Duane W. Roller

that had been on the Capitol but had been demolished in 48 b.c. aft er
being taken over by swarms of bees. 96
Th e Ptolemaic cult of Dionysos is documented as early as the time
of Ptolemy II, when, at a great festival early in his reign, the Ptolemaia,
the god played a prominent role, with his gigantic statue drawn in a cart
adorned with rich off erings, accompanied by a multitude of celebrants
and adherents carrying a vast number of containers of wine. 97 Since
Dionysos was a traditional Greek god there was no need to spread his cult
through the eastern Mediterranean, but clearly the Ptolemies gave him
special recognition, perhaps because of his connection with Alexander.
Ptolemy XII took the title “New Dionysos” 98 and was known as “Auletes,”
the Flute Player, a sobriquet that had Dionysiac overtones. He depicted
himself as the god, 99 although holding divine titles by Hellenistic royalty
did not mean actual divinity in a theological sense but was a recognition
that the rulers had special qualities and achievements that made
them divine in character. 100 But the Romans also had their own interest
in Dionysos, again emanating from Alexander, who was a role model
for many of the prominent leaders of the fi rst century b.c. Pompeius’s
African triumph of 79 b.c. was a distinct imitation of Dionysos’s alleged
Indian triumph, and Caesar may have created a shrine of Dionysos on
his property. 101 It was reported to be in the “royal gardens,” which in the
context of the anecdote—29 b.c., connected with Octavian’s return to
Rome—can hardly mean a nonexistent Imperial palace but probably the
Horti Caesaris, Caesar’s gardens across the Tiber.
Th us Dionysos and Isis came together in the Rome of Julius Caesar.
Th e dictator assumed divine characteristics even before his death, as
Antonius eloquently pointed out in his funeral oration, passing over the
fact that this presumption contributed to his death. 102 Cleopatra came
to Rome and lived in the Horti Caesaris with its shrine to Dionysos, and
soon her statue was in the Forum Julium alongside the Roman divine
matriarch Venus (fi g. 10). Her identity as Venus (Aphrodite) had already
appeared on coinage at the time of the birth of Caesarion, 103 where
queen and son appeared as the goddess and Eros (fi g. 11a). Th is connection
was further suggested in her carefully staged approach to Antonius
at Tarsos, when the popular rumor was that Aphrodite had come to play
with Dionysos: his Dionysiac revels in Ephesos, just previously, had set
the stage. 104 Antonius himself, Caesar’s successor, assumed the role of
Dionysos no later than 41 b.c. and the Tarsos encounter: the connection
of the god with wine and his general festive nature was of great appeal to
116 Cleopatra