Was the Roman emperor really a god? More specifically, did some emperors (and their family members) become gods after death? The answer, of course, depends on what we mean, or what the Romans meant, when they said “god.”
From today's perspective, imperial worship may seem like a series of deeply cynical actions. Here I am not thinking specifically about the funeral pyre fraud (cremation played an important role in the process of deification of the emperor and members of his family – ed.), since most religions use such tricks from time to time. Any illusion or mystification causes in today's Naples a miraculous transformation of the frozen blood of the Saint who lived in the 3rd century. Janius in liquid form, three times a year, did little damage to the saint's reputation, much less damage to the Catholic Church. The ruse of the eagle in a cage (which was released during the burning of the emperor's body which symbolized the union of his soul with another god – ed.) does not necessarily undermine the authenticity of the consecration as a whole. . More problematic is the political convenience that now seems to be the reason for the transformation of human emperors into immortal gods.