Deified emperors and actual beliefs

[Carlton Bach]

Much more likely. Our modern concept of deity is very strongly influenced by the idea of an omnipotent, unitary, single God who takes a personal interest in every last human being. That is not something I guess most ancients would have understood. I'm no more 'in' on the secret than anyone, but from what I gather the idea behind deifying emperors was to give proper credit to someone who was larger than life. Divinity is not a moral quality as much as a personal one - Julius Caesar is a divus (which is not the same as a deus) because he did great things, and his cult is a way of acknowledging that. I don't think anyone prayed to the divine emperor *for* anything most of the time. It was more of an empirewide ancestor cult. You were part of a good thing and gave proper credit for that.