'Theophilestatos/amicissimus deorum: un epiteto spia della eusebeia imperiale nel iii secolo'

Theophilestatos/amicissimus deorum. A clue epithet of the imperial eusebeia in the third century a.d. · This paper provides a survey of the epigraphic, and to some extent papyrological, evidence of third-century emperors and their relatives (wife and sons) referred to as theophilestatoi/theophilestatai, together with some general considerations on the possible reason for the use of this epithet. It argues that this epithet meant something more specific than the common expression theiotatos/theiotate which had been widely used since the beginning of the Principate. It seems that this designation, in third-century inscriptions, contained a non-generic message and an indirect reference to the attitude and initiatives taken by the emperors in the field of religious policy. It was only from the fourth century onwards that the epithet was directly assigned tosovereigns and predominantly to churchmen.