Pontifex Maximus
The title Pontifex Maximus ( Latin for "supreme bridge builder") originally referred to the supreme guardian of the ancient Roman cult of gods and later passed on to the Roman emperors and finally to the bishop of Rome .
Development of the title
The Pontifex Maximus was the most senior in the college of priests of the pontifices in the Roman Empire . Since the 3rd century BC His office was awarded by election in a special popular assembly. The pontifex maximus apparently had the supreme authority over all sacred affairs in Rome , especially over the priestesses of Vesta . His official seat was the Regia in the Roman Forum .
According to Cicero , the Pontifex Maximus once also ran the annales maximi , in which important religious and political events were listed according to years. In any case, the Pontifex Maximus was also responsible for the calendar in Rome; In Republican times, the pontifices had to insert leap days as required if the shifts were too great. However, not in his function as Pontifex Maximus , which he also held, but as a Roman dictator , Gaius Julius Caesar led in 46 BC. The Julian calendar , which eliminated this problem. The last Pontifices Maximi during the time of the Roman Republic were Gaius Iulius Caesar and Marcus Aemilius Lepidus . After Lepidus' death in 12 BC. Caesar's adoptive son Augustus was the new Pontifex Maximus , and from then on all Roman emperors held this function; in the case of a multiple empire, it marked the highest ranking ruler until the upper pontificate in 238 was shared for the first time under Pupienus and Balbinus .
Quite a few scholars are of the opinion that the Pontifex Maximus was undoubtedly one of the most respected priests in Rome before Augustus, but only became the highest overseer of the Roman cults during the imperial period, since the holder of the office as emperor is also always the most powerful man was in the kingdom. The role of the emperor as a priest should not be confused with his veneration in the context of the imperial cult .
With the Christianization of the empire, the office initially lost its importance. After Constantine the name rarely appears in the imperial title as, after Emperor Gratian , then no longer, even if that took off this title in 382 still Emperor I. Anastasios in a letter to the bishop of Rome as 516 Pontifex inclitus designated and thereby underlined his claim to be allowed to intervene in church affairs. This was no coincidence, because at this point in time the Roman bishops had begun to use the vacant title themselves: The first bishop of Rome to take up the title Pontifex Maximus again was Pope Leo the Great (440–461). Under Gregory the Great , the term became more solid, although actually the unofficial title of the Popes of the Roman Catholic Church .
The official title "Summus Pontifex" as part of the papal title is most likely a literal Latin translation of the Greek ἀρχιερεὺς μέγιστος , which in ancient times was the common Greek equivalent for Pontifex Maximus .
Well-known Pontifices Maximi of the Roman Republic
| 509 BC Chr. | Gaius Papirius (historicity disputed) | DH 3.36.4. |
| 449 BC Chr. | Quintus Furius (historicity disputed) | Liv. 3.54.5; Diod. 12.35.1; Ascon. Corn. 77 instead mentions a M. Papirius. |
| 431 BC Chr. | Aulus Cornelius (Cossus?) | Liv. 4.27.1, 4.31.5, 4.33.7-8, 4.34.4-5, 4.44.11-14. |
| 420 BC Chr. | Spurius Minucius | Liv. 4.44.11-12, Plu. de inim. util. 6th |
| 390 BC Chr. | Marcus Folius (Flaccinator?) | Liv. 5.41.3. |
| approx. 332 BC Chr. | Publius Cornelius Calussa | Liv. 25.5.4; according to Bardt and Rüpke to be classified between Barbatus and Coruncanius. |
| approx. 304 BC Chr. | Cornelius Barbatus | Liv. 9.46.6. |
| approx. 254–243 BC Chr. | Tiberius Coruncanius | Liv. As of 18; Cic. Dom. 54; ND 1.41, 3.2; Brood. 14th |
| approx. 243–221 BC Chr. | Lucius Caecilius Metellus | Plin. nat. 7.43.139-141; Liv. As of 19; Cic. Sen. 9.30; Val. Max. 1.1.2, 8.13.2; Tac. ann. 3.71. |
| approx. 221–213 BC Chr. | Lucius Cornelius Lentulus Caudinus | Liv. 22.10.1, 25.2.2. |
| 212-183 BC Chr. | Publius Licinius Crassus Dives | Liv. 25.5.2-3, 27.6, 31.9, 34.44, 36.2, 37.51, 39.46; Val. Max. 1.1.6. |
| 183-180 BC Chr. | Gaius Servilius Geminus | Liv. 40.42.8-11. |
| 180-152 BC Chr. | Marcus Aemilius Lepidus | Liv. 32.7.15, 37.43, 40.42, 41.27; Per. 48; Val. Max. 4.2.1, 6.6.1; Cic. Sen. 17; Plb. 23.1; 32.22. |
| 150-141 BC Chr. | Publius Cornelius Scipio Nasica Corculum | Liv. Per. 48; Cic. Sen. 14; Aug. CD 1.30. |
| 141-132 BC Chr. | Publius Cornelius Scipio Nasica Serapio | Plu. TG 21; Cic. Flac. 31; Tusc. 4.23.51; Val. Max. 1.4.2; App. BC 1.16; Vell. 2.3.1. |
| 132-130 BC Chr. | Publius Licinius Crassus Dives Mucianus | Cic. Sen. 14; Phil 11.8; Orat. 1.37.170, 1.56.240; Brood. 26.98; Right. 1.13; Plu. TG 9.1. |
| 130 - approx. 115 BC Chr. | Publius Mucius Scaevola | Cic. Dom. 53,136; Orat. 2.12.52; Leg. 2.21.52; ND 1.41.115. |
| 114 - approx. 103 BC Chr. | Lucius Caecilius Metellus Delmaticus | Asc. pp. 45.23-27, 46.5; Macr. Sat. 1.10.5; Cic. Scaur. 46.47; Plin. nat. 11.65.174. |
| approx. 103-89 BC Chr. | Gnaeus Domitius Ahenobarbus | Suet. Nero 2; Cic. Deiot. 11.31; Liv. Per. 67; Val. Max. 6.6.5. |
| approx. 89–82 BC Chr. | Quintus Mucius Scaevola | Cic. Leg 2.19.47; 21.52-53; ND 3.32.80; Amic. 1.1; Off. 3.17; Brood. 90,311; Liv. Per. 86; Asc. pp. 14.67; Gel. 5.19. |
| approx. 81–63 BC Chr. | Quintus Caecilius Metellus Pius | DC 37.37; Plu. Caes. 7.1; A. Vict. De vir ill. 63.3; Asc. pp. 79.22-23. |
| 63-44 BC Chr. | Gaius Iulius Caesar | DC 37.37.1; Vell. 2.43.3. |
| 44-12 BC Chr. | Marcus Aemilius Lepidus | Macr. 3.13.11; Cic. Resp. 6.1; Liv. Per. 117; DC 44.53, 54.27, 56.38; Suet. Oct. 34; Vell. 2.63. |
literature
- Alan Cameron : Pontifex Maximus : from Augustus to Gratian - and Beyond. In: Maijastina Kahlos (Ed.): Emperors and the Divine - Rome and Its Influence. 3. Collegium for Advanced Studies at the University of Helsinki in January 2014 (= COLLeGIUM. Studies across Disciplines in the Humanities and Social Sciences. Volume 20). Helsinki 2016, pp. 139–159 ( online publication ).
- Richard D. Draper: The Role of the Pontifex Maximus and Its Influence in Roman Religion and Politics. University Microfilms International, Ann Arbor 1988 (Dissertation, Brigham Young University, Provo 1988).
- Konrat Ziegler : Pontifex. In: Little Pauly. Volume 4: Nasidius to Scaurus. Druckmüller, Stuttgart 1972, Sp. 1046-1048.
Web links
- Jona Lendering: Pontifex Maximus . In: Livius.org (English)
Individual evidence
- ^ Konrat Ziegler : Pontifex. In: The Little Pauly (KlP). Volume 4, Stuttgart 1972, Sp. 1046-1048 (here: Sp. 1048).
- ^ Hormisdas , epistulae 12. Alan Cameron argues against this that the pontificate was never formally discarded by the Roman emperors. In addition to the letter from Anastasios I, he cites another from 452, in which the Emperor Valentinian III. and Markian also each refer to as pontifex inclitus . See Alan Cameron: The Last Pagans of Rome. Oxford University Press, Oxford / New York 2011, ISBN 978-0-19-978091-4 , p. 53; most recently Alan Cameron: Pontifex Maximus: From Augustus to Gratian - and Beyond. In: Maijastina Kahlos (Ed.): Emperors and the Divine - Rome and Its Influence. 3. Collegium for Advanced Studies at the University of Helsinki in January 2014 (= COLLeGIUM. Studies across Disciplines in the Humanities and Social Sciences. Volume 20). Helsinki 2016, pp. 139–159 ( online publication ).
- ^ Carl Bardt : The priests of the four great colleges from the Roman Republican period. Trowitzsch & Sohn, Berlin 1871, p. 3 .
- ↑ Jörg Rüpke : Livius, priest names and the annales maximi. In: Klio . Vol. 75, 1993, pp. 155–179, here p. 160 note 33, doi : 10.1524 / klio.1993.75.75.155 .