But at his death the Senate in the name of the people
reviewed his life and passed judgment upon it. If he were condemned,
all the acts which he had made were nullified, his statues thrown
down, and his name effaced from the monuments.[145] If, on the
contrary, his acts were ratified (which almost always occurred), the
Senate at the same time decreed that the deceased emperor should be
elevated to the rank of the gods. The majority of the emperors,
therefore, became gods after their death. Temples were raised to them
and priests appointed to render them worship. Throughout the empire
there were temples dedicated to the god Augustus and to the goddess
Roma, and persons are known who performed the functions of flamen
(priest) of the divine Claudius, or of the divine Vespasian. This
practice of deifying the dead emperor was called Apotheosis. The word
is Greek; the custom probably came from the Greeks of the Orient.
=The Senate and the People.=--The Roman Senate remained what it had
always been--the assembly of the richest and most eminent personages
of the empire. To be a senator was still an eagerly desired honor; in
speaking of a great family one would say, "a senatorial family.
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