Pontifex maximus

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Augustus as pontifex maximus
(Via Labicana Augustus)

The pontifex maximus (

rex sacrorum and the flamines maiores (Flamen Dialis, Flamen Martialis, Flamen Quirinalis).[4]

A distinctly religious office under the early

Anastasius Dicorus (r. 491–518). The first to adopt the inclytus alternative to maximus may have been the rebel augustus Magnus Maximus
(r. 383–388).

The word pontifex and its derivative "

Latin: summus pontifex) as the fourth title, the first being "bishop of Rome".[8]

Etymology

Part of a series on the
Priesthoods
of ancient Rome
Flamen (AD 250–260)
Major colleges
Other colleges or sodalities
Priests
Priestesses
Related topics

The etymology of "pontifex" is uncertain, but the word has been used since Roman times. The word appears to consist of the Latin word for "bridge" and the suffix for "maker". However, there is a possibility that this definition is a folk etymology for an Etruscan term,[9] since Roman religion was heavily influenced by Etruscan religion, and little is known about the Etruscan language, which is not Indo-European and thus has different origins from Latin.[citation needed]

According to the common interpretation, the term pontifex means "bridge-builder" (pons + facere); "maximus" means "greatest". This was perhaps originally meant in a literal sense: the position of bridge-builder was indeed an important one in Rome, where the major bridges were over the Tiber, the sacred river (and a deity): only prestigious authorities with sacral functions could be allowed to "disturb" it with mechanical additions. However, it was always understood in its symbolic sense as well: the pontifices were the ones who smoothed the "bridge" between gods and men.[10]

The interpretation of the word pontifex as "bridge-builder" was that of Dionysius of Halicarnassus and Marcus Terentius Varro. Plutarch pointed out that the term existed before there were any bridges in Rome and derived the word from Old Latin pontis [sic] meaning a powerful or absolute master, while others derived it from potis facere in the sense of "able to sacrifice".[11] The last derivation is mentioned also by Varro, who rejected it,[12] but it was the view of pontifex maximus Quintus Scaevola.[13] Others have held that the word was originally pompifex (leader of public processions).[13] The word pons originally meant "way" and pontifex would thus mean "maker of roads and bridges".[13]

Another opinion is that the word is a corruption of a similar-sounding but etymologically unrelated

Osco-Umbrian ponte, five.[16] This explanation takes into account that the college was established by Sabine king Numa Pompilius and the institution is Italic: the expressions pontis and pomperias found in the Iguvine Tablets may denote a group or division of five or by five. The pontifex would thence be a member of a sacrificial college known as pomperia (Latin quinio).[17]

The Roman title pontifex maximus was rendered in Greek inscriptions and literature of the time as

Koinē Greek: ἀρχιερεὺς μέγιστος, romanized: archireús mégistos, lit. 'greatest archpriest'.[19] The term ἀρχιερεύς is used in the Greek Septuagint text of the Old Testament and in the New Testament to refer to the High Priest of Israel, including in 2 Maccabees (2 Maccabees 4:7
).

The word pontifex, Latin for "pontiff", was used in ancient Rome to designate a member of the College of Pontiffs. In the Latin Vulgate translation of the New Testament, it is sometimes used to designate the Jewish high priest, as in the Gospel of John and Epistle to the Hebrews (John 11:49; Hebrews 5:1). From perhaps as early as the 3rd century, it has been used to denote a Christian bishop. In the Vulgate, the term summus pontifex was originally applied to the High Priest of Israel, as in the Book of Judith (Judith 15:19), whose place, each in his own diocese, the Christian bishops were regarded as holding, based on an interpretation of the First Epistle of Clement (I Clement 40).[20]

Origins in the Regal period

The

Regal period in Roman history is semi-legendary or mythical. The Collegium presumably acted as advisers to the rex (king) in religious matters. The collegium was headed by the pontifex maximus, and all the pontifices held their office for life. But the pontifical records of early Rome were most likely destroyed when the city was sacked by the Gauls in 387 BC, and the earliest accounts of Archaic Rome come from the literature of the Republic, most of it from the 1st century BC and later.[citation needed
]

According to the

Jupiter Elicius and consulting the gods by means of augury.[21] Numa wrote down and sealed these religious instructions, and gave them to the first pontifex maximus, Numa Marcius.[citation needed
]

Roman Republic

See also:
List of Pontifices Maximi and College of Pontiffs

In the

rex sacrorum, or "king of sacred rites", to carry out certain religious duties and rituals previously performed by the king. The rex sacrorum was explicitly deprived of military and political power, but the pontifices were permitted to hold both magistracies and military commands.[22]

The official residence of the pontifex maximus was the

toga praetexta, i.e. toga with the purple border. In artistic representations, he can be recognized by his holding an iron knife (secespita)[9] or the patera,[23] and the distinctive robes or toga with part of the mantle covering the head (capite velato
), in keeping with Roman practice.

In practice, particularly during the late Republic, the office of pontifex maximus was generally held by a member of a politically prominent family. It was a coveted position mainly for the great prestige it conferred on the holder. Julius Caesar became pontifex in 73 BC and pontifex maximus in 63 BC.

The major Republican source on the pontiffs would have been the theological writings of

Varro, which survive only in fragments preserved by later authors such as Aulus Gellius and Nonius Marcellus. Other sources are Cicero, Livy, Dionysius of Halicarnassus, Valerius Maximus, Plutarch's Life of Numa Pompilius, Festus's summaries of Verrius Flaccus, and in later writers, including several of the Church Fathers
. Some of these sources present an extensive list of everyday prohibitions for the pontifex maximus; it seems difficult to reconcile these lists with evidence that many pontifices maximi were prominent members of society who lived normal, non-restricted lives.

Election and number

The number of Pontifices, elected by co-optatio (i.e. the remaining members nominate their new colleague) for life, was originally five, including the pontifex maximus.

plebs (plebeians) to be co-opted as priests, so that part of the exclusivity of the title was lost. But it was only in 254 BC that Tiberius Coruncanius became the first plebeian pontifex maximus.[25]

The lex Ogulnia also increased the number of pontiffs to nine (the pontifex maximus included). In 104 BC the lex Domitia prescribed that the election of all pontiffs would henceforward be voted by the comitia tributa (an assembly of the people divided into voting districts); by the same law only 17 tribes, chosen by lot from the 35 tribes of the city, could vote. The law's promulgator, L[ucius] Domitius Ahenobarbus, was shortly afterwards elected pontifex maximus after the death of the incumbent

Metellus Dalmaticus: Something of a personal revenge because, the previous year, he had expected to be co-opted as a pontiff to replace his late father, but the pontifical college had appointed another candidate in his place. The office's next holder, Q[uintus] Mucius Scaevola
, was also elected under the same law, though without controversy or opposition since he was a former consul and long-serving pontiff.

This law was abolished in 81 BC by

Sulla in his dictatorship, in the lex Cornelia de Sacerdotiis, which restored to the great priestly colleges their full right of co-optatio.[26][27][28] Also under Sulla, the number of pontifices was increased to fifteen, the pontifex maximus included, and Sulla appointed Quintus Caecilius Metellus Pius
as the next holder of the office – the only truly unelected pontifex maximus in history, since even the other pontiffs did not get a vote in the matter.

In 63 BC, the law of Sulla was abolished by the tribune

Marcus Aemilius Lepidus. Also under Julius Caesar, the number of pontifices were increased to sixteen, the pontifex maximus included. (Possibly because Caesar's own long absences from Rome necessitated the appointment of a deputy pontiff for those occasions when fifteen needed to be present.) The number of pontifices varied during the Empire but is believed to have been regular at fifteen.[24]

Extraordinary appointment of dictators

The office came into its own with the abolition of the monarchy, when most sacral powers previously vested in the King were transferred either to the pontifex maximus or to the Rex Sacrorum, though traditionally a (non-political) dictator[30] was formally mandated by the Senate for one day, to perform a specific rite.

According to Livy in his "History of Rome", an ancient instruction written in archaic letters commands: "Let him who is the Praetor Maximus fasten a nail on the Ides of September." This notice was fastened on the right side of the Temple of Jupiter Optimus Maximus, next to the chapel of Minerva. This nail is said to have marked the number of the year.

It was in accordance with this direction that the consul Horatius dedicated the Temple of

Jupiter Optimus Maximus in the year following the expulsion of the kings; from the Consuls the ceremony of fastening the nails passed to the Dictators, because they possessed greater authority. As the custom had been subsequently dropped, it was felt to be of sufficient importance to require the appointment of a dictator. L[ucius] Manlius was accordingly nominated but his appointment was due to political rather than religious reasons. He was eager to command in the war with the Hernici. He caused an anger among the men liable to serve by the inconsiderate way in which he conducted the enrolment. In consequence of the unanimous resistance offered by the tribunes of the plebs, he gave way, either voluntarily or through compulsion, and laid down his dictatorship. Since then, this rite was performed by the Rex Sacrorum.[31]

Duties

The main duty of the Pontifices was to maintain the pax deorum or "peace of the gods".[32]

The immense authority of the sacred college of pontiffs was centered on the pontifex maximus, the other pontifices forming his consilium or advising body. His functions were partly sacrificial or ritualistic, but these were the least important. His real power lay in the administration of ius divinum or divine law;[33] the information collected by the pontifices related to the Roman religious tradition was bound in a corpus which summarized dogma and other concepts.

Denarius depicting Julius Caesar as pontifex maximus

The chief departments of jus divinum may be described as follows:

  1. The regulation of all expiatory ceremonials needed as a result of pestilence, lightning, etc.
  2. The consecration of all temples and other sacred places and objects dedicated to the gods.
  3. The regulation of the calendar; both astronomically and in detailed application to the public life of the state.
  4. The administration of the law relating to burials and burying-places, and the worship of the manes or dead ancestors.
  5. The superintendence of all marriages by conferratio, i.e. originally of all legal patrician marriages.
  6. The administration of the law of adoption and of testamentary succession.
  7. The regulation of the public morals, and fining and punishing offending parties.
  8. The selection of Vestal Virgins[34]

The pontifices had many relevant and prestigious functions such as being in charge of caring for the state archives, the keeping the official minutes of elected magistrates,[35] the list of magistrates, and they kept the records of their own decisions (commentarii) and of the chief events of each year, the so-called "public diaries", the Annales maximi.[36]

The pontifex maximus was also subject to several

taboos. Among them was the prohibition to leave Italy. Plutarch described Publius Cornelius Scipio Nasica Serapio (141–132 BC) as the first to leave Italy, after being forced by the Senate to do so, and thus break the sacred taboo. Publius Licinius Crassus Dives Mucianus (132–130 BC) was the first to leave Italy voluntarily. Afterwards it became common and no longer against the law for the pontifex maximus to leave Italy. Among the most notable of those who did was Julius Caesar
(63–44 BC).

The Pontifices were in charge of the lunisolar Roman calendar and determined when intercalary months needed to be added to synchronize the calendar to the seasons. Since the Pontifices were often politicians, and because a Roman magistrate's term of office corresponded with a calendar year, this power was prone to abuse: a Pontifex could lengthen a year in which he or one of his political allies was in office, or refuse to lengthen one in which his opponents were in power. A Pontifex with other political responsibilities, especially away from Rome, might also have been simply distracted from his calendrical duties as chief priest. This caused the calendar to become out of step with the seasons; for example, Caesar's crossing of the Rubicon in January 49 BC actually took place in mid-autumn.

Under his authority as pontifex maximus, Julius Caesar introduced the calendar reform that created the entirely

state church of the Roman Empire after the adoption of Christianity as the Roman state religion. The Julian calendar, established by Caesar in his capacity as pontifex maximus, thus became the standard calendar in all of Europe, and continued in use in Western Europe until the Gregorian
reform in the 16th century.

Pontifex maximus and Augustus Marcus Aurelius (r. 161–180) performing sacrifice in a relief from the Arch of Marcus Aurelius (Capitoline Museums)

Roman Empire

After Julius Caesar's assassination in 44 BC, his ally

Marcus Aemilius Lepidus was selected as pontifex maximus. Though Lepidus eventually fell out of political favor and was sent into exile as Augustus consolidated power, he retained the priestly office until his death in 13/12 BC, at which point Augustus was selected to succeed him and given the right to appoint other pontifices. Thus, from the time of Augustus, the election of pontifices ended and membership in the sacred college was deemed a sign of imperial favour.[9] Augustus took the title of pontifex maximus for political gain, in an attempt to restore traditional Roman values. With this attribution, the new office of Emperor was given a religious dignity and the responsibility for the entire Roman state cult. Most authors contend that the power of naming the Pontifices was not really used as an instrumentum regni, an enforcing power.[citation needed
]

From this point on, pontifex maximus was one of the many titles of the Emperor, slowly losing its specific and historical powers and becoming simply a referent for the sacral aspect of imperial duties and powers. During the Imperial period, a promagister (vice-master) performed the duties of the pontifex maximus in lieu of the emperors whenever they were absent.[10]

In post-Severan times (after 235 AD), the small number of pagan senators interested in becoming pontiffs led to a change in the pattern of office holding. In Republican and Imperial times no more than one family member of a gens was member of the College of Pontiffs, nor did one person hold more than one priesthood in this collegium. However, these rules were loosened in the later part of the 3rd century A.D. In periods of joint rule, at first only one of the emperors bore this title, as it occurred for the first time during the joint reign of Marcus Aurelius and Lucius Verus (161–169 AD), when only Marcus Aurelius was pontifex maximus, but later two pontifices maximi could serve together, as Pupienus and Balbinus did in 238 AD—a situation unthinkable in Republican times.[37]

Late Antiquity

When Tertullian, a Montanist, furiously applied the term to a bishop with whom he was at odds (either Pope Callixtus I or Agrippinus of Carthage),[38][39] ca. 220, over a relaxation of the Church's penitential discipline allowing repentant adulterers and fornicators back into the Church, it was in bitter irony:

In opposition to this [modesty], could I not have acted the dissembler? I hear that there has even been an edict sent forth, and a peremptory one too. The "Pontifex Maximus," that is the "bishop of bishops," issues an edict: "I remit, to such as have discharged [the requirements of] repentance, the sins both of adultery and of fornication." O edict, on which cannot be inscribed, "Good deed!"... Far, far from Christ's betrothed be such a proclamation!

— Tertullian, On Modesty ch. 1

In the Crisis of the Third Century, emperors continued to assume the title pontifex maximus. The early Christian emperors, including Constantine the Great (r. 306–337) and the rest of the Constantinian dynasty, continued to use it; it was only relinquished by Gratian, possibly in 376 at the time of his visit to Rome,[10] or more probably in 383 when a delegation of pagan senators implored him to restore the Altar of Victory in the Roman Senate's Curia Julia.[40] Its last use with reference to the emperors is in inscriptions of Gratian.[41][24][9]

The

Peter, as an episcopus:[42]

... the profession of that religion which was delivered to the Romans by the divine Apostle Peter, as it has been preserved by faithful tradition and which is now professed by the Pontiff Damasus and by Peter, Bishop of Alexandria ... We authorize the followers of this law to assume the title Catholic Christians ...[43]

Various forms of summus pontifex ('highest pontiff' or bishop) were for centuries used not only of the Bishop of Rome but of other bishops also.[20] Hilary of Arles (d. 449) is styled summus pontifex by Eucherius of Lyon (P. L.

, vol. L, col. 773).

Pontifex inclytus

During Gratian's reign or immediately afterwards the phrase pontifex maximus – which had unwelcome associations with traditional Roman religion during the

Christianization of the Roman Empire – was replaced in imperial titulature with the phrase: pontifex inclytus.[44] The first to adopt the inclytus alternative to maximus may have been the rebel augustus and devout Christian close to bishop Martin of Tours, Magnus Maximus (r. 383–388), who killed Gratian in August 383.[44]

This practice was followed by Gratian's junior co-emperor

Justinian the Great (r. 527–565) or even by Constantine IV (r. 654–685).[44]

Middle Ages

Lanfranc is termed primas et pontifex summus by his biographer, Milo Crispin (P. L., vol. CL, 10), but from the 11th century it appears to be applied only to the Pope.[20]

Engraving by Christoph Weigel the Elder of Pope Clement XI, giving him the title pontifex maximus

Catholic Church use of the title

See also:
papacy's official titulature of the Bishop of Rome.[46] The name given to the book containing the liturgical rites to be performed by any bishop, the Roman Pontifical, and to the form of liturgy known as Pontifical High Mass witness to the continued use of pontifex to refer to bishops in general.[citation needed
]

While the title pontifex maximus has for some centuries been used in inscriptions referring to the Popes, it has never been included in the official list of papal titles published in the Annuario Pontificio. The official list of titles of the Pope given in the Annuario Pontificio includes "Supreme Pontiff of the whole Church" (in Latin, Summus Pontifex Ecclesiae Universalis) as the fourth title, the first being "Bishop of Rome". The title pontifex maximus appears in inscriptions on buildings and on coins and medallions.[citation needed]

In December 2012, Pope Benedict XVI adopted @pontifex as his X (formerly known as Twitter) handle,[47] prompting users to pose questions with the #askpontifex hashtag.[48][49] This has been maintained by his successor Pope Francis, who now uses it as his X handle.[50]

See also

References

  1. Harper & Brothers
    . p. 1299.
  2. Perseus Project
    .
  3. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company
    . 2019.
  4. ISBN 978-0-520-24991-2
    . Retrieved September 2, 2016.
  5. JSTOR 3294702
    . In the matter of hierarchical nomenclature, one of the most striking instances is the adoption of the term pontifex for a bishop
  6. ^ Edictum Gratiani, Valentiani et Theodosii de fide catholica. The Roman Law Library. February 27, 380. Archived from the original on April 27, 2014. Retrieved January 6, 2018.
  7. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company
    . 2000. Retrieved June 27, 2019.
  8. ISBN 978-88-209-8722-0
    .
  9. ^
    Livius.org. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help
    )
  10. ^
    doi:10.3406/rbph.2003.4718
    . Retrieved 3 March 2020.
  11. ^ Hooke, Nathaniel (1830). The Roman History, from the Building of Rome to the Ruin of the Commonwealth. Vol. 5. London: Thomas Davison. p. 81.
  12. ISBN 978-0-52145646-3
    .
  13. ^
    ISBN 978-1-41790821-9
    .
  14. ^ Douglas Harper (2020). "Pontifex (n.)". Online Etymology Dictionary. Retrieved February 17, 2023.
  15. ^ First proposed by F. Ribezzo in "Pontifices 'quinionalis sacrificii effectores'", Rivista Indo-Greco-Italica di Filologia-Lingua-Antichità 15 1931 p. 56.
  16. ^ Cf. Greek πέντε
  17. ^ For a review of the proposed hypotheses cfr. J. P. Hallet "Over Troubled Waters: The Meaning of the Title Pontifex" in Transactions and Proceedings of the American Philological Association 101 1970 p. 219 ff.
  18. ^ Polybius 23.1.2 and 32.22.5; Corpus Inscriptionum Atticarum 3.43, 3.428 und 3.458
  19. ^ Corpus Inscriptionum Graecarum 2.2696 and 3.346; Plutarch Numa 9.4
  20. ^ a b c Joyce, George Hayward (1911). "Pope § Titles" . In Herbermann, Charles (ed.). Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 12. New York: Robert Appleton Company.
  21. ^
    Ab urbe condita
    , 1:20
  22. ^ Roman Public Religion Archived March 18, 2011, at the Wayback Machine Roman Civilization, bates.edu retrieved August 17, 2006
  23. ^ "Panel Relief of Marcus Aurelius and Roman Imperial Iconography". College at Oneonta. State University of New York. Retrieved February 17, 2023.
  24. ^ a b c Smith, William (1875). "Pontifex Maximus". A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities. London: John Murray. pp. 939–942. Retrieved August 15, 2006 – via LacusCurtius.
  25. ^ Titus Livius. Ex Libro XVIII Archived August 19, 2018, at the Wayback Machine Periochae, from livius.org retrieved August 16, 2006
  26. ^ Liv. Epit. 89
  27. ^ Pseudo-Ascon. in Divinat. p 102, ed. Orelli
  28. ^ Dion Cass. xxxvii. 37
  29. ^ Dion Cass. xliv. 53
  30. ^ see also: basileus, interrex
  31. ^ Livy (Titus Livius). "History of Rome". Ancient History Sourcebook: Accounts of Roman State Religion, c. 200 BC – 250 AD. Paul Halsall © August 1998 (public domain), Fordham University; [email protected]. Retrieved August 23, 2006.
  32. ^ "Roman Mythology" Archived May 21, 2006, at the Wayback Machine, Microsoft Encarta Online Encyclopedia 2006. Retrieved August 17, 2006
  33. ^ "Definition of JUS DIVINUM". Merriam–Webster Online Dictionary. Retrieved February 17, 2023.
  34. S2CID 144805147
    .
  35. ^ Ovid, Fasti
  36. ^ Fowler, William Warde (1911). "Pontifex" . In Chisholm, Hugh (ed.). Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 22 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 66.
  37. ISBN 978-0-19-533646-7
    .
  38. ISBN 978-0-8091-0534-2
    ), p. 165
  39. ISBN 978-3-11-019453-1
    ), p. 174
  40. ^ A. Cameron, A. (1969). Gratian's repudiation of the pontifical robe. The Journal of Roman Studies, 58: 96–102. The confusion in dates arises from Zosimus, who writes that it was repudiated at Gratian's accession, impossible from epigraphic and literary references
  41. Encyclopædia Britannica Online
    .
  42. ^ Unlike episcopus (from Greek ἐπίσκοπος), the word used for the bishop from the Greek-speaking East, pontifex is a word of purely Latin derivation.
  43. ^ Theodosian Code XVI.1.2; and Sozomen, "Ecclesiastical History", VII, iv. Emperor Theodosius I. "IMPERATORIS THEODOSIANI CODEX Liber Decimus Sextus" (web). ancientrome.ru. Retrieved December 4, 2006.
  44. ^
    JSTOR 30032227
    .
  45. ISBN 978-0-19-280290-3
    ), article Pontifex Maximus
  46. ISBN 978-0-19-866277-8
    , retrieved November 1, 2020
  47. ^ Winfield, Nicole (December 3, 2012). "Pope joins tweeting masses with Pontifex handle". AP. Retrieved December 3, 2012.
  48. ISSN 0190-8286
    . Retrieved February 17, 2023.
  49. ^ Pope Benedict to launch new Twitter account, Vatican Radio, December 3, 2012.
  50. ^ "@pontifex on Twitter". Twitter. Retrieved February 17, 2023.

Bibliography

External links
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Pontifex_maximus&oldid=1218609258"