The
rites of the state religion under the Republic were performed by the
magistrates, primarily the
consules, censores
and praetores. They were
assisted and advised by various collegia
of priests, who
were often current or former magistrates themselves.
There was never a clearly defined separation
between political and religious authority in the religio
romana. The laws of Rome,
its institutions, rituals,
and offices, both political and religious, were all handed down
from the gods, and often times it was the political institution of the Senate
that decided upon what was authentically derived from the gods.
On such occasions it was customary for the Senate to
consult the various collegia for
their opinions.
Almost all of the priesthoods of the Republic were
traditionally begun under the kings; the only exception
being the septemviri epulones who were established in 196 BCE.
Indeed almost all were said to have
been established by Romulus or Numa.
The one exception was the duumviri sacris faciundis that
supposedly
dated back only to Tarquinius Priscus. Changes
made to the various priesthoods during the
Republic are noted below. With the Augustan Restoration new collegia
were formed, and older
priesthoods
were reorganized.
Another
form of priesthood existed in a previous era, represented by the flamines.
These were never organized into a collegium
but in the latter part of the Republic they did come under the authority of
the Collegium Pontificum. Even
at the beginning of the Republic they seem to have been anachronistic.
By the late Republic, from when most of our sources
derive, even the gods who the flamines
served were
in some cases forgotten. In
the story of Tarquinius Priscus’ confrontation with Attus Navius there may
be
some reminiscence of an older form of priesthood among the
people who could still challenge those
established by the kings. The flamines represent a religious tradition that predates the
founding of Rome,
and the broader Italic society extending along the Tyrrhenian
coast from which the religio romana arose.
In
private religion the paterfamilas
acted in the same way as the magistrates did for the state cult.
Rites for the family, the household, and the farm were
performed primarily by the paterfamilias.
In such rites he might consult with one of the priests,
too. There was never a full
separation between
the state cult and that of the family.
Often the festivals noted on Roman calendars for the state cult
coincided with private rites. Likewise there was never fully a distinction between the
various priesthoods serving the state cult and the private cults.
Some of the priesthoods clearly began within certain gentes.
Prior to 312 BCE, for example, the cult of Hercules
seems to have been only a private cult among the
gentes Potitii and Pinarii at Rome. The Luperci of the city cult were drawn from only two gentes,
the Quinctilii and the Fabii. Some
of the priests of the state cult, like many of the flamines,
acted more as
though performing private rites rather than public rites. On the other hand the rite of the confarratio, a special wedding ceremony, was performed only in the
presence of the flamen Dialis and his wife the
flaminica Dialis.
Sacrifices might be purchased by individuals, but priests could perform
the actual
sacrifice in their stead.
Individuals might be priests in the cult of one deity or another, or
could be
different kinds of priests at the same time, and still employ
other priests for certain services. In the
rites of the Bona Dea, matrons of the leading families gathered
at the house of a consul or praetor, the rite lead by the wife of the consul
in what might appear as a private rite, yet with the Vestal Virgins attending.
So on every level the priests and the priestesses (with the exception
of the Vestal Virgins) never represented
a separate and distinct group within Roman society, but were
rather interwoven throughout its society.
Quattor
Summa Collegia
Collegium Pontificum
The
collegium was founded by Numa to assist the king in religious matters.
Originally all three pontifices
were Patricians, but it was then opened to Plebeians by the Lex Ogulnia of 300 BCE, raising its membership to nine (four
Patricians and five Plebeians). By
the late Republic it consisted of fifteen members (7 Patricians
and 8 Plebeians), including the Rex Sacrorum, the Pontifex
Maximus and the Flamines
Maiores - Flamen Dialis, Flamen Martialis and Flamen Quirinalis. Patricians
traditionally held all of these latter positions.
Then in 106 BCE the Pontifex Maximus was opened to Plebeians.
Pontifical offices were initially filled by
the Collegium
itself, which also elected the Pontifex Maximus. By
250 BCE the Pontifex Maximus was elected in the Comitia Populi Tributa, and by 103 BCE the comitia elected the other pontifices
from candidates put up by the Collegium.
The duties of the Collegium Pontificum were to keep the calendar
and determine the dies
fasti and dies nefasti, to record the significant events of each year, and to
oversee
the state religio.
The Collegium maintained
sacred books that were kept secret until 304 BCE when they
were revealed by Gn. Flavius.
The Libri
Pontificii contained the forms of prayer, the rules of rituals for
ceremonial observances, and technical information on the calendar.
The Acta
Pontificum contained the
record of the official actions taken by the Collegium,
and the Commentarii Pontificum was a collection of opinions previously
delivered, to which the pontifices
were obliged to refer before making new opinions.
Rex Sacrorum,
or Rex Sacrificialis, together with
his wife, the Regina Sacrorum, performed special
religious duties formerly performed by the kings.
His duties included making sacrifices on the Kalends
of
each month, and at the nones
announcing what festivals were to be held in that month.
He also performed sacrifices in the Comitium on 24 March and 24 May,
days marked as Q.R.C.F. (Varro L.L. 6.31). On 24
February he performed the regifugium. The regifugium
is explained by Ovid to be a reenactment of the
flight of the Tarquinians from Rome (Fasti 2.685—852). This
explanation has generally been rejected by
modern scholars who see it as a more ancient rite of
purification (W.W. Fowler Roman
Festivals, 327-30; Scullard, Festivals
and Ceremonies, 81-2). Chosen
to hold office for life by the Pontifex
Maximus (by
the late Republic at least), he held superior rank and
precedence than the Pontifex
Maximus, but less authority, in what Livy described as a deliberate
political act from the beginning of the Republic (2.2.1).
It is in his relationship to the Pontifex
Maximus that arguments have been raised as to the origin of the
Rex Sacrorum. The old assumption
was that the office was founded at the beginning of the Republic, to
assume some of the
religious duties of the king. The
argument holds that the office was created out of religious conservatism that
held the gods could not be appeased without a king to perform the rites on
behalf of the city. The
problem with that view is that certain religious duties of the king were
assumed
by the consules,
other duties by the Pontifex
Maximus. Some doubt is
given for the explanation of the regifugium
by Verrius Flaccus (Festus p. 278) and elsewhere Festus relates how in earlier
times the Rex
Sacrorum and Flamines
Maiores held precedence over the Pontifex Maximus (p. 198 L).
The alternative argument is that the Rex Sacrorum dates back to
the Regal period. Cornell noting
that Servius Tullius was titled magister
populi rather than rex, suggests
a change in the kingship at that time, when a popular
leader took over political authority and reduced the old king
to a religious figure (Beginnings,
232-236). Whether resulting
from the inception of the Republic or earlier, the Rex
Sacrorum was barred from
holding any political office and from membership in the Senate
(Livy 40.42.8). An official
residence upon
the Velia, the domus
regis sacrorum was used by the Rex
Sacrorum, possibly the same domus
publica that was the official residence of the Pontifex Maximus.
Pontifex Maximus
presided over the Collegium which
held supreme authority over all aspects of the state religious cultus, and
some authority over private matters. The
pontifices
were for example consulted on matters of removing the remains of the dead to
new locations. The other pontifices
of the Collegium
initially elected
him to his office, assisted him, and held rank behind him according to
seniority.
Beginning in 212 BCE the Pontifex
Maximus came to be elected in a special manner by the minor
pars
populi. Seventeen
voting tribes were selected by lot from among all thirty-five tribes, and
these alone
would then vote in his election.
In most affairs he worked collegially with the pontifices
but held
additional responsibilities as well.
He had authority over the Rex Sacorum and disciplinary authority over
the flamines
and the Virgines Vestales. Even
in sitting in judgement of a Vestal
for the serious
infraction of losing her virginity, he would act collegially
with the other pontifices.
But in lesser matters
he held full paternal authority over the vestales. He
was the only male permitted to touch the vestales,
could whip them for infractions, and he alone was permitted to enter their
holiest sanctuaries and view
their sacred objects. He
supervised the other vestales
in instructing younger ones, and may have played
some role in instructing them as well. In order of precedence,
he ranked behind the Rex
Sacrorum and Flamines
Maiores until the
latter part of the Republican era. However
the Pontifex Maximus
alone
selected and presided over the induction rituals of the Virgines Vestales, the Rex
Sacrorum and the
Flamines
Maiores,
probably with the advice of the other pontifices. These
offices never became
elective. He was even
able to select individuals who did not seek to hold such offices.
Such was the case in 209 BCE when Pontifex
Maximus Publius Licinus chose an unwilling, and who by reputation
would have
seemed unsuitable, G. Valerius Flaccus as flamen Dialis.
In exercising his authority over the flamines
it
is not clear whether he was able to employ corporal punishments
as with the vestales.
In a series of
conflicts between the Pontifex
Maximus and the various Flamines
Maiores between 242 and 131 BCE, he restrained the flamines
in certain actions by imposing a fine (multa).
His right to impose a fine extended
to magistrates as well and even to private men whom he intended
to inaugurate as priests. The
fine
could be appealed through the tribuni
plebis taking the issue before the Comitia
Plebis. In every case
we know of, the Plebeians voted that the flamines obey the Pontifex
Maximus. There were
some
specific public ceremonies that the Pontifex Maximus participate in or presided over, such as the
annual Procession of the Argei along with the vestales.
Responsible for overseeing the state cult he was usually present at
public ceremonies whether performed by magistrates or flamines.
There were also special occasions when he would preside over a
ceremony, such as the lustration of the pomerium
in times of
severe threats to the city.
Whenever there was a vacancy among the flamines, their ceremonial duties
were performed by the pontifices.
But unlike the flamines he was not bound
to any program of
ceremonies that he was expected to conduct throughout the year.
Flamen Dialis
was the chief priest of Jupiter and an ex
officio member of the Senate, given the privileges
of wearing a toga praetexta, having a sella
curulis in the Senate, and the services of a lictor.
He was
chosen by the Pontifex Maximus to hold
his office for life. The qualifications were that he had to be of
the patrician order, a son of a marriage consecrated in the
special rite of confarreatio, and be
married by
the same rite. One
duty of the Flamen
Dialis and his wife was to preside over rites of confarreatio.
Every day involved a religious ceremony for him to
perform. As such, there were several taboos placed
upon him. He could
not remain away from his private residence at the Regia, until during the
Empire
when he was allowed to remain away for two nights a year.
The reason being that he had to sleep in a
special bed, its feet smeared with clay, and no one else was
permitted to sleep in his bed. At
the head of
his bed was kept a box filled with sacrificial cakes.
He was never to appear in public without wearing the insignia of his
office, including his special headdress, called an apex.
He was not permitted to look upon a
levy of armed men, nor even upon common citizens engaged in
work. It was never lawful for him to swear
an oath. He could
not wear a ring unless perforated and plain.
Nor was he to wear any knots in his
headdress or his belt, or anywhere on his person. Nor could he
wear any chains, or even so much as have
chains in his house or near him. He was not allowed to ride,
touch or eat horses. He could not
name,
touch or eat ivy, beans, goats, or dogs.
In many other ways he was restricted in his personal life as to
what he could and could not do (Aulus Gellius, Attic
Nights, X.15.1-25). Although
not barred from holding
public offices, the limitations put on him made it difficult.
The flaminica
Dialis was the wife of the
flamen Dialis and she likewise was under certain taboos
regarding her dress, sexual relations, bathing,
combing and style of wearing her hair, etc (Ovid, Fasti
3.393-8; 6.225-234). From the kalends
of February
until the Lupercalia
(15th), at the Matronalia
on the kalends of March and perhaps
throughout the entire
month, from the nones of
April until the Vinalia (23rd),
and again in June (1-15) were times when she was barred from combing her hair
or having sexual relations, because she was engaged in ritual mourning.
Both presided at certain state ceremonies, more often as
witnesses, in addition to the daily rites that they
had to perform. It
seems rather odd that the flamen
Dialis is said by Ovid to have been responsible for keeping the
antique form of the rites performed at Lupercalia
(Fasti 2.282).
Nowhere else is this
mentioned and it has been generally disregarded by modern
scholars since the sacrificial victims at
Lupercalia were two goats and a dog, which the flamen Dialis was prohibited from sacrificing himself.
But we need not consider Ovid’s passage to mean that
he performed the sacrifices himself, the Lupercii
would more properly have done so.
The flamen
and
flaminica Dialis were never permitted to divorce.
Were the flaminica Dialis to die
prior to her husband, the flamen
Dialis was obliged to resign from his
office (Ovid, Fasti
6.232).
Flamen Martialis
and Flamen Quirinalis were two
other members of the Collegium
Pontificum and were flamines maiores. It
is not known if any particular taboos were placed upon these offices as with
the
Flamen Dialis, but in some ways they were restricted in
their activities. They were
responsible for
performing special ceremonies to their respective deities, as
were all flamines.
They were not then
permitted to leave the province of Italy and assume the duties
of other magistrates in distant provinces.
The Flamen Quirinalis had to
be in Rome for the Quirinalia (17
February), Robigalia (25 April), Consualia
(13 Dec) and Larentalia
(23 Dec). The Flamen
Martialis likewise had to be in Rome on certain dates to
perform the rites of Mars.
At other times they are seen as part of the Collegium.
In particular is the
famed case of September 57 BCE when they heard Cicero’s
arguments for rebuilding his house on land that
had been consecrated as a shrine to the goddess Libertas.
No distinction is made between the flamines
maiores and the pontifices
during the hearing, and one would have to assume that, by that time at least,
the flamines
maiores were full collegae
of the Collegium Pontificum.
Originally
composed of two members, in the early Republic it was increased to four
patrician augures.
The patrician hold over the Collegium
Augurium ended in 300 BCE when the Lex
Ogulnia increased the
number to nine augures,
four patricians and five plebeians. Sulla raised the number to 15, and Julius
Caesar added one more. Originally
members were coopted into this collegium
by other members, but became an elective office in 104 BCE.
The insignia of the augures was the trabea
(a special state dress with a purple border), the capis (a special earthenware vessel holding libations), and the lituus
(a staff without knots
and naturally curled at the top).
The auguries were taken whenever a comitia
was called to assemble, whenever a magistrate was to take office, at the
erection of a temple, and on other occasions.
The
magistrate actually performing the augury was called the auspex,
while the priests overseeing the rite and advising him were the augures.
The manner that an augury was conducted began at midnight, or just
before dawn, when the auspex drew into the soil
two perpendicular lines to mark out the north-south and east-west axes.
Two sets of parallel lines were then drawn to form a 6:5 proportioned
rectangle. This
space and the corresponding space in the sky, divided into 16
areas, was called a templum.
At the center
of the templum was erected a tent, opened to the south.
At Rome there was an established templum
on
the Capitoline Hill, called the Auguraculum
upon the Arx.
Another Auguraculum Quirinale
was established
on the collis Latiaris. Erecting
a templum and tabernaculum
was therefore not necessary for the auspiciae
publicae taken inside the pomerium,
although the auspex
would designate the corresponding templum
in
the sky that he would use.
The full rite of erecting the templum
was made when performed in the Campus Martius prior to the assembly of the Comitia
centuriata. Flute players (tibicines) were instructed to play,
less the auspex hear any ill omens.
The auspex would then watch
for the flight of alites such as
eagles
and vultures, and listen for the calls of other birds, known as
oscines, such as ravens, crows, and
owls.
Some other birds were considered if they were sacred to certain
deities, such as Mars’ woodpecker. Other
signs like thunder and lightning would be noted as well.
The augures
watched as the auspex
perform the
rite, seeing that it was done correctly and that nothing might
invalidate the rite. They could
point out
signs to him, or assist in interpreting what signs he saw.
They did not however take the auspices
themselves, nor determine how the signs should finally be read.
When conflicting signs appeared they only advised the auspex on the relative importance of each while interpreting the
augury. The auspex could
only announce to the public, “Aves
Admittunt (the birds allow it)” or “alio
dies (another day).”
Auguries
were not a form of telling the future, but used only to tell
whether the gods approved of some proposed actions.
Quindecimviri
Sacris Faciundis
Originally
formed under the Tarquins as a board of two patricians, the Duumviri
sacris faciundis, in 337
BCE their number was increased to ten, five patricians and five
plebeians forming the Decimviri,
and later
still to fifteen members, named the
Quindecimviri.
Their duty was to maintain and inspect the Sibylline Books.
According to legend the Sibylla
Cumae first brought nine books to Rome and offered to sell them
to Tarquinius Superbus. He
refused to meet her price, so she burned three of the books.
She returned
with the six remaining books, asking for the same price, which
again the king refused to pay. She
burnt
three more books, and Tarquinius eventually paid her original
price for the remaining three books.
The
books were written in Greek hexameters, stored in a vault
beneath the Temple of Jupiter. These were lost
in a fire in 83 BCE. A
second collection was gathered into the Palatine Temple of Apollo, from
different sources, ten different locations in the Mediterranean having had
Sibyls. This later collection was
destroyed
in 405 CE. What remains today, known as the Sibylline
Oracles, is a Christian forgery, although is does
have some original Greek oracles interspersed throughout.
Fragments of Sibylline oracles remain in other sources as well.
Tacitus (Annales 6.12) gives
the process by which books were accepted into the collection
as authentic. Before
the Quindecimviri
books were examined by their verses being read aloud, the whole
collegium
giving their opinion as to their authenticity.
If accepted, a motion was made to the Senate that
they be accepted into the Sibylline collection.
The Sibylline Books were consulted only on rare occasion.
It was due to these inquiries that the cult of the Magna Mater
was introduced, and that a special
priesthood
of Ceres, composed of women from Capua, were brought to Rome.
On other occasions special sacrifices
were ordained by the Senate after consulting the Sibylline
Books.
Septemviri
Epulones
Established
in 196 BCE with originally three epulones,
later increased to ten, this collegium
was responsible
for organizing the banquets of public festivals and games,
especially the epulum Jovis, which
was the feast held for Senators after the sacrifices made on the festivals of
Jupiter Optimum Maximus.
First
instituted by Augustus, and later included among the major priesthoods, these flamines
were
responsible for maintaining the imperial cult.
Every major city was to have two elected flamines
Augustales.
In time, as other emperors were deified (divi),
the Augustales
performed rites to all of them
so that they would continue to look over the safety of the
empire. Special temples to the divi
were built
in imperial cities, such as at Ostia.
Flamines Minores
In
addition to the Flamines Maiores mentioned above there was another group of flamines.
These
Flamines
Minores were the
Flamen Carmetalis,
Flamen Cerealis, Flamen Falacer, Flamen
Floralis,
Flamen
Furrinalis, Flamen Palatualis, Flamen Pomonalis, Flamen Portunalis, Flamen
Volcanalis, and
Flamen
Volturnalis,
among others. Varro
derived their name from filamines “because
in Latium they had kept their heads covered and bound their heads with a
fillet (filum) (Lingua Latine V.84). The distinctive
headwear of the flamines
was a leather skullcap tied under the chin, and a peak formed from a
living
olive branch, the apex.
Unlike the Flamines
Maiores, there was no requirement that the Flamines
Minores be patrician.
Some, perhaps all, were plebeian.
They were never organized into a collegium
but instead each acted individually.
By the late Republic they were placed under the authority of the
Pontifex Maximus, and
although there is no record of them being members of the Collegium Pontificum, the Plebeian pontifices that entered
the Collegium in 300 BCE may have
been Flamines
Minores at the time. Each
of the flamines
held their position for life. Each
was dedicated to the service of a particular deity. In addition to each having their own daily programme of
private rites to perform, they conducted public
rites on certain dates. The
flamen
Palatualis, for example, offered public sacrifice to Pales on
the
Agonia (11 Dec.).
In some cases their respective duties seemed to overlap.
There was a rite held in
August where the arms of Quirinus were smeared with a special
ointment. But it was the flamen
Portunalis
who performed this rite, rather than the flamen
Quirinalis as might be expected.
For others, like the flamen
Falacer, there is nothing known even about the god he served.
They were not derived, as
some have suggested, from religious duties once performed by
the sons of the kings. Indeed
they seem to represent an earlier Latin priesthood that preceded the kings and
Rome itself. In the case of the flamen Quirinalis, he seems to represent Romulus in the various
rites he performed. The flamen
Falacer may
have represented the Latin deified hero Falacer.
Virgines
Vestales
The
Virgines
Vestales were established by Numa, the first being Gegania, Verania,
Canuleia, and Tarpeia (Plutarch, Life of
Numa 10). The Pontifex Maximus chose six
young girls to be trained as vestales,
whose duties would then become to produce the mola
salsa for state sacrifices, and maintain certain sacred
objects. They
participated in certain rites, such as the procession of the argei
in March, and at the
women’s rites for Bona Dea in May and December.
Their persons were regarded as sacrosanct, and they
could extend sanctuary to anyone in their presence. Each vestal
took an oath of chastity for thirty years.
The first ten years spent in training, the next in performing
their duties of keeping the Flame of Vesta, and
the final ten years teaching others.
They were then allowed to leave the priesthood and marry,
although
few ever did. The punishment for breaking their vow of chastity was burial
near the Colline Gate. In
some cases this seems to have been used as an excuse for vestales
to become victims of human sacrifice
to purify the city. Such
occurred in 483 BCE when Vestal Oppia was sacrificed to propitiate the gods
for
bad omens. Other incidents of Vestales
being sacrificed took place in 211 and 116 BCE, and that of Vestal Cornelia by
Domitian. There were other privileges that the Vestales enjoyed unlike other women, such as owning private
property and allowed to pass on their property through wills.
They came to serve as the curators of public wills, especially after
Julius Caesar entrusted his own will to the Virgines
Vestales.
Sacerdotes
Sacerdotes
was a general name for the temple priests of the religio romana.
Varro said they derived
their
name from sacra, meaning “sacred
rites” (Lingua Latine V.83).
Every temple was headed by a
sacerdos.
A staff who cared for the temple assisted him; each custodian called an
aedituus. Other
priests
were the popae
who would slit the throats of sacrificial animals, and the victimarii
who would
then
remove the viscera of sacrificial victims and portioned out those parts meant
for the gods and those
for
humans. The sacerdotes
Liberi were another kind of priestess, old women crowned with ivy, who
offered
special cakes (liba) on portable
altars (foculus) on 17 March for Liberalia
(Ovid, Fasti 3.768-770;
Varro
L.L. 6.14).
Another unique priesthood, in that it was exclusively women, was that
of the Cererum sacerdotes sermonum,
or priestesses of Ceres and the divinities of sowing. Cicero claimed they were
all
of
Greek heritage and performed rites in a Greek manner, although this was not
case. Instead they
represent
part of a Sabellian influence arriving in Rome from southern Italy during the
middle of the third century. With
them arrived a change in public Roman rites, where women began to take a
prominent
role.
For the first time matrons and girls joined with these priestesses in
making public processions,
singing,
and offering gifts to Ceres (Livy XXVII. 11.1-16, 37.4-15).
Shortly afterward matrons also played
the
prominent role in bringing the cult of the Magna Mater to Rome in 209 BCE.
Collegium
Haruspices
The
Etrusca disciplina, or haruspicina,
was the art of divining from the
entrails (exta) of sacrificial
animals. The story
is told (Cicero, On Divination 2.50)
how a cloud of smoke arose in the field that a
farmer was plowing in Tarquinii.
Upon the cloud sat an infant, Tages, who spoke with the voice of a wise
old man. His words describing the
art were recorded in the Libri Tagetici. Etruscan
haruspices
specially
trained in this discipline were introduced into Rome while she
was still under the rule of kings. Originally
they were summoned from Etruria, used for both public and
private ceremonies, and only later in the
Republic did haruspices
take up residence in Rome. The
practice declined in the late Republic, but
renewed interest in Etruria established schools for the Etrusca
disciplina within certain distinct families.
The Collegium Haruspices was not established in Rome however until
47 CE, consisting of a Haruspex
Maximus and up to sixty haruspices.
The Emperor Claudius made the request for the collegium
to the
Senate, who in turn handed the matter over to the pontifices
to decide what should be retained and
what reformed regarding the haruspices
(Tacitus Annales II.15).
In addition to examining the entrails of animals, the haruspices were consulted on omens from lightning, and on
prodigies of unnatural things and events in nature that bode ill (Cicero, On
Div. 1.12; 2.26; Lucan Pharsalia
1.584ff). In some ways the haruspices challenged the
authority of the more traditional Roman augures,
which was why they were
not organized into a collegium
during the Republic. Cicero,
himself an official augur,
gives a scoffing
account of them and quotes Cato the Elder (On
Div. 2.51), “How can two haruspices,
upon meeting, not
laugh at each other?” Claudius’ request, rather than out of
piety, was more the act of an antiquarian
trying to preserve an obsolete practice.
The practice did continue due to his timely intervention, the haruspices
consulted even under Christian emperors into the 5th century.
Salii
Palatini and Salii Agonales
From
Jupiter was sent a sacred shield, the ancilia.
As long as the ancilia was held
safe, Rome would retain
its sovereignty. Numa
devised to disguise the ancilia by
having Mamerius make eleven copies. Then
Numa chose twelve dancing priests, called Salii, to care for the ancilia,
perform a ritual dance, and chant
their sacred hymn. (Livy, I.20.3-4; Ovid, Fasti
3.369-92). This collegium Salii Palatini
consisted of twelve patrician members, led by a magister, a prosul
for leading their dance, and vates
for leading their
archaic chant. Only
fragments remain of the chant, so ancient that Quintillius in the first
century C. E.
used it as an example of unintelligible speech.
The Salii
Palatini were devoted to serve Mars Gravidius.
Tullus Hostilius established another collegium
Salii Agonales that served Quirinus.
They wore
embroidered tunics and archaic peaked helmets and bronze
breastplates. On 1 March, and
lasting until 24 March, the Salii removed the ancilia from
the sacrarium Martis in the Regia,
and would dance in
procession through the streets of Rome preceded by trumpeters.
At certain altars and before temples,
they would stop to sing their chant in Saturnian verse, beat
the shields in three measured time, and
performed their dance. At
the end of each day the ancilia were
stored and the Salii
feasted. Their performances were
made in conjunction with other festivities dedicated to Mars.
On 11 March chariot
races were held in honor of Mars; on 14 March Mamurius was
ritually driven from the city; on 19 March the ancilia
were washed and purified; and on 23 March was held the Tubilustrium
when the sacred trumpets
were purified. Carrying
the ancilia (sacred shields) and hastae
(spears), this ancient rite of the Salii
marked the beginning of the war season.
Another ceremony was held in October when the Salii
purified
and stored the sacred articles over winter to end the season.
Luperci
Quinctiales and Luperci Fabianii
Each
sodalitas of Luperci consisted of
members drawn from two specific gentes.
The Fabii were
associated with Remus and the Quirinal, the Quinctilii with
Romulus and the Palatine. At the Lupercalia
on 15 February two Luperci
were selected, one from each gentes,
to perform the rites of that festival. The
Flamen Dialis is said by
Ovid to have supervised the rites. Goats
and dogs were sacrificed, probably by
the Luperci themselves as the flamen
Dialis would have been prohibited from doing so.
Blood from the sacrificial knives was smeared on the foreheads of the Luperci,
and then wiped off, to which the Luperci responded with laughter. Strips of goatskin taken from the sacrifice were wound around
the two Luperci
who were otherwise naked.
They would then run around the Palatine beginning near a cave on the
north
side, whipping the crowds with leather thongs; any woman so
touched was considered to become fertile.
Ovid has this rite performed on behalf of Faunus and claims Greek
Evander introduced the rite. Varro
instead
said the deity worshiped in the rite was Inuus, a Sabine
fertility god, and brought it more correctly back
to its Italic origins. The
name Luperci refers to Romulus and Remus as having been suckled by a
wolf.
The rite of the Luperci
goes back to the dawn of Rome when it was still a pasturalist community.
Fetiales
As
many as twenty fetiales acted as heralds entrusted with carrying treaties and
declarations of war to
foreign lands. Livy
(1.24.3-9) records the oldest treaty, between Rome and Alba Longa, in which
the
ritual formula for sending one of the fetiales,
consecrated as the Pater Patratus, is given. Sacred
herbs
from the Arx on the Capitoline Hill were rubbed on his head and
beard, marking him not only as the
messenger of Rome and its people, but of Jupiter.
He recited the conditiones of
the treaty in a sacred
and legal formula, calling on Jupiter as witness and securing
by oath that Rome would not be the first to
break the treaty. For
declarations of war a fetialis was sent to the land of the enemies (Livy 1.32.6-14).
He declared himself to the borderlines, then to the first
person he would meet, and then in the market
place, where he would recite the grievances and reparations
demanded by Rome. The enemy
nation was
given thirty-three to reply.
After that he would return and call out, Audi,
Iuppiter, et tu, Iane, Quirine, diique omnes caelestes, vosque terrestres
vosque inferni audite! (Hear, O Jupiter, and You, Janus,
Quirinus, and all of the celestial gods, and You gods of the
earth, and You infernal gods, hear me.) Then
he would announce that since an acceptable resolution was not
forthcoming he would consult with the
Senate. A ritual
manner was then followed whereby the king, and later the consules,
would ask each
Senator in turn by seniority for their advice.
As soon as the majority of those Senators present had
declared for war, a fetialis
was sent back to the land of the enemy and ritually cast a spear of iron or
fire-hardened cornel-wood across the border.
At the time of the war with Tarentum and Pyrrhus, 282
BCE, the Romans were unable to follow the old formula because
Pyrrhus had no land in Italy in which to
cast the sacred spear of war.
So they captured one of Pyrrhus’ soldiers and forced him to purchase
land
in front of the Temple of Bellona.
From then on this “foreign” land, called the columella,
was where the fetiales would cast their spears (Servius, ix.53; Ovid, Fasti
6.205ff). The rituals of war and
peace fell out
of use by the late Republic, but Augustus then restored the fetiales and their rites.
Fratres
Arvales
Varro
mentioned fratres Arvales “who carry out public rituals so that the
fields may bear crops (L.L.v.85).”
Virgil refers to rustic rites performed to Ceres for this purpose in
his Georgics I. 338-50.
Festus, writing in
the second century, mentioned "duobus
fratribus" making sacrifices for the fields, probably referring
to
the same fratres
Arvales as had Varro.
These fratres
Arvales were probably an earlier priesthood,
distinct from the Fratres
Arvales that were formed into a sodalitatis
during the Augustan Restoration.
Lucan’s description of the lustratio
of the city boundaries in 49 BCE, for example, lists all of the various
priesthoods attending the ceremony, even down to the most minor priests.
The fratres
Arvales are most noticeable for their absence. There is no mention of
the Augustan Fratres Arvales in any
literature prior
to the first century of the Common Era.
Instead we know of them only through the discovery of the
Acta Fratrum Arvalum consisting of ninety-six inscribed marble
slabs covering the years 14-241 C.E. The
Acta was found in a
sacred grove at the fifth mile along the Via Campana south of Rome, where in
late
May they performed private rites.
Most often, the annual rites offered sacrifices to the Dea Dia, a
goddess who is otherwise unknown.
In some years offerings were made to Mana Genuana. But there was
never any consistency in the deities named in the Acta,
and none of the rites described in the Acta
concern a blessing of fields.
Rather their rites concern protecting the empire, invoking the gods
to
safeguard the borders against barbarian invasions.
Their main ritual was held in January when they
invoked the gods for the wellbeing of the emperor.
This sodalitas was lead by a magister
and a flamen, elected to hold an annual office.
It included many prominent members, including the emperors.
Although modern scholars have tried to connect the earlier fratres
Arvales with the Augustan sodalitas
by adopting Paulus’ emendation of Festus, so that it would conform to
another passage in Pliny about there having
been twelve Fratres Arvales, there is nothing in the Acta to support this. Like
much else in the
Augustan Restoration, old forms of rites and priesthoods were
remade, introductions really, meant to
serve the imperial interests. The Augustan sodalitas
of Fratres
Arvales was more of an honorarium for
imperial politicians than it was a category of priests.
Sodales Titii
Another
minor sodalitas, mentioned by Varro
and Lucan, the Titii were charged with watching birds for
augural observations. Little
is known of them including how they may have differed from the augures
who performed a similar function.
Varro suggested that they were named for the twittering of birds
(titiare) (Lingua Latine
V.85), and so they may have been concerned with only oscines.
Curiones
The
curiones
were responsible for assisting the Flamen
Dialis and Pontifex
Maximus, later caring for the
state funds employed in maintaining temples and conducting
state rituals.
Camilli
The
camilli
were children who assisted at state rituals. They were usually the children of the higher
priests. Some
rites included the children of Senators assisting in the ceremonies.
The only requirement
seems to have been that both their parents were alive and
married to one another at the time they
served.
Tibicines et Tibicae
An
important feature in any ritual of the religio
romana was the accompaniment of flute music.
Although
the tibicines
and tibicae
were not priests or priestesses, their role at auguries and rituals made them
essential. They were especially
honored at the minor Quinquatrus on
13 June when a lectisternium
of
Jupiter was held with the tibicines attending.
Sources:
Religions of Rome, Vol. I: A History and Vol. II: A Sourcebook, Mary Beard, John North, Simon Price, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1998. ISBN 0-521-45646-0
The Beginnings of Rome, T .J. Cornell, Routledge, N.Y., 1995. ISBN 0-415-01596-0
Archaic Roman Religion, Georg Dumezil, trans. P Krapp, Chicago University Press, Chicago 1970.
The Roman Festivals of the Period of the Republic: an introduction to the study of the religion of the Romans, W. W. Fowler, MacMillian, London, 1899.
Samnium and the Samnites, E. T. Salmon, Cambridge University Press, London, 1967.
Festivals and Ceremonies of the Roman Republic, H. H. Scullard, Thames & Hudson, London, 1981.
Some Arval Brethren, Ronald Syme, Oxford, 1980.