roman deification pre-Empire

[nokhor]

it was always my understanding that caesar was the first historical roman to be deified after the mythological deification of romulus/quirinus. reading another thread i found out that wiki says pompey was deified. is this true? and were there other romans deified between romulus and augustus?

[master of the puppets]

ha, almost every hero of rome would attempt to spawn some kinship with the revered founder. they called scipio africanus a hero in the guise of romalus...or mabey it was aeneus, or horatio. these were three of the greatest historical figures and damn near every hero or general attempted to make himself seem like one of those, the founder, the warrior, the hero, or tried to make himself look as great a mars or zeus (hence the red painted faces)

[The Wizard]

Master of the puppets -- True, as the Julii Caesares (Caesar's family) claimed descent from Venus (Aphrodite). However, I think nokhor is referring to the deification process the princepes (emperors) went through after their death.

I myself don't know the answer, to be honest. I'm not quite sure there were deifications posthumously awarded to great commanders... although Pompey is a sure candidate.

[nokhor]

yep, Wiz hit it spot on. i am not looking for a nobleman's claim to descent from some legendery figure, that is part and parcel of being a noble. i am looking along the lines of decrees where a dead guy is officially declared a god by the senate. hope this clarifies.

[master of the puppets]

ooooh, man to god, i see, well horatio actually got a temple dedicated to him after his death near the forums, i don't know what became of it. but other than that i don't know, i mean aeneus was the son of venus but other than that...