Flemish Dialis

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The flamen Dialis was in the Roman religion the state priest of the supreme god Iuppiter Optimus Maximus and the highest ranking of the flamines . The Flamen Dialis had to be patrician, come from a marriage concluded according to the special rules of the Confarreatio and be married in such a marriage. If his wife died, he had to resign from his priesthood because he was no longer married. His wife, Flaminica , also had to be a patrician and come from a Confarreatio marriage.

The life of the flamen Dialis was subject to strict ritual regulations, which indicates that the flamen Dialis was originally a pre-Roman, archaic priesthood that was later integrated into the priestly college: for example, he could not pursue his own political career because he was the city of Rome was not allowed to leave and therefore could not take over military command (which was a matter of course for a Roman politician); he had to observe certain clothing regulations - a special headgear, the apex , was the symbol of a flamen- and was not allowed to come into contact with dead people, raw meat, beans, leavened bread, ivy, weapons, horses, dogs and goats or an army. In return, however, he received far-reaching privileges: he was the only priest with the political rights of a magistrate , he was entitled to a sella curulis , had a seat in the Senate and a lictor and was always allowed to wear the toga praetexta . Presumably, precisely because of the enormous prestige associated with this priesthood, a political career had been deliberately made impossible for the Flemish Dialis .

Caesar as a flamen dialis

Gaius Iulius Caesar , who came from an old patrician family, was designated for the service of flamen dialis at the age of 13 . On the advice of his uncle Gaius Marius by marriage , the priestly college had proposed him for election and Caesar was supported by the Marians and the followers of Lucius Cornelius Cinnas ; However, it is not clear whether he was actually able to take office: The Marians were soon defeated by Sulla's party in the civil war . Probably Caesar was therefore either denied the inauguration on Sulla's initiative by the then pontifex maximus and Sullan Quintus Mucius Scaevola , or the already inaugurated Caesar was suspended by Mucius. Caesar's predecessor in the office of flamen Dialis , Lucius Cornelius Merula , had turned himself in 87 BC. Taken his life, but not without first resigning his political and spiritual offices - the latter certainly on the instruction of the pontifex maximus , above all to avoid a violation of the ius sacrum . When Caesar was to take up the office of flamen dialis , the position had therefore already been vacant for four years. The reasons for this may have been in the civil war at the time or in Mucius' intention to brand the unworthy dealings of the political class with Merula, whereupon the Senate tried to withdraw the right to appoint the flamines of the collegium pontificum from the pontifex maximus .

Before Caesar's planned inauguration, the situation escalated. However, the sources do not allow any way to clarify whether Mucius was successful with his tough stance against the Senate. The historian Velleius Paterculus (around 29 AD) declares that Caesar had officially assumed office; Suetonius (around 130 AD), on the other hand, calls Caesar only a destinatus ("[intended for office]"). However , it cannot be clarified whether Suetonius is alluding to an already completed captio . Since the flamen Dialis is no longer mentioned in the sources for many decades, it is likely that Caesar held the office at most unofficially. This was possible because the flamen Dialis, together with the rex sacrorum, had long since lost a massive amount of priestly importance, subject to the pontifex maximus like the priest-king earlier ; however, the office had retained its great prestige. The four vacant years after 87 BC BC are possibly also due to the fact that Caesar was already scheduled for office at the age of 13, but had to wait with the inauguration as long as he was still unmarried and had not reached the required age. Although officially only the pontifex maximus could choose or reject a Flemish , Sulla, as a dictator, made two attempts to prevent Caesar's inauguration: on the one hand, he first demanded a divorce from Caesar, which would have made an election to the Flemish Dialis impossible. Caesar refused and received a (monetary) penalty ( Suetonius : sacerdotio […] multatus ). In the course of the proscriptions , Caesar had to flee Rome from the Sullans, and since a flamen Dialis was not allowed to leave the city, Caesar's inauguratio had become impossible. If Caesar already held the office, he will have lost it when he fled. The irony of the story was that this was the way Sulla made possible Caesar's future political career, which as a flamen Dialis would have been impossible for him .

literature

Remarks

  1. ↑ Dialis "belonging to Jupiter, of Jupiter" is adjectivally derived from Diespiter , the Italian equivalent for Iupiter ; see. Diālis . In: Karl Ernst Georges : Comprehensive Latin-German concise dictionary. Volume 1. Hahnsche Buchhandlung, Hanover 1913, Sp. 2128 ( online ).
  2. ^ Howard Hayes Scullard : Römische Feste (= cultural history of the ancient world . 25). von Zabern, Mainz 1985, ISBN 3-8053-0555-9 , p. 20.
  3. ↑ Velleius Paterculus, Historiae Romanae 2,43,1.
  4. ^ Suetonius, Divus Iulius 1,2-3.