Editing Jupiter (god) (section)

=== Flamen and Flaminica Dialis ===
{{Main|Flamen Dialis}}
[[File:Ara pacis fregio lato ovest 2 B.JPG|thumb|left|Detail of [[relief]] from the [[Ara Pacis|Augustan Altar of Peace]], showing ''flamines'' wearing the pointed ''[[Apex (headdress)|apex]]''|alt=Bas-relief of five Roman priests]]
[[File:Jupiter statue, Vaticana.jpg|thumb|upright|left|Statue of Jupiter, Vatican, Rome.]]
[[File:Jupiter cameo Louvre Bj1820.jpg|thumb|upright|left|Jupiter's head crowned with laurel and ivy. Sardonyx cameo ([[Louvre]])]]
[[File:Wall painting - Zeus and Eros - Herculaneum (ins or II basilica-augusteum) - Napoli MAN 9553.jpg|thumb|upright=1.2|Jupiter-Zeus with thunderbolt and sceptre in the clouds. Fresco in [[Herculaneum]], 1–37 AD]]
[[File:Lens - Inauguration du Louvre-Lens le 4 décembre 2012, la Galerie du Temps, n° 058.JPG|thumb|Decor Fragment of a triumphal arch: ''The Emperor's Guards, The [[Praetorian Guard]]'', featured in a [[Praetorians Relief|relief]] with an [[Aquila (Roman)|eagle]] grasping a [[thunderbolt]] through its claws; in reference to [[ancient Roman religion|Roman]] [[interpretatio graeca|equivalent]] form of ''Jupiter''.]]
Jupiter was served by the patrician Flamen Dialis, the highest-ranking member of the ''[[Flamen|flamines]]'', a [[Collegium (ancient Rome)|college]] of fifteen priests in the official public cult of Rome, each of whom was devoted to a particular deity. His wife, the Flaminica Dialis, had her own duties, and presided over the sacrifice of a ram to Jupiter on each of the ''[[Roman calendar#Nundinal cycle|nundinae]]'', the "market" days of a calendar cycle, comparable to a week.<ref>[[Macrobius]], ''Saturnalia'' 1.16.</ref> The couple were required to marry by the exclusive patrician ritual ''[[confarreatio]]'', which included a sacrifice of [[spelt]] bread to Jupiter Farreus (from ''far'', "wheat, grain").<ref>Matthew Dillon and [[Lynda Garland]], "Religion in the Roman Republic", in ''Ancient Rome: From the Early Republic to the Assassination of Julius Caesar'' (Routledge, 2005), pp. 127, 345.</ref>

The office of Flamen Dialis was circumscribed by several unique ritual prohibitions, some of which shed light on the sovereign nature of the god himself.<ref>Most of the information about the Flamen Dialis is preserved by [[Aulus Gellius]], ''Attic Nights'' [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Gellius/10*.html#15 X 15.]</ref> For instance, the ''flamen'' may remove his clothes or ''[[Apex (headdress)|apex]]'' (his pointed hat) only when under a roof, in order to avoid showing himself naked to the sky—that is, "as if under the eyes of Jupiter" as god of the heavens. Every time the Flaminica saw a lightning bolt or heard a clap of thunder (Jupiter's distinctive instrument), she was prohibited from carrying on with her normal routine until she placated the god.<ref>Macrobius ''Saturnalia'' I 16, 8: ''flaminica quotiens tonitrua audisset feriata erat, donec placasset deos.'' The adjective ''feriatus'', related to ''[[Glossary of ancient Roman religion#feria|feriae]]'', "holy days", pertains to keeping a holiday, and hence means "idle, unemployed", not performing one's usual tasks.</ref>

Some privileges of the ''flamen'' of Jupiter may reflect the regal nature of Jupiter: he had the use of the [[curule chair]],<ref>Livy I 20, 1–2.</ref> and was the only priest ''([[Glossary of ancient Roman religion#sacerdos|sacerdos]])'' who was preceded by a [[lictor]]<ref>Plutarch ''Quaestiones Romanae'' 113.</ref> and had a seat in the [[Roman senate|senate]].<ref>Livy XXVII 8, 8.</ref> Other regulations concern his ritual purity and his separation from the military function; he was forbidden to ride a horse or see the army outside the sacred boundary of Rome ''([[pomerium]]).'' Although he served the god who embodied the sanctity of the oath, it was not religiously permissible ''([[Glossary of ancient Roman religion#fas|fas]])'' for the Dialis to swear an oath.<ref>Aulus Gellius, 10.15.5: ''item iurare Dialem fas numquam est''; [[Robert E.A. Palmer]], "The Deconstruction of Mommsen on Festus 462/464L, or the Hazards of Interpretation", in ''Imperium sine fine: T. Robert S. Broughton and the Roman Republic'' (Franz Steiner, 1996), p. 85; Francis X. Ryan, ''Rank and Participation in the Republican Senate'' (Franz Steiner, 1998), p. 165. The [[Vestals]] and the Flamen Dialis were the only Roman citizens who could not be compelled to swear an oath (Aulus Gellius 10.15.31); Robin Lorsch Wildfang, ''Rome's Vestal Virgin: A Study of Rome's Vestal Priestesses in the Late Republic and Early Empire'' (Routledge, 2006), p. 69.</ref> He could not have contacts with anything dead or connected with death: corpses, funerals, funeral fires, raw meat. This set of restrictions reflects the fulness of life and absolute freedom that are features of Jupiter.{{sfnp|Dumézil|1977|p=147}}