List of Pontifices Maximi

The Pontifex Maximus was chief priest of the Collegium Pontificum ("College of Pontiffs") in ancient Roman religion. The names of Pontifices Maximi for the Roman Republic are listed below as known. The last Pontifex Maximus of the Republican era was Lepidus, the triumvir. Upon his death, Augustus acquired the office, consolidating an additional source of power and authority for the princeps. In the Imperial era, it was customary for the emperor to serve as Pontifex Maximus.

Pontifices maximi of the Roman Kingdom

Pontifices maximi of the Roman Republic

The Pontifex Maximus held his office for life, but the date of death is not known for every man who held the office, and the name of the Pontifex is not recorded for every period. Unless otherwise noted, dates and citations of primary sources are from T.R.S. Broughton's three-volume The Magistrates of the Roman Republic (American Philological Association, 1951, 1986).

Pontifices Maximi of the Roman Empire

On 6 March 12 BC, Augustus became Pontifex Maximus, following the death of Lepidus. Thereafter, it became customary for the emperor to hold the post. Constantine (reigned 306–337) is known as the first emperor to convert to Christianity, but Gratian (375–383) is recorded as the first emperor to decline the office of Pontifex Maximus of the traditional state religion.[27]

Notes

  1. Dionysius of Halicarnassus 3.36.4; T.R.S. Broughton, The Magistrates of the Roman Republic (American Philological Association, 1951, 1986), vol. 1, p. 4.
  2. Broughton, vol i, pp. 3-6, note 3, pp.4, Cicero, Dom. 139, fr. 15 Consol. Valerius Maximus 5.10.1, Seneca Cons. ad. Marc. 13.1, places him in 508 BC
  3. Livy 3.54.5.
  4. Asconius 77C; Broughton, MRR1, p. 49.
  5. Livy 4.27.1; Broughton, MRR1, p. 64.
  6. Plutarch, "On Putting One's Enemies to Use 6 (see also Livy 4.44.11–12); Broughton, MRR1, p. 71
  7. Livy 5.41.3; Plutarch, Camillus 21.3 (as Fabius); Broughton, MRR1, p. 96; Jörg Rüpke, Fasti sacerdotum (Franz Steiner, 2005), p. 1000.
  8. Livy 25.5.4; Broughton, MRR1, p. 142.
  9. Livy 9.46.6; Broughton, MRR1, p. 168.
  10. Broughton, MRR1, pp. 210 and 218, attested widely in works by Cicero and other sources.
  11. Livy, Periochae 19; Valerius Maximus 8.13.2; Broughton, MRR1, pp. 218 and 234.
  12. Livy 22.10.1; Broughton, MRR1, p. 234.
  13. Livy 25.5.2–4 and 39.46.1; Broughton, MRR1, pp. 271, 381.
  14. Livy 39.46.1 and 40.42.6 and 11–12; Broughton, MRR1, pp. 381, 390.
  15. Livy 40.42.6 and 11–12, Periochae 48; Broughton, MRR1, p. 390.
  16. Cicero, De senectute 50, De natura deorum 3.5, De oratore 3.134; Broughton, MRR1, pp. 390, 457.
  17. Broughton, MRR1, pp. 478–479, 499, citing multiple testimonia.
  18. Broughton, MRR1, pp. 499, 503.
  19. Broughton, MRR1, pp. 503, 532.
  20. Asconius 45–46C; Broughton, MRR1, pp. 532, 534.
  21. Broughton, MRR1, pp. 564–564; MRR2 (1952), p. 37.
  22. Broughton, MRR2, pp. 37, 73.
  23. Broughton, MRR2, pp. 73, 171, 172 (note 3).
  24. Broughton, MRR2, pp. 171, 172 (note 3), 333.
  25. Velleius Paterculus, 2.43; Plutarch, Caesar 7; Suetonius, Divus Julius 13.
  26. Broughton, MRR2, p. 333.
  27. Catholic Encyclopedia: Gratian

Further reading

  • Bowersock, G. W. (1990). "The Pontificate of Augustus", in Kurt A. Raaflaub and Mark Toher (eds.): Between Republic and Empire: Interpretations of Augustus and his Principate. Berkeley: University of California Press, 380–394. ISBN 0-520-08447-0.
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