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It doesn't look like much now, but this once dominated the entire south side of the Forum. Before it was built, this was where they brought Julius Caesar's body after his assassination. And it was here that they cremated him before huge crowds. The temple marks a major change in Roman religion. This is when they started to treat their rulers not as men, but as gods. On 1st January 42 BC, the Senate passed an unprecedented decree. They declared Julius Caesar divine. It made him the first historical Roman ever to be officially deified. With a temple and priests, this mere mortal had now become a god. And if Julius Caesar was a god, then his adopted son, Augustus, had a new title - Divi Filius, son of a god. |