ABSTRACT
Domitian seems to have been genuinely concerned with the beliefs and behaviour of his subjects, for obviously that is how he regarded the citizens of the empire. Stern and somewhat forbidding, he saw himself, like Augustus, as the supervisor of laws and morals (curator morum et legum. RG 6.1). But the similarity went further than mere words. His ideal seems to have been a return to Augustan standards, and not only in monetary matters. He was just as uncompromising in his approach to religion; and he was further influenced by two factors, the Flavians’ need to bolster the new dynasty with supernatural support and his personally sincere belief in the traditional religion.
