Flavian Responses to Nero's Rome

Abstract

This chapter considers the issue of continuity and rupture between Neronian and Flavian policies in light of Vespasian's efforts to revive official cult honours for the deified Claudius. Re-examination of the evidence for the status of Divus Claudius during the reign of Nero suggests that the most salient feature of Claudius' divinity was the glory it conferred upon his successor's patriline. Accounts that stress the Flavians' rejection of Neronian precedents thus fail to offer adequate justification for the renewed emphasis that Claudius' cult received under Vespasian. A better explanation can be found in the ideological importance of the imperial cult itself, as the new dynasty sought to build on the example of Divus Claudius as a precedent for its own claims to charismatic authority.