How the beneficial work of the emperor was perceived by most members of the population is nicely demonstrated by an episode from the last days of Augustus, in ad 14. Near Naples the emperor’s ship met a ship from Alexandria. When the crew and the passengers recognized the imperial vessel and the emperor, they changed their clothes and put on their white garments destined for religious service, put wreaths on their heads, offered sacrifices with incense to the emperor, and acclaimed him with the words “Because of you we are living, because of you we can travel the seas, because of you we enjoy liberty and wealth.”
Under those circumstances it comes as no surprise that in some parts of the empire the emperors could appear as miracle-workers and heal sick people. Thus we have the story that Vespasian (ad 69-70), the founder of the Flavian dynasty, during a visit to Alexandria healed sick people by only laying his hands on them. The interested public interpreted this immediately as a sure indication that he had been elected to his office by the gods.
As a rule imperial cult did not mean presenting an individual declaration of faith; such a perception is clearly influenced by the Christian tradition of religion. Imperial cult meant the individual was expected to take part in collective religious acts. Each human being under Roman rule was obliged to participate in such religious activities not as an individual but as a member of the citizenship of his home town, a soldier in a military unit, a member of a local city council, or a member of the Roman senate.
The most illustrative examples come from the city of Rome. The imperial capital was divided into 265 blocks (vici) (Plin. Nat. 3.66f.), which constituted a kind of collegium with its own magistrates, the so-called magistri vici, who were each year elected from the local inhabitants. They were supposed to offer regular sacrifices to the imperial Genius and the guardian spirits (Lares) of the imperial household, which were worshiped in a small chapel on their block, as well as to organize festivities and represent their community within the city of Rome. The Genius is best understood as a personal guardian spirit each male human being owned. The female equivalent was the luno.
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