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Dio 67.1.2). Statius was more successful at the Alban contests than
at the Capitoline, winning the golden olive-crown on three occasions
(Silvae 3.5.28 31; 4.2.63 7).7 But there was no theological
dichotomy between his private devotion to her and his public role of
Jupiter s representative on earth: presumably the coins depicting her
bearing a thunderbolt were meant to show that his private
veneration to her was but part of a deeper feeling for Jupiter.
Isis
Genuine and intense belief in the traditional Roman religion did not
cause Domitian to expel from Rome the followers of Isis, for
Egyptian religions were supported by all three Flavian emperors to
an extent not seen again until the end of the second century.8
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Vespasian believed that, at Alexandria in 69, he had healed a blind
and a crippled man through the intervention of Serapis (Vesp. 7.2;
Hist. 4.81 and Dio 66.8.1) and that Serapis in fact had appeared to
him9 (Vesp. 7.1). In December 69, Domitian saved himself by
mingling in an Isaic procession, appropriately disguised (Dom. 1.2;
Hist. 3.74); before returning to Rome after capturing Jerusalem,
Titus participated (Titus 5.3) in the consecration of the bull Apis at
Memphis and, not long after, he and Vespasian spent the night
preceeding their joint triumph in the temple of Isis (BJ 7.123: it was,
presumably, in commemoration of this that a temple of Isis appeared
for the first time on a Roman coin.10 Then, once Domitian was
emperor, he had the temple restored and a number of obelisks erected
in the city and elsewhere. Presumably, they identified Serapis with
Jupiter and Isis with Minerva, and their devotion must have been
real, for it is hard to believe that they even expected it to attract
support in the Capital. With Domitian, there is no reason to doubt
that his reverence was genuine: he was certain that Isis s support
would come to him as Jupiter s earthly representative. It is worth
observing that imperial interest in the worship of Isis was minimal
after Domitian s death, and it was not for another hundred years
that the sort of interest shown by all three Flavians was to appear
again, with the advent of Commodus.
Vestals
Not long after his accession, the behaviour of the Vestal Virgins
attracted his attention.11 Since they were technically daughters of
the community, any moral transgressions on their part constituted
incestum: hence Suetonius begins his account of their behaviour in
the 80s with the word incesta (Dom. 8.3). An investigation into
allegations of this nature was the responsibility of the pontifex
maximus and so Statius describes Domitian as the investigator
[explorator: Silvae 5.3.17812] of the hidden fire . Suetonius, Pliny
and Dio also stress his personal involvement: rigorous enforcement
of the law was to be expected from an emperor such as he. Unlike
Vespasian and Titus, he had no intention of turning a blind eye to
incest (Dom. 8.3).
Two separate incidents are recorded. On the first occasion, early
in the reign, Domitian found three of the six Vestals (the Oculata
sisters and Varronilla13) guilty of incest, but allowed them to choose
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the manner of their deaths, and merely exiled their lovers
generosity indeed, since the customary penalty was to be hung from
a cross and beaten to death with rods.14 The senior Vestal, Cornelia,15
was apparently not involved on this occasion, though Suetonius
refers to her acquittal at a trial held well before 89 (Dom. 8.4). She
was less fortunate in the middle of Domitian s reign.16 Accused of
incest, she was found guilty at a trial held at the Alban villa (rather
than at the Regia of the pontifices)17 and condemned to be buried
alive. Her lovers, including the equestrian Celer, were beaten to
death, with the exception of one, Valerius Licinianus, who admitted
his guilt and was exiled.18 But it was perfectly clear that they were
guilty and no criticism should be levelled at Domitian on that score.
What apparently horrified Pliny was the thought that someone of
his status should have to face the same penalty as any other
malefactor. But, that aside, the entire affair exemplifies the attention
Domitian paid to the letter of religious law.
He was also preoccupied with its minutiae. When the flamen
Dialis, one of the most important priests in the state,19 wanted to
divorce his wife, Domitian finally agreed but insisted it be done in
the time-honoured way, with horrid rites and incantations .20 Or,
when one of his freedmen erected a tomb for his son with stones
meant for the temple of Jupiter Capitolinus, Domitian had it
destroyed (Dom. 8.5). Presumably, he recalled the decision of the
haruspices (at the time when Vespasian was restoring the same
building) forbidding the builders to use stone that had been destined
for some other purpose (Hist. 4.53). Again, even long-forgotten
vows were officially remembered. After the fire of 64, Nero had
promised to have altars erected to ward off future fires, a vow long-
neglected and unfulfilled (diu neglectum nec redditum. ILS 4914).
Now, it was scrupulously discharged.
Ludi Saeculares (Secular Games)
That Domitian delighted in the enforcement of the regulations
governing Roman religion is exemplified by the fate of the errant
Vestal Virgins and by the efforts of a flamen Dialis to secure a
divorce. But he was also preoccupied with the strict interpretation of
its ritual; as well, he was not unaware of the possibility of using
religion to publicize his regime. Hence his celebration of the Ludi
Saeculares in 88,21 under the control of the quindecimviri sacris
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faciundis,22 a prestigious priestly college that included the historian
Tacitus (Ann. 11.11). As the name implies, these Ludi could be held
only once a century, and, according to tradition, a century was a
period of 110 years. Augustus had celebrated the games in 17 BC,
Claudius23 in 47 AD. The year selected by Domitian, 88 rather than
93, was technically correct, since Augustus had intended to hold
them in 22 or 23 BC and the postponement to 17 BC needed
justification.24 Domitian s precision in such matters is typical:
holding them in 93 would not have been correct .
Ludi Capitolini
In 86 (Censorinus, De Die Natali 18.15), Domitian instituted the
Capitoline Games,25 based no doubt on the Neronia (Nero 12.3)
that had been discontinued at Nero s death but revived later and
celebrated by Gordian III.26 Held every four years early in the
summer, they attracted competitors from many nations: Martial
(9.40) refers to Diodorus coming from Egypt and, in the Ludi of 94,
there were fifty-two contestants for the Greek poetry prize alone
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