Introduction 1 There has been a tendency in the past for many scholars of Greco-Roman religion to underplay the significance of the emperors within the actual social and religious life of the Roman empire. Part of the reason for this tendency relates to the presuppositions and modernizing tendencies of many modern scholars-particularly with regard to restrictive definitions of religion-which have sometimes been an obstacle to understanding the nature and significance of phenomena such as imperial cults or worship of the emperors.2 In this article a critical discussion of the ways in which some scholars of the past have viewed imperial cults will set the stage for a fresh investigation of some largely neglected inscriptional evidence; this evidence attests to the important place of emperors in the social, political and religious life of local groups or associations in one of the foremost cities of the Roman empire, the metropolis of Ephesus. Associations-small groups or guilds which met on a regular basis under the patronage of deities for various social and religious purposes3-played a key role in the lives of many men and women of antiquity and may provide an important clue as to the nature and popularity of imperial cults at the local level.