Pontifex Maximus

The title Pontifex Maximus (Latin for " Highest Priest "; etymology see Pontifex ) originally referred to the supreme guardian of the ancient Roman gods cult (Supreme Priest) and later passed to the Roman emperor and finally to the popes.

Development of the title

The Pontifex Maximus was the highest-ranking priests quorum of pontifices the Roman Empire. Since the 3rd century BC, his office has been awarded by the selection in a special public meeting. The Pontifex Maximus was apparently the overall supervision of all religious affairs in Rome, especially about the priestesses of Vesta. His official residence was the Regia in the Roman Forum.

According to Cicero, the Pontifex Maximus, once led the annales maximus, in which important religious and political events by year were listed sorted. The Pontifex Maximus was in Rome in any case responsible for the calendar; the pontifices had to insert in Republican times as necessary switching days if had surrendered to large displacements. However, not in his capacity as Pontifex Maximus, which he held, but as a Roman dictator Gaius Julius Caesar introduced in the year 46 BC the Julian calendar, which eliminated this problem. The last pontiffs Maximilian at the time of the Roman Republic were Gaius Julius Caesar and Marcus Aemilius Lepidus. After Lepidus ' death was 12 BC Caesar's adopted son Augustus new Pontifex Maximus, and henceforth had all the Roman emperors held this position; in case of Mehrkaisertums they marked the highest-ranking ruler until the upper pontificate was divided for the first time under 238 Pupienus and Balbinus.

Many researchers are of the opinion, the Pontifex Maximus was before Augustus indeed one of the most respected priests of Rome have been without question, but only in the imperial period the supreme overseer of the Roman cults become, since the holder of the office now so as Emperor at the same time always also the most powerful man was in the kingdom. Do not confuse the role of the emperor as a priest with his worship in the context of the imperial cult.

With the Christianization of the Empire, the office initially lost its meaning. After Constantine the designation would no longer appear only rarely in the imperial titulary, since Emperor Gratian, even if other Emperor Anastasius 516 designated as pontiff in a letter to the bishop of Rome and thus underlined his claim to be allowed to intervene in church affairs ( Hormisd. Ep. 12). This was no coincidence, because at this time the Roman bishops had begun to lead the vacant title itself: The first Bishop of Rome, who took up the title of Pontifex Maximus again, Pope Leo the Great ( 440-461 ) had been. Under Gregory the Great, the term was then fixed, although actually the unofficial title of the Popes of the Roman Catholic Church.

The official title of " Supreme Pontiff " as a component of the papal titulary is most likely represents a literal Latin translation of the Greek ἀρχιερεύς μέγιστος, which was in turn been the common Greek equivalent for Pontifex Maximus in ancient times.

Known Maximilian pontiffs of the Roman Republic

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