The public places of Agrigentum

The cult of the Emperor

In ancient Rome, the gods were not the only entities worshipped by citizens.
While he was alive, Julius Caesar had already tried to establish the cult of the emperor, but the perfection of the liturgy came only with the proclamation of Octavius as Augustus in 27 BC, whose veneration is testified in Agrigentum by some marble bases with inscriptions dedicated to his adopted sons, Lucius Caesar and Gaius Caesar.
Thanks to the inscriptions, we can assume the presence of flamines and Augustales in the city, the guardians of the sacred flame and the priests of the emperor’s cult respectively.
The Augustales in particular had an annual term of office and after their appointment continued to keep the title: they formed a real caste, composed of six people in office in the municipalities of the Empire, a status that Agrigento had reached in 22 BC during the reorganisation of Sicily by Augustus.
The cult included the veneration of the emperor’s genius while he was still alive – for most Roman citizens, in fact, it was hard to imagine the adoration of a living person – followed by the deificatio, the act by which the senate proclaimed the deification of the emperor after his death, which began religious veneration in the strict sense, with the institution of holidays on the day of the emperor’s birth and the building of temples in his honour.

Cicero’s account: Agrigentum in In Verrem

The Oratory of Phalaris

The tomb of Theron

The driver of Agrigentum’s well-being

The gods of Agrigento

From Akragas to Agrigentum

The sarcophagus of the Child

The life of young people in Roman times

Works for the muses: the mosaics of the Hellenistic-Roman quarter

Mens sana in corpore sano: the gymnasium of Agrigento

The cult of the Emperor

Roman affairs

Moments of leisure: the theatre

The theatre of origins

The Punic Wars and the final conquest of Akragas

The Romans settle in Agrigentum

The wellness centres of the Romans

The provincial layout of Sicily

The ancient port of Agrigentum

The Roman necropolis

The centre of politics in Agrigentum

The domus, guardians of private life

An exceptional discovery: the thermal baths of Agrigentum

Breathing in world heritage together

The Hellenistic-Roman quarter

The Kolymbetra Garden

The Living Almond Museum

Vegetation in the Gardens

Politics comparison: Akragas and Agrigentum

A Sanctuary for the Latin gods

The forum in the city of the Akragantines

Hellenistic heritage on the streets of Agrigentum