Also, he remained pontifex maximus until his death, and was deified by the Roman Senate after his death.

Vespasian proceeds at the head of the family, dressed as pontifex maximus, followed by Domitian with Domitia Longina, and finally Titus, also dressed in religious regalia.

Category: Republican holders of the role of pontifex maximus

Category: Republican holders of the role of pontifex maximus

Max " or " P. M ." The office of pontifex maximus, or head of the college of pontiffs, was held by Julius Caesar and thereafter by the Roman emperors until Gratian ( 375-383 ) relinquished it .< ref >" Gratian.

By the beginning of the 1st Century BC, the Rex Sacrorum was all but forgotten and the pontifex maximus given almost complete religious authority over the Roman religion.

Each legion had another officer, called imaginifer, whose role was to carry a pike with the imago ( image, sculpture ) of the emperor as pontifex maximus.

* 508 BC — Office of pontifex maximus created in Rome.

In the fire of the temple of Vesta of the year 241 BC Lucius Caecilius Metellus, and at the time pontifex maximus, saved the palladium, to which men were not allowed, and according to tradition was blinded in the incident.

The office of pontifex maximus eventually became a de facto consular prerogative.

When his colleague Lepidus died, Augustus assumed his office as pontifex maximus, took priestly control over the State oracles ( including the Sibylline books ), and used his powers as censor to suppress the circulation of " unapproved " oracles.

* Quintus Caecilius Metellus Pius, pontifex maximus and general ( b. c. 130 BC or 127 BC )

* Publius Licinius Crassus Dives is elected " pontifex maximus " over more distinguished candidates, despite never having held any major offices.

* Tiberius Coruncanius is the first plebeian to be elected pontifex maximus of Rome.

Its last use with reference to the emperors is in inscriptions of Gratian ( reigned 375 – 383 ) who, however, then decided to omit the words " pontifex maximus " from his title .< ref >" Gratian.

According to the usual interpretation, the term pontifex literally means " bridge-builder " ( pons + facere ); " maximus " literally means " greatest ".

The collegium was headed by the pontifex maximus, and all the pontifices held their office for life.

Unless the pontifex maximus was also a magistrate at the same time, he was not allowed to wear the toga praetexta, i. e. toga with the purple border.

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 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.

The lex Ogulnia also increased the number of pontiffs to nine ( the pontifex maximus included ).

Also under Sulla, the number of pontifices was increased to fifteen, the pontifex maximus included, and Sulla nominated 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.

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?

Aemilian received the titles of Pius, Felix and Pater Patriae, the tribunicia potestas, and was elevated to the rank of pontifex maximus ; however, he was not elevated to consulate ( possibly a hint of his non-senatorial birth ).

Clodius, however, soon became bored with his newly respectable family life and began a liaison with Pompeia, the sister of his closest friend Q. Pompeius Rufus ( tribune in 52 ), and wife of Julius Caesar, who was then the pontifex maximus.

The word " pontifex " later became a term used for Christian bishops, including the Bishop of Rome, and the title of " Pontifex Maximus " was applied within the Roman Catholic Church to the Pope as its chief bishop.

In periods of joint rule, at first only one of the emperors bore this title, as it occurred for the first time during the reign of Marcus Aurelius and Lucius Verus, when only Marcus Aurelius was pontifex maximus, but later two pontifices maximi could serve together, as Pupienus and Balbinus did in 238 — a situation unthinkable in Republican times.

In Emperor Theodosius's edict De fide catholica of 27 February 380, enacted in Thessalonica and published in Constantinople for the whole empire, by which he established Catholic Christianity as the official religion of the empire, he referred to Damasus as a pontifex, while calling Peter an episcopus: "... 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 ..." Some see in this an implied significant differentiation, but the title pontifex maximus is not used in the text ; pontifex is used instead: "... quamque pontificem damasum sequi claret et petrum alexandriae episcopum ..." ( Theodosian Code XVI. 1. 2 ; and Sozomen, " Ecclesiastical History ", VII, iv.

As pontifex maximus, he was responsible for the ritual purity and piety of public and private religion.

Worse, the place of the alleged offense was the state property loaned to every pontifex maximus for his tenure of office.

At the time when the rising of the new moon was observed by the pontifex minor the rex sacrorum assisted by him offered a sacrifice to Janus in the Curia Calabra while the regina sacrorum sacrificed to Juno in the regia.

Once a girl was chosen to be a Vestal, the pontifex pointed to her and led her away from her parents with the words, " I take you, Amata, to be a Vestal priestess, who will carry out sacred rites which it is the law for a Vestal priestess to perform on behalf of the Roman people, on the same terms as her who was a Vestal ' on the best terms '" ( thus, with all the entitlements of a Vestal ).

Although in the historical era the pontifex maximus was the head of Roman state religion, Festus says that in the ranking of priests, the rex sacrorum was of highest prestige, followed by the flamines maiores.

Latin pontifex, " bridge-builder ", in this sense, between men and the gods ) and thus viewed the king with religious awe.

In 12 BC he became pontifex maximus, which gave him authority over Rome's religious affairs, and over the Vestals, whose presence and authority he conspicuously promoted.

Among their permanent privileges were the traditional Republican title of princeps senatus ( leader of the Senate ) and the religious office of pontifex maximus ( chief priest of Roman state ).

Being pontifex maximus made the emperor the chief administrator of religious affairs, granting him the power to conduct all religious ceremonies, consecrate temples, control the Roman calendar ( adding or removing days as needed ), appoint the vestal virgins and some flamens, lead the Collegium Pontificum, and summarize the dogma of the Roman religion.

A pontifex was an official in a Roman priesthood of the pre-Christian era, headed by the Pontifex Maximus, and now one of the titles of the Pope.

Including the pontifex maximus, who was president of the college, there were originally three or five pontifices, but the number increased over the centuries, finally becoming 16 under Julius Caesar.

Scholar James D. G. Dunn, who coined the phrase " New Perspective on Paul ", has proposed that Peter was the " bridge-man " ( i. e. the pontifex maximus ) between the two other " prominent leading figures " of early Christianity: Paul and James the Just.

As a second son, Domitian held honorary titles, such as Caesar or Princeps Iuventutis, and several priesthoods, including those of augur, pontifex, frater arvalis, magister frater arvalium, and sacerdos collegiorum omnium, but no office with imperium.

The English term derives through Old French pontif from Latin pontifex, a word commonly held to come from the Latin root words pons ( bridge ) + facere ( to do, to make ), and so to have the literal meaning of " bridge-builder ".

Julius Caesar held the Republican offices of consul four times and dictator five times, was appointed dictator in perpetuity ( dictator perpetuo ) in 45 BC and had been " pontifex maximus " for several decades.

There were several notable exceptions: the prestigious, but largely ceremonial ( and lacking imperium ) positions of pontifex maximus and princeps senatus held one person each ; the extraordinary magistrates of Dictator and Magister Equitum were also one person each ; and there were three triumviri.

Until 104 BC, the pontifex maximus held the sole power in appointing members to the other priesthoods in the college.

Unfortunately the pontifex maximus ( whose office was generally held by a politician or soldier, notably Julius Caesar during the so-called Years of Confusion ) often neglected to insert the month at the proper time, or deliberately inserted it early or late to allow some officials to stay in office longer or force others out early.