time its scope has been enlarged, and it has been extensively rewritten. Although the argument remains the same, the present monograph is essentially 7a different work from the dissertation. The present volume was completed in May, 1974; and it has not been possible systematically to include studies which have appeared since that date. However, reference might usefully be made here to my forthcoming essay “The Cult of Jupiter and Imperial Ideology' in Aufstieg und Niedergang der romiscben Welt II xvi. As its title indicates, the present volume is concerned with the political implications of the concept of divine election.

The emphasis throughout is on the role of this idea in the political ideology of the ancient world. No one is more aware than I t that there is another dimension, one which belongs rightly to the sphere of the religious experience of the Roman people. "The Cult of Jupiter and Imperial Ideology" has afforded me the opportunity to examine the religious aspect of the development at Rome of a concept of divine election and to trace the impact of its evolution upon