Ὁ αὐτοκράτορας - θεός

 

…Κατὰ κάποιο τρόπο, ὁ Αὐτοκράτορας ἦταν ταυτόχρονα ἀνθρώπινος καὶ θεῖος, ὥστε ἀνάλογα μὲ τὴν περίσταση νὰ χρησιμοποιεῖται ἡ μία ἢ ἡ ἄλλη ταυτότητα. […] …τὰ ὅρια μεταξὺ τοῦ θείου καὶ τοῦ ἀνθρώπινου στὴν ἑλληνορωμαϊκὴ παράδοση δὲν ἦταν τόσο ξεκάθαρα, ἀφοῦ εἶχε ἀναπτυχθεῖ μιὰ μυθολογία ποὺ προσέγγιζε τὴν ὅποια διαφορά, ἐνῶ πολλοὶ φιλόσοφοι μιλοῦσαν περὶ ἀθανασίας τῆς ἀνθρώπινης ψυχῆς, μὲ ἀποτέλεσμα ἡ παρουσίαση τοῦ Αὐτοκράτορα… μὲ θεϊκὰ χαρακτηριστικὰ νὰ μὴν ἦταν τόσο προκλητικὴ καὶ περίεργη. Ἐπίσης, ὁ θρησκευτικὸς ρόλος τοῦ Αὐτοκράτορα ἐνεῖχε τὰ χαρακτηριστικὰ τοῦ ἐνδιάμεσου μεταξὺ τῆς θείας καὶ ἀνθρώπινης σφαίρας, καθὼς ὁ Αὐτοκράτορας παρουσιαζόταν νὰ θυσιάζει στοὺς θεοὺς καὶ νὰ προβάλλεται ὅτι ἐνεργεῖ ἐκ μέρους τῆς Αὐτοκρατορίας. Οὐσιαστικά, ὁ Αὐτοκράτορας ἦταν τὸ σύμβολο τῆς εὐημερίας καὶ προόδου τῆς αὐτοκρατορίας, μὲ ἀποτέλεσμα οἱ ἄνθρωποι νὰ προσεύχονται στοὺς θεοὺς γιὰ τὴν ὑγεία του, καθὼς μέσῳ τοῦ Αὐτοκράτορα θὰ εὐημεροῦσαν καὶ οἱ ἴδιοι.

Γ. Γαϊτάνος, Ἡ ἔννοια τοῦ ὅρου «θρησκεία» στὴν πρωτοχριστιανικὴ γραμματεία [Collecta Academica 27], Θεσσαλονίκη 2017.

Ἀλλὰ καὶ αὐτό:

A. Momigliano, How Roman Emperors Became Gods, The American Scholar, 55.2 (1986), 181 - 193:

But there is one aspect of the imperial cult that must be stressed because it is essential. An element of its strength was paradoxically the fact that it was not universally accepted. Indeed it was often imposed on indifferent or reluctant subjects by zealous governors. The Acts of the Christian Martyrs will soon remind us that there was an element of brutal imposition in the imperial cult. Not everybody liked it. […] There is a characteristic absence of evidence that prayers were offered to emperors to perform a miracle (or even to induce a dream) […] To make things worse, there is some evidence that the boyfriend of Hadrian, Antinous, who was deified to please Hadrian, did accomplish miracles after his death […] We learn from Libanius that worshippers were given miracles by Julian after his death