Divus Iulius: alle origini del culto di Cesare

Abstract

A thorough analysis of the main sources allows the author to reaffirm some key points. 1) A few weeks before the Ides of March, Caesar was divinized as Iuppiter Iulius. 2) The name divus Iulius is nothing but a renaming, dating back to the summer of 44 B.C., when che Senate, pushed by the emotional wave raised by the sidus Iulium, officially consecrated to him a simulacrum with a star on the forehead promoted by Octavian (Plin., n.h. 2, 23, 93-94) and an altar, which was later preserved in a niche cut out of the podium of the aedes divi Iulii.