ABSTRACT
At first sight the ancient authorities give conflicting versions of the process by which Claudius achieved apotheosis. Under the events of A.D. 54 Tacitus states that the Senate decreed celestial honours to Claudius, also that his funeral was celebrated in the same manner as that of Augustus. Is it possible, then, to reconcile the accounts of Claudius' deification in the literary sources in the light of either the general or the specific sense of consecratio? On the suggested interpretation the interval before the Senate decreed the consecration of Claudius must have been occupied by discussion of arrangements for his cult, in particular the whereabouts of the temple of Divus Claudius. In any event the Senate seized the opportunity to locate the temple where it would in fact ridicule Divus Claudius. Energetic promotion of the cult of Divus Claudius suited Agrippina's political purposes, of course. On the remains of the temple of Divus Claudius.
