Editing Pontifex maximus

{{short description|Chief high priest in ancient Rome}}
{{Italic title}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=April 2013}}
[[File:August Labicana Massimo Inv56230.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Augustus]] as pontifex maximus (''[[Via Labicana Augustus]]'')]]

The {{langnf|la|'''pontifex maximus'''|supreme [[pontiff]]}}<ref>{{cite dictionary |dictionary=[[Harper's Dictionary of Classical Antiquities]] |url=https://archive.org/stream/cu31924027019482#page/n1319/mode/2up |title=s. v. Pontifex |page=1299 |last=Peck |first=Harry Thurston |author-link=Harry Thurston Peck |year=1896 |publisher=[[Harper & Brothers]] |location=New York}}</ref><ref>{{cite dictionary |last1=Lewis |first1=Chartlon T. |author-link=Charlton T. Lewis |last2=Short |first2=Charles |dictionary=[[A Latin Dictionary]] |url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0059:entry=pontifex |title=s. v. pontifex |location=Oxford |publisher=[[Clarendon Press]] |year=1879 |via=[[Perseus Project]]}}</ref><ref>{{cite dictionary |dictionary=[[American Heritage Dictionary]] |url=https://www.ahdictionary.com/word/search.html?q=pontifex |title=s. v. pontifex |year=2019 |edition=5th |publisher=[[Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company]]}}</ref> was the chief [[high priest]] of the [[College of Pontiffs]] (''[[Collegium (ancient Rome)|Collegium]] Pontificum'') in [[ancient Rome]]. This was the most important position in the [[Religion in ancient Rome|ancient Roman religion]], open only to [[Patrician (ancient Rome)|patricians]] until 254&nbsp;BC, when a [[plebeian]] first held this position. Although in fact the most powerful office in the Roman priesthood, the ''pontifex maximus'' was officially ranked fifth in the [[Glossary of ancient Roman religion#ordo sacerdotum|ranking of the highest Roman priests]] (''Ordo Sacerdotum''), behind the ''[[Rex Sacrorum]]'' and the ''[[Flamen#Flamines maiores|flamines maiores]]'' (''[[Flamen Dialis]]'', ''[[Flamen Martialis]]'', ''[[Flamen Quirinalis]]'').<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=aEfvR1Qcd0gC&pg=PA136 |title=A Critical History of Early Rome: From Prehistory to the First Punic War |year=2006 |access-date=2 September 2016 |isbn=978-0-520-24991-2 |first=Gary |last=Forsythe |publisher=[[University of California Press]] |page=136}}</ref>

A distinctly religious office under the early [[Roman Republic]], it gradually became politicized until, beginning with [[Augustus]], it was subsumed into the position of [[Roman emperor|emperor]] in the [[Roman imperial period (chronology)|Roman imperial period]]. Subsequent emperors were styled ''pontifex maximus'' well into [[Late Antiquity]], including [[Gratian]] ({{Reign|367|383}}), but during Gratian's reign the phrase was replaced in imperial titulature with the {{Langx|la|pontifex inclytus|label=Latin phrase}} ("honourable pontiff"), an example followed by Gratian's junior co-emperor [[Theodosius the Great]] and which was used by emperors thereafter including the ''co''-''[[augusti]]'' [[Valentinian III]] ({{Reign|425|455}}), [[Marcian]] ({{Reign|450|457}}) and the ''augustus'' [[Anastasius Dicorus]] ({{Reign|491|518}}). The first to adopt the ''inclytus'' alternative to ''maximus'' may have been the rebel ''augustus'' [[Magnus Maximus]] ({{Reign|383|388}}).

The word ''pontifex'' and its derivative "[[pontiff]]" became terms used for Christian [[bishop]]s,<ref>{{cite journal |quote=In the matter of hierarchical nomenclature, one of the most striking instances is the adoption of the term pontifex for a bishop |jstor=3294702 |first=Paul |last=Pascal |title=Medieval Uses of Antiquity |journal=[[The Classical Journal]] |volume=61 |issue=5 |date=February 1966 |pages=193–197 |publisher=[[The Classical Association of the Middle West and South]], Inc.}}</ref> including the Bishop of [[Rome]].<ref>{{cite book |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140427144439/http://droitromain.upmf-grenoble.fr/Constitutiones/Thessalonique.htm |title=Edictum Gratiani, Valentiani et Theodosii de fide catholica |date=27 February 380 |archive-date=April 27, 2014 |url=http://droitromain.upmf-grenoble.fr/Constitutiones/Thessalonique.htm |series=The Roman Law Library |access-date=January 6, 2018 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite dictionary |url=https://www.ahdictionary.com/word/search.html?q=pontiff |dictionary=[[The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language]] |edition=4th |year=2000 |title=Pontiff: 1a. The pope. b. A bishop. 2. A pontifex. |access-date=27 June 2019 |publisher=[[Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company]]}}</ref> The title of ''pontifex maximus'' was adopted by the [[Catholic Church]] for the [[pope]] as its chief bishop and appears on buildings, monuments and coins of popes of [[Renaissance]] and modern times. The official list of titles of the pope given in the ''[[Annuario Pontificio]]'' includes "supreme pontiff" ({{Langx|la|summus pontifex}}) as the fourth title, the first being "bishop of Rome".<ref>{{cite book |title=Annuario Pontificio |publisher=[[Libreria Editrice Vaticana]] |year=2012 |isbn=978-88-209-8722-0 |page=23}}</ref>

==Etymology==
{{Priesthoods of ancient Rome}}
The etymology of "pontifex" is uncertain, but the word has been used since Roman times. The word appears to consist of the Latin word for "bridge" and the suffix for "maker"  (''pons'' + ''facere'')". However, there is a possibility that this definition is a [[folk etymology]] for an [[Etruscan language|Etruscan]] term,<ref name="livius">{{cite journal|last=Lendering|first=Jona|author-link=Jona Lendering|title=Pontifex Maximus|url=https://www.livius.org/pn-po/pontifex/maximus.html|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120112143929/https://www.livius.org/pn-po/pontifex/maximus.html|archive-date=January 12, 2012|access-date=August 21, 2011|via=[[Livius.org]]}}</ref> since Roman religion was heavily influenced by Etruscan religion, and little is known about the [[Etruscan language]], which is a [[Indo-European languages|non-Indo-European]] and poorly attested language.

According to the common interpretation whereby the term ''pontifex'' means "bridge-builder", this could have been originally meant in a literal sense: the position of bridge-builder was indeed an important one in Rome, where the major bridges were over the [[Tiber]], the sacred river (and a deity): only prestigious authorities with sacral functions could be allowed to "disturb" it with mechanical additions. However, it was always understood in its symbolic sense as well: the pontifices were the ones who smoothed the "bridge" between gods and men.<ref name="Van Haeperen">{{cite journal |last=Van Haeperen |first=Françoise |title=Des pontifes païens aux pontifes chrétiens |journal=Revue belge de Philologie et d'Histoire |url=https://www.persee.fr/doc/rbph_0035-0818_2003_num_81_1_4718 |year=2003 |volume=81 |issue=1 |pages=137–159 |doi=10.3406/rbph.2003.4718 |access-date=2020-03-03 |df=dmy-all}}</ref>

The interpretation of the word ''pontifex'' as "bridge-builder" was that of [[Dionysius of Halicarnassus]] and [[Marcus Terentius Varro]]. [[Plutarch]] pointed out that the term existed before there were any bridges in Rome and derived the word from [[Old Latin]] ''pontis'' {{sic}} meaning a powerful or absolute master, while others derived it from ''potis facere'' in the sense of "able to sacrifice".<ref>{{Cite book|last=Hooke|first=Nathaniel|url=https://archive.org/details/romanhistoryfro00hookgoog/page/n90|title=The Roman History, from the Building of Rome to the Ruin of the Commonwealth |volume=5|date=1830|place=London| publisher= Thomas Davison|page=81}}</ref> The last derivation is mentioned also by Varro, who rejected it,<ref>{{cite book |editor1=Beard, Mary |editor2=North, John |editor3=Price, Simon |year=1998 |title=Religions of Rome |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-52145646-3 |volume=2 |page=195 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xQd82l39KX4C&pg=PA195}}</ref> but it was the view of ''pontifex maximus'' [[Quintus Mucius Scaevola Pontifex|Quintus Scaevola]].<ref name=Lanciani>{{cite book |first=Rodolfo |last=Lanciani |year=2005 |title=New Tales of Ancient Rome |publisher=Kessinger Publishing |edition=reprint |isbn=978-1-41790821-9 |page=54 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hcQETIDrjBwC&pg=PA54}}</ref> Others have held that the word was originally ''pompifex'' (leader of public processions).<ref name=Lanciani/> The word ''pons'' originally meant "way" and ''pontifex'' would thus mean "maker of roads and bridges."<ref name=Lanciani/>

Another opinion is that the word is a corruption of a similar-sounding but etymologically unrelated [[Etruscan language|Etruscan]] word.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Pontifex (n.)|author= Douglas Harper | date= 2020|url=https://www.etymonline.com/word/pontifex|access-date=2023-02-17|website=Online Etymology Dictionary|language=en}}</ref> Yet another hypothesis<ref>First proposed by F. Ribezzo in "Pontifices 'quinionalis sacrificii effectores'", ''Rivista Indo-Greco-Italica di Filologia-Lingua-Antichità'' '''15''' 1931 p. 56.</ref> considers the word as a loan from the [[Sabine language]], in which it would mean a member of a college of five, from [[Osco-Umbrian]] ''ponte'', five.<ref>Cf. Greek πέντε</ref> This explanation takes into account that the college was established by [[Sabines|Sabine]] king [[Numa Pompilius]] and the institution is Italic: the expressions ''pontis'' and ''pomperias'' found in the [[Iguvine Tablets]] may denote a group or division of five or by five. The pontifex would thence be a member of a sacrificial college known as ''pomperia'' (Latin ''quinio'').<ref>For a review of the proposed hypotheses cfr. J. P. Hallet "Over Troubled Waters: The Meaning of the Title Pontifex" in ''Transactions and Proceedings of the American Philological Association'' '''101''' 1970 p. 219 ff.</ref>

The Roman title ''pontifex maximus'' was rendered in Greek inscriptions and literature of the time as {{Langx|grc-x-koine|ἀρχιερεύς|lit=Archpriest|translit=archiereús}}<ref>[[Polybius]] 23.1.2 and 32.22.5; ''Corpus Inscriptionum Atticarum'' 3.43, 3.428 und 3.458</ref> or by a more literal translation and order of words as {{Langx|grc-x-koine|ἀρχιερεὺς μέγιστος|lit=greatest archpriest|translit=archireús mégistos}}.<ref>''Corpus Inscriptionum Graecarum'' 2.2696 and 3.346; [[Plutarch]] ''Numa'' 9.4</ref> The term {{Langx|grc-x-koine|ἀρχιερεύς|label=none}} is used in the Greek [[Septuagint]] text of the [[Old Testament]] and in the [[New Testament]] to refer to the [[High Priest of Israel]], including in [[2 Maccabees]] ({{Bibleverse|2 Maccabees|4:7|LXX}}).

The word ''pontifex'', Latin for "[[pontiff]]," was used in ancient Rome to designate a member of the [[College of Pontiffs]]. In the Latin [[Vulgate]] translation of the [[New Testament]], it is sometimes used to designate the Jewish high priest, as in the ''[[Gospel of John]]'' and ''[[Epistle to the Hebrews]]'' ({{bibleverse|John|11:49|Vulgate}}; {{bibleverse|Hebrews|5:1|Vulgate}}). From perhaps as early as the 3rd century, it has been used to denote a Christian bishop. In the [[Vulgate]], the term {{lang|la|summus pontifex}} was originally applied to the [[High Priest of Israel]], as in the ''[[Book of Judith]]'' ({{bibleverse|Judith|15:19|Vulgate}}), whose place, each in his own [[diocese]], the Christian bishops were regarded as holding, based on an interpretation of the ''[[First Epistle of Clement]]'' (I Clement 40).<ref name=":0">{{cite CE1913|last=Joyce|first=George Hayward|wstitle=Pope#(1) Titles|display=Pope § Titles|volume=12}}</ref>

==Origins of the Regal period==
The ''[[College of Pontiffs|Collegium Pontificum]]'' (College of Pontiffs) was the most important priesthood of ancient Rome. The foundation of this sacred college and the office of ''pontifex maximus'' is attributed to the second [[king of Rome]], [[Numa Pompilius]].<ref name=Livy>[[Livy]], ''[[Ab Urbe Condita Libri (Livy)|Ab urbe condita]]'', 1:20</ref> Much of what is known about the [[Kingdom of Rome|Regal period in Roman history]] is semi-legendary or mythical. The ''[[Collegium (ancient Rome)|Collegium]]'' presumably acted as advisers to the ''[[King|rex]]'' (king) in religious matters. The ''collegium'' was headed by the ''pontifex maximus'', and all the ''pontifices'' held their office for life. But the pontifical records of early Rome were most likely destroyed when the city was sacked by the Gauls in 387&nbsp;BC, and the earliest accounts of Archaic Rome come from the literature of the [[Roman Republic|Republic]], most of it from the 1st&nbsp;century&nbsp;BC and later.{{Citation needed|date=July 2021}}

According to the [[Augustus|Augustan]]-era [[Roman historiography|historian]] [[Livy]], [[Numa Pompilius]], a [[Sabine]], devised Rome's system of religious rites, including the manner and timing of sacrifices, the supervision of religious funds, authority over all public and private religious institutions, instruction of the populace in the celestial and funerary rites including appeasing the dead, and expiation of prodigies. Numa is said to have founded Roman religion after dedicating an altar on the [[Aventine Hill]] to [[Jupiter (mythology)#Epithets of Jupiter|Jupiter Elicius]] and consulting the gods by means of [[augur]]y.<ref name="Livy" /> Numa wrote down and sealed these religious instructions, and gave them to the first ''pontifex maximus'', [[Numa Marcius]].{{Citation needed|date=July 2021}}

==Roman Republic==
{{See also|List of Pontifices Maximi|College of Pontiffs}}

In the [[Roman Republic]], the ''pontifex maximus'' was the highest office in the [[Religion in ancient Rome|state religion of ancient Rome]] and directed the [[College of Pontiffs]]. According to Livy, after the overthrow of the monarchy, the Romans created the priesthood of the ''[[Rex Sacrorum|rex sacrorum]]'', or "king of sacred rites," to carry out certain religious duties and rituals previously performed by the king. The ''rex sacrorum'' was explicitly deprived of military and political power, but the ''pontifices'' were permitted to hold both [[Roman magistrate|magistracies]] and military commands.<ref>[http://abacus.bates.edu/~mimber/Rciv/public.relig.htm Roman Public Religion] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110318050320/http://abacus.bates.edu/~mimber/Rciv/public.relig.htm |date=March 18, 2011 }} Roman Civilization, bates.edu retrieved August 17, 2006</ref>

The official residence of the ''pontifex maximus'' was the ''[[Domus Publica]]'' ("State House") which stood between the House of the [[Vestal Virgin]]s and the [[Via Sacra]], close to the [[Regia]], in the [[Roman Forum]]. His religious duties were carried out from the Regia. Unless the ''pontifex maximus'' was also a magistrate, he was not allowed to wear the ''[[toga praetexta]]'', i.e. toga with the purple border. In artistic representations, he can be recognized by his holding an iron knife ''([[secespita]])''<ref name=livius/> or the ''[[patera]]'',<ref>{{Cite web|title=Panel Relief of Marcus Aurelius and Roman Imperial Iconography|publisher= State University of New York|work= College at Oneonta|url=http://employees.oneonta.edu/farberas/arth/ARTH200/politics/aurelian_panels.html|access-date=2023-02-17}}</ref> and the distinctive robes or toga with part of the mantle covering the head ''([[Glossary of ancient Roman religion#capite velato|capite velato]])'', in keeping with Roman practice.

In practice, particularly during the late Republic, the office of ''pontifex maximus'' was generally held by a member of a politically prominent family. It was a coveted position mainly for the great prestige it conferred on the holder. [[Julius Caesar]] became pontifex in 73&nbsp;BC and ''pontifex maximus'' in 63&nbsp;BC.

The major Republican source on the pontiffs would have been the theological writings of [[Varro]], which survive only in fragments preserved by later authors such as [[Aulus Gellius]] and [[Nonius Marcellus]]. Other sources are [[Cicero]], [[Livy]], [[Dionysius of Halicarnassus]], [[Valerius Maximus]], [[Plutarch]]'s ''Life of Numa Pompilius'', [[Sextus Pompeius Festus|Festus]]'s summaries of [[Verrius Flaccus]], and in later writers, including several of the [[Church Fathers]]. Some of these sources present an extensive list of everyday prohibitions for the ''pontifex maximus''; it seems difficult to reconcile these lists with evidence that many ''pontifices maximi'' were prominent members of society who lived normal lives.

===Election and number===
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''.<ref name="lacus">{{cite dictionary|url=https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/secondary/SMIGRA*/Pontifex.html|title=Pontifex Maximus|via=[[LacusCurtius]]|access-date=August 15, 2006|first=William|last=Smith|author-link=William Smith (lexicographer)|dictionary=[[A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities]]|publisher=[[John Murray (publishing house)|John Murray]]|location=London|year=1875|pages=939–942}}</ref><ref name=livius/> The ''pontifices'', moreover, could only come from the old nobility. In effect, this was only members of the patrician class. However, in 300&ndash;299&nbsp;BC the ''[[lex Ogulnia]]'' opened the office of ''pontifex maximus'' to public election and permitted the ''[[plebs]]'' (plebeians) to be co-opted as priests, so that part of the exclusivity of the title was lost. But it was only in 254&nbsp;BC that [[Tiberius Coruncanius]] became the first plebeian ''pontifex maximus''.<ref>[https://www.livius.org/li-ln/livy/periochae/periochae016.html Titus Livius. ''Ex Libro'' XVIII] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180819095111/http://www.livius.org/li-ln/livy/periochae/periochae016.html |date=August 19, 2018 }} Periochae, from livius.org retrieved August 16, 2006</ref>

The ''lex Ogulnia'' also increased the number of pontiffs to nine (the ''pontifex maximus'' included). In 104&nbsp;BC the ''lex Domitia'' prescribed that the election of all pontiffs would henceforward be voted by the ''comitia tributa'' (an assembly of the people divided into voting districts); by the same law only 17&nbsp;tribes, chosen by lot from the 35&nbsp;tribes of the city, could vote. The law's promulgator, L[ucius] Domitius Ahenobarbus, was shortly afterwards elected pontifex maximus after the death of the incumbent [[Metellus Dalmaticus]]: Something of a personal revenge because, the previous year, he had expected to be co-opted as a pontiff to replace his late father, but the pontifical college had appointed another candidate in his place. The office's next holder, [[Quintus Mucius Scaevola Pontifex|Q[uintus] Mucius Scaevola]], was also elected under the same law, though without controversy or opposition since he was a former consul and long-serving pontiff.

This law was abolished in 81&nbsp;BC by [[Lucius Cornelius Sulla|Sulla]] in his dictatorship, in the ''lex Cornelia de Sacerdotiis'', which restored to the great priestly colleges their full right of ''co-optatio''.<ref>Liv. Epit. 89</ref><ref>Pseudo-Ascon. in Divinat. p&nbsp;102, ed. Orelli</ref><ref>Dion Cass. xxxvii. 37</ref> Also under Sulla, the number of pontifices was increased to fifteen, the ''pontifex maximus'' included, and Sulla appointed [[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.

In 63&nbsp;BC, the law of Sulla was abolished by the tribune [[Titus Labienus]], and a modified form of the ''lex Domitia'' was reinstated providing for election by ''comitia tributa'' once again: [[Julius Caesar|Gaius Julius Caesar]] followed Ahenobarbus's precedent by being elected by public vote, although Caesar at least had previously been a pontiff. Marcus Antonius later restored the right of ''co-optatio'' to the college,<ref>Dion Cass. xliv. 53</ref> in time for the election of [[Marcus Aemilius Lepidus (triumvir)|Marcus Aemilius Lepidus]]. 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.) The number of pontifices varied during the Empire but is believed to have been regular at fifteen.<ref name=lacus/>

===Extraordinary appointment of dictators===
The office came into its own with the abolition of the monarchy, when most sacral powers previously vested in the King were transferred either to the ''pontifex maximus'' or to the [[Rex Sacrorum]], though traditionally a (non-political) [[Roman dictator|dictator]]<ref>see also: [[basileus]], [[interrex]]</ref> was formally mandated by the Senate for one day, to perform a specific rite.

According to Livy in his "History of Rome," an ancient instruction written in archaic letters commands: "Let him who is the [[Roman dictator|Praetor Maximus]] fasten a nail on the Ides of September." This notice was fastened on the right side of the Temple of Jupiter Optimus Maximus, next to the chapel of Minerva. This nail is said to have marked the number of the year.

It was in accordance with this direction that the consul Horatius dedicated the Temple of [[Jupiter Optimus Maximus]] in the year following the expulsion of the kings; from the Consuls the ceremony of fastening the nails passed to the Dictators, because they possessed greater authority. As the custom had been subsequently dropped, it was felt to be of sufficient importance to require the appointment of a dictator. L[ucius] Manlius was accordingly nominated but his appointment was due to political rather than religious reasons. He was eager to command in the war with the Hernici. He caused an anger among the men liable to serve by the inconsiderate way in which he conducted the enrolment. In consequence of the unanimous resistance offered by the tribunes of the plebs, he gave way, either voluntarily or through compulsion, and laid down his dictatorship. Since then, this rite was performed by the Rex Sacrorum.<ref>
{{cite web
|url = http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/ancient/romrelig3.html#Livy
|title = History of Rome
|access-date = 2006-08-23
|author = Livy (Titus Livius)
|author-link = Livy
|work = Ancient History Sourcebook: Accounts of Roman State Religion, c.&nbsp;200&nbsp;BC – 250&nbsp;AD
|publisher = Paul Halsall © August 1998 (public domain), Fordham University; halsall@murray.fordham.edu
}}</ref>

====Duties====
The main duty of the Pontifices was to maintain the ''[[Glossary of ancient Roman religion#pax deorum|pax deorum]]'' or "peace of the gods."<ref>[http://encarta.msn.com/encnet/refpages/RefArticle.aspx?refid=761568005 "Roman Mythology"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060521103412/http://encarta.msn.com/encnet/refpages/RefArticle.aspx?refid=761568005|date=May 21, 2006}}, Microsoft [[Encarta Online]] Encyclopedia 2006. Retrieved August 17, 2006</ref>

The immense authority of the sacred college of [[pontiff]]s was centered on the ''pontifex maximus'', the other pontifices forming his ''consilium'' or advising body. His functions were partly sacrificial or ritualistic, but these were the least important. His real power lay in the administration of ''ius divinum'' or divine law;<ref>{{Cite web|title=Definition of JUS DIVINUM|url=https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/jus+divinum|access-date=2023-02-17|website=Merriam–Webster Online Dictionary|language=en}}</ref> the information collected by the pontifices related to the Roman religious tradition was bound in a ''corpus'' which summarized [[dogma]] and other concepts.
[[File:Coin Julius Caesar Pontifex Maximus.PNG|thumb|[[Denarius]] depicting Julius Caesar as ''pontifex maximus'']]
The chief departments of ''jus divinum'' may be described as follows:
# The regulation of all expiatory ceremonials needed as a result of pestilence, lightning, etc.
# The consecration of all temples and other sacred places and objects dedicated to the gods.
# The regulation of the calendar; both astronomically and in detailed application to the public life of the state.
# The administration of the law relating to burials and burying-places, and the worship of the ''[[manes]]'' or dead ancestors.
# The superintendence of all marriages by ''[[confarreatio]]'', i.e. originally of all legal patrician marriages.
# The administration of the law of adoption and of testamentary succession.
# The regulation of the public morals, and fining and punishing offending parties.
# The selection of [[Vestal Virgins]].<ref>{{cite journal |author=Kroppenberg, Inge |title=Law, Religion and Constitution of the Vestal Virgins |journal=Law and Literature |volume=22 |issue=3 |year=2010 |pages=426–427|doi=10.1525/lal.2010.22.3.418 |s2cid=144805147 }}</ref>

The pontifices had many relevant and prestigious functions such as being in charge of caring for the state archives, the keeping the official minutes of elected magistrates,<ref>[[Ovid]], ''[[Fasti (poem)|Fasti]]''</ref> the list of magistrates, and they kept the records of their own decisions (''commentarii'') and of the chief events of each year, the so-called "public diaries", the {{Lang|la|[[Annales maximi]]}}.<ref>{{cite EB1911 |first=William Warde |last=Fowler|wstitle=Pontifex |volume=22 |page=66}}</ref>

The ''pontifex maximus'' was also subject to several [[taboos]]. Among them was the prohibition to leave Italy. Plutarch described [[Publius Cornelius Scipio Nasica Serapio]] (141–132&nbsp;BC) as the first to leave Italy, after being forced by the Senate to do so, and thus break the sacred taboo. [[Publius Licinius Crassus Dives Mucianus]] (132–130&nbsp;BC) was the first to leave Italy voluntarily. Afterwards it became common and no longer against the law for the ''pontifex maximus'' to leave Italy. Among the most notable of those who did was [[Julius Caesar]] (63–44&nbsp;BC).

The Pontifices were in charge of the [[lunisolar calendar|lunisolar]] [[Roman calendar]] and determined when [[Intercalation (timekeeping)|intercalary months]] needed to be added to synchronize the calendar to the seasons. Since the Pontifices were often politicians, and because a Roman magistrate's term of office corresponded with a calendar year, this power was prone to abuse: a Pontifex could lengthen a year in which he or one of his political allies was in office, or refuse to lengthen one in which his opponents were in power. A Pontifex with other political responsibilities, especially away from Rome, might also have been simply distracted from his calendrical duties as chief priest. This caused the calendar to become out of step with the seasons; for example, Caesar's crossing of the [[Rubicon]] in January 49&nbsp;BC actually took place in mid-autumn.

Under his authority as ''pontifex maximus'', Julius Caesar introduced the calendar reform that created the entirely [[solar calendar|solar]] [[Julian calendar]], with a fault of less than a day per century. This calendar remained the standard calendar of the Roman Empire until its collapse, and was used by the [[state church of the Roman Empire]] after the adoption of Christianity as the Roman state religion. The Julian calendar, established by Caesar in his capacity as ''pontifex maximus'', thus became the standard calendar in all of Europe, and continued in use in Western Europe until the [[Gregorian calendar|Gregorian]] reform in the 16th&nbsp;century.

[[File:IMG 0028 - Relief of Marcus Aurelius (7358499854).jpg|thumb|''Pontifex maximus'' and ''Augustus'' [[Marcus Aurelius]] ({{Reign|161|180}}) performing sacrifice in a relief from the [[Arch of Marcus Aurelius (Rome)|Arch of Marcus Aurelius]] ([[Capitoline Museums]])]]

==The Roman Empire==
After Julius Caesar's assassination in 44&nbsp;BC, his ally [[Marcus Aemilius Lepidus (49 BC)|Marcus Aemilius Lepidus]] was selected as ''pontifex maximus''. Though Lepidus eventually fell out of political favor and was sent into exile as [[Augustus]] consolidated power, he retained the priestly office until his death in 13/12&nbsp;BC, at which point Augustus was selected to succeed him and given the right to appoint other pontifices. Thus, from the time of Augustus, the election of pontifices ended and membership in the sacred college was deemed a sign of imperial favour.<ref name=livius/> Augustus took the title of ''pontifex maximus'' for political gain, in an attempt to restore traditional Roman values. With this attribution, the new office of Emperor was given a religious dignity and the responsibility for the entire Roman state cult. Most authors contend that the power of naming the Pontifices was not really used as an ''[[instrumentum regni]]'', an enforcing power.{{Citation needed|date=July 2021}}

From this point on, ''pontifex maximus'' was one of the many titles of the Emperor, slowly losing its specific and historical powers and becoming simply a referent for the sacral aspect of imperial duties and powers. During the Imperial period, a ''promagister'' (vice-master) performed the duties of the ''pontifex maximus'' in lieu of the emperors whenever they were absent.<ref name="Van Haeperen"/>

In post-Severan times (after 235 AD), the small number of pagan senators interested in becoming pontiffs led to a change in the pattern of office holding. In Republican and Imperial times no more than one family member of a gens was member of the [[College of Pontiffs]], nor did one person hold more than one priesthood in this collegium. However, these rules were loosened in the later part of the 3rd&nbsp;century&nbsp;A.D. In periods of joint rule, at first only one of the emperors bore this title, as it occurred for the first time during the joint reign of [[Marcus Aurelius]] and [[Lucius Verus]] (161–169&nbsp;AD), when only Marcus Aurelius was ''pontifex maximus'', but later two ''pontifices maximi'' could serve together, as [[Pupienus]] and [[Balbinus]] did in 238&nbsp;AD—a situation unthinkable in Republican times.<ref>{{cite book|author=Christer Bruun, J. C. Edmondson|title=The Oxford Handbook of Roman Epigraphy|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Z2bDBAAAQBAJ&dq=Pupienus+Balbinus+pontifex+maximus+shared&pg=PA191|year=2015|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-533646-7|page=191}}</ref>

=== Late Antiquity ===
When [[Tertullian]], a [[Montanism|Montanist]], furiously applied the term to a bishop with whom he was at odds (either [[Pope Callixtus I]] or [[Agrippinus of Carthage|Agrippinus]] of Carthage),<ref>Francis Aloysius Sullivan, ''From Apostles to Bishops'' (Paulist Press 2001 {{ISBN|978-0-8091-0534-2}}), p. 165</ref><ref>David E. Wilhite, ''Tertullian the African'' (De Gruyter, Walter 2007 {{ISBN|978-3-11-019453-1}}), p. 174</ref> ca. 220, over a relaxation of the Church's penitential discipline allowing repentant adulterers and fornicators back into the Church, it was in bitter irony:

{{blockquote|In opposition to this [modesty], could I not have acted the dissembler? I hear that there has even been an edict sent forth, and a peremptory one too. The "Pontifex Maximus," that is the "bishop of bishops," issues an edict: "I remit, to such as have discharged [the requirements of] repentance, the sins both of adultery and of fornication." O edict, on which cannot be inscribed, "Good deed!"... Far, far from Christ's betrothed be such a proclamation!|Tertullian|''On Modesty'' ch. 1}}

In the [[Crisis of the Third Century]], emperors continued to assume the title ''pontifex maximus''. The early Christian emperors, including [[Constantine the Great]] ({{Reign|306|337}}) and the rest of the [[Constantinian dynasty]], continued to use it; it was only relinquished by [[Gratian]], possibly in 376 at the time of his visit to Rome,<ref name="Van Haeperen" /> or more probably in 383 when a delegation of pagan senators implored him to restore the [[Altar of Victory]] in the [[Roman Senate]]'s ''[[Curia Julia]]''.<ref>A. Cameron, A. (1969). Gratian's repudiation of the pontifical robe. ''The Journal of Roman Studies'', 58: 96–102. The confusion in dates arises from Zosimus, who writes that it was repudiated at Gratian's accession, impossible from epigraphic and literary references</ref> Its last use with reference to the emperors is in inscriptions of Gratian.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia|title=Gratian|encyclopedia=[[Encyclopædia Britannica]]|via=[[Encyclopædia Britannica Online]]|date=February 3, 2008|url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Gratian-Roman-emperor|access-date=27 June 2019|publisher=[[Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.]]|first=Amy|last=Tikkanen}}</ref><ref name="lacus" /><ref name="livius" />

The [[Edict of Thessalonica]] of 27 February 380 was enacted in Thessalonica ([[Thessaloniki]]) and published in [[Constantinople]] ([[Istanbul]]) for the whole empire. By it, Theodosius I established [[Nicene Christianity]] as the [[state church of the Roman Empire]]. The Latin text refers to the bishop of Rome, [[Pope Damasus I|Damasus]], as a ''pontifex'', and the bishop of Alexandria, [[Pope Peter II of Alexandria|Peter]], as an ''episcopus'':<ref>Unlike ''episcopus'' (from [[Greek language|Greek]] {{lang|grc|ἐπίσκοπος}}), the word used for the bishop from the Greek-speaking East, ''pontifex'' is a word of purely [[Latin]] derivation.</ref><blockquote>...&nbsp;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&nbsp;...<ref>Theodosian Code XVI.1.2; and Sozomen, "Ecclesiastical History", VII, iv. {{cite web|author=Emperor Theodosius I|title=IMPERATORIS THEODOSIANI CODEX Liber Decimus Sextus|url=http://ancientrome.ru/ius/library/codex/theod/liber16.htm|access-date=2006-12-04|publisher=ancientrome.ru|format=web}}</ref></blockquote>Various forms of {{lang|la|summus pontifex}} ('highest pontiff' or bishop) were for centuries used not only of the Bishop of Rome but of other bishops also.<ref name=":0" /> [[Hilary of Arles]] (d. 449) is styled {{lang|la|summus pontifex}} by [[Eucherius of Lyon]] (''[[Patrologia Latina|P. L.]]'', vol. L, col. 773).

==== ''Pontifex inclytus'' ====
During Gratian's reign or immediately afterwards the phrase ''pontifex maximus'' – which had unwelcome associations with traditional Roman religion during the [[Christianization of the Roman Empire]] – was replaced in imperial titulature with the {{Langx|la|pontifex inclytus|label=phrase}}.<ref name=":1">{{Cite journal|last=Cameron|first=Alan|date=2007|title=The Imperial Pontifex|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/30032227|journal=Harvard Studies in Classical Philology|volume=103|pages=341–384|jstor=30032227|issn=0073-0688}}</ref> The first to adopt the ''inclytus'' alternative to ''maximus'' may have been the rebel ''augustus'' and devout Christian close to bishop [[Martin of Tours]], [[Magnus Maximus]] ({{Reign|383|388}}), who killed Gratian in August 383.<ref name=":1" />

This practice was followed by Gratian's junior co-emperor [[Theodosius the Great]] and was used by emperors thereafter, including the ''co''-''[[augusti]]'' [[Valentinian III]] ({{Reign|425|455}}), [[Marcian]] ({{Reign|450|457}}) and the ''augustus'' [[Anastasius Dicorus]] ({{Reign|491|518}}), for whom examples of official usage survive.<ref name=":1" /> Another inscription dedicated to [[Justin II]] ({{Reign|565|574}}) and naming him ''pontifex'' has long been recognized as a forgery, though there is no evidence to suggest the title could not have been used by [[Justinian the Great]] ({{Reign|527|565}}) or even by [[Constantine IV]] ({{Reign|654|685}}).<ref name=":1" />

== Middle Ages ==
[[Lanfranc]] is termed {{lang|la|primas et pontifex summus}} by his biographer, [[Milo Crispin]] ([[Patrologia Latina|P. L.]], vol. CL, 10), but from the 11th century it appears to be applied only to the Pope.<ref name=":0" />[[File:Welt-Galleria T001 bn.jpg|thumb|Engraving by [[Christoph Weigel the Elder]] of [[Pope Clement XI]], giving him the title ''pontifex maximus'']]

== Catholic Church use of the title ==
{{see also|Pontiff#Catholicism}}In the 15th century, when the [[Renaissance]] drove new interest in ancient Rome, ''pontifex maximus'' became a regular title of honour for Popes.<ref name="ReferenceA">''Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church'' (Oxford University Press 2005 {{ISBN|978-0-19-280290-3}}), article ''Pontifex Maximus''</ref> After the [[Fall of the Eastern Roman Empire]] with the [[Fall of Constantinople]] to the [[Ottoman Empire]] and the death of the final [[Roman emperor]] [[Constantine XI]] in 1453, ''pontifex maximus'' became part of the [[papacy]]'s official titulature of the Bishop of Rome.<ref>{{Citation|last1=Nicholson|first1=Oliver|title=Pontifex Maximus|url=https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780198662778.001.0001/acref-9780198662778-e-3782|work=The Oxford Dictionary of Late Antiquity|year=2018|editor-last=Nicholson|editor-first=Oliver|publisher=Oxford University Press|language=en|doi=10.1093/acref/9780198662778.001.0001|isbn=978-0-19-866277-8|access-date=2020-11-01|last2=Gwynn|first2=David}}</ref> The name given to the book containing the liturgical rites to be performed by any bishop, the ''[[Roman Pontifical]]'', and to the form of liturgy known as [[Pontifical High Mass]] witness to the continued use of ''pontifex'' to refer to bishops in general.{{Citation needed|date=July 2021}}

[[Tertullian]] ({{Circa|155|220 AD}}), in his work "De Pudicitia" (On Modesty), criticized [[Pope Callixtus I]] for allowing repentant adulterers and fornicators back into the Church, even if they were repeat offenders, sarcastically referring to him as "Pontifex Maximus."<ref>{{Cite web |title=CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: The Pope |url=https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/12260a.htm |access-date=2024-07-12 |website=www.newadvent.org}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=CHURCH FATHERS: On Modesty (Tertullian) |url=https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/0407.htm#:~:text= |access-date=2024-07-12 |website=www.newadvent.org}}</ref>
{{Quote|text=The Pontifex Maximus — that is, the bishop of bishops — issues an edict: "I remit, to such as have discharged (the requirements of) repentance, the sins both of adultery and of fornication." O edict, on which cannot be inscribed, Good deed!|author=Tertullian|title=On Modesty|source=Chapter I}}
While the title ''pontifex maximus'' has for some centuries been used in inscriptions referring to the Popes, it has never been included in the official list of [[papal titles]] published in the ''[[Annuario Pontificio]]''. The official list of titles of the Pope given in the {{lang|it|[[Annuario Pontificio]]}} includes "Supreme Pontiff of the whole Church" (in Latin, {{lang|la|Summus Pontifex Ecclesiae Universalis}}) as the fourth title, the first being "Bishop of Rome." The title ''pontifex maximus'' appears in inscriptions on buildings and on coins and medallions.{{Citation needed|date=July 2021}}

In December 2012, [[Pope Benedict XVI]] adopted ''@pontifex'' as his [[Twitter|X (formerly known as Twitter)]] [[Pseudonym|handle]],<ref>{{cite news |title=Pope joins tweeting masses with Pontifex handle |author=<!-- Post Staff Report --> |url=https://nypost.com/2012/12/03/pope-joins-tweeting-masses-with-pontifex-handle/ |newspaper=New York Post |date=December 3, 2012 |access-date=December 3, 2012}}</ref> prompting users to pose questions with the ''#askpontifex'' [[hashtag]].<ref>{{Cite news|last=Boorstein|first=Michelle|date=2012-12-04|title=Ask the pope @pontifex: With Twitter account, Benedict XVI just a tweet away|language=en-US|newspaper=Washington Post|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/ask-the-pope-atpontifex-with-twitter-account-benedict-xvi-just-a-tweet-away/2012/12/04/4b91f1f4-3e4c-11e2-a2d9-822f58ac9fd5_story.html|access-date=2023-02-17|issn=0190-8286}}</ref><ref>[http://www.news.va/en/news/pope-benedict-to-launch-new-twitter-account Pope Benedict to launch new Twitter account], [[Vatican Radio]], December 3, 2012.</ref> This has been maintained by his successors [[Pope Francis]], and [[Pope Leo XIV]].<ref>{{Cite web|last1=Barone|first1=Camillo|last2=Grosso|first2=John|url=https://www.ncronline.org/vatican/pope-leo-xiv-staying-social-media|title=Pope Leo XIV is staying on social media|website=[[National Catholic Reporter]]|date=May 13, 2025 |access-date=May 15, 2025}}</ref>

==See also==
{{Portal|Ancient Rome}}
* [[List of pontifices maximi|List of ''pontifices maximi'']]
* ''[[Katechon]]''
* [[Papal titles]]

==References==
{{Reflist|30em}}

== Bibliography ==
{{refbegin}}
* {{cite journal |last1=Cameron |first1=Alan |title=Pontifex Maximus: from Augustus to Gratian – and Beyond |date=2016 |pages=139–159 |journal=Collegium|url=https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/33741107.pdf}}
* {{cite journal |last1=Dijkstra |first1=Roald |last2=Espelo |first2=Dorine Van |title=Anchoring Pontifical Authority: A Reconsideration of the Papal Employment of the Title Pontifex Maximus |journal=[[Journal of Religious History]] |date=2017 |volume=41 |issue=3 |pages=312–325 |doi=10.1111/1467-9809.12400|doi-access=free|hdl=2066/160382 |hdl-access=free }}

{{refend}}

== External links ==
*[https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/secondary/SMIGRA*/Pontifex.html article ''Pontifex'' in Smith's Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities]
*[http://www.unrv.com/culture/pontifex-maximus-list.php Annotated pontifex maximus list]
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20060622111704/http://www.tyndale.cam.ac.uk/Egypt/ptolemies/chron/roman/roman_consuls.htm List of roman consuls ('''Fasti consulares''') 300&nbsp;BC – 60&nbsp;AD] at http://www.tyndale.cam.ac.uk/Egypt/ptolemies/chron/chronology.htm {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111227013136/http://www.tyndale.cam.ac.uk/Egypt/ptolemies/chron/chronology.htm |date=December 27, 2011 }} – in the list of consuls the column on the right (pontifex maximus) lists those that are known in the period.
*{{cite CE1913 |last=Joyce |first=George Hayward |wstitle=Pope#V. Primacy of Honour: Titles and Insignia |display=Pope § V. Primacy of Honour: Titles and Insignia |volume=12}}

{{Roman religion}}
{{Ancient Rome topics}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Pontifices maximi of the Roman Republic| ]]
[[Category:Ancient Roman religious titles]]
[[Category:Latin religious words and phrases]]
[[Category:Papal titles]]
[[Category:Christian terminology]]
[[Category:Superlatives in religion]]