ABSTRACT
In his fair and constructive review of The Imperial Cult in the Latin West, S. R. F. Price is in general agreement with the proposed development of provincial cults in the Latin West — with one exception. He has misgivings about the thesis that the temple at Colchester was only to Divus Claudius and at no stage to Claudius in his lifetime. Price writes, 'The dramatic context of this remark, by Jupiter, is before the debate in the Olympian senate about the admission of the late Claudius. As the Olympian debate is a parody of the debate in the Roman senate, it is implausible to argue that the Apocolocyntosis passage could refer to a temple authorized by the senate after Claudius' death.' Seneca says that the barbarians worship Claudius, and, as if he were a god, pray 'to happen upon a fool who might be merciful.'.
