In 63 B.C.E., at the age of 36, Julius Caesar shocked everybody by announcing that he was
running for the office of Pontifex Maximus.
He was still a minor political figure, he had not yet served his term as Praetor.
He took on massive debts in order to finance this campaign, and when his political elders
tried to convince him to get out of the race, he redoubled his efforts and threw himself
even further into debt.
On election day, according to Plutarch, Caesar told his mother something along the lines
of "today you will either see me as Pontifex Maximus or go into exile."
He won in a close three-way race.
This electoral victory would have repercussions for centuries.
So what was the Pontifex Maximus?
Let's put it in the simplest possible terms: he was the highest elected religious official
in the Roman Republic, and once elected, he served for life.
You'll notice I threw a caveat in there.
"Elected."
Maybe it won't surprise you to learn that it gets more complicated when you look into
it.
There was one person that outranked the Pontifex Maximus.
He was called the Rex Sacrorum, which is deceptively hard to say.
It means something like the King of the Sacred.
Once appointed, he also served for life...kinda.
The Rex Sacrorum was actually itself a split position, consisting of a husband and wife
team.
The wife was called the Regina Sacrorum, and she had duties separate from her husband.
One could not exist without the other, so if one of the two died or the couple got divorced,
the position was vacant and a new couple was appointed.
The official job of the Rex and Regina Sacrorum was to keep the gods happy.
Full stop.
That's it.
What that meant in practice was that they were each responsible for performing many
complicated religious ceremonies, including animal sacrifices.
They also had to live a pure life, which meant a lot of things but most importantly it meant
that politics and the military were completely off limits.
The Rex Sacrorum was undeniably a powerless figurehead.
But let's put that to the side.
Let's look at the Pontifex Maximus's actual responsibilities.
I'd say his most meaningful job was regulating public morality.
He was a watchdog over the Roman people, and more importantly, over its politicians.
He had the power to unilaterally hand down fines whenever he decided somebody violated
a religious custom or some cultural taboo.
Along the same lines, he was also authorized to go before the Senate and speak on legislation,
representing a group called the College of Pontiffs.
What was the College of Pontiffs?
This was a group of Pontiffs, or priests, that met with the Pontifex Maximus behind
closed doors to vote on new laws that would govern religious life or public morality.
It's important to note that once these laws were agreed upon and publicly announced by
the Pontifex Maximus, they had the force of law, and the Senate had no say in the matter.
In the beginning there were 5 in the College, later 9, and by the late Republic 15.
These Pontiffs had some other duties, like serving as judges in religious court cases,
although it's unclear how common this was.
Their most important job was becoming experts on Roman religious law, and guiding the Pontifex
Maximus.
Keep in mind these Pontiffs were expected to have normal political careers, and their
role on the College of Pontiffs was kind of a side-gig.
Just like the Pontifex Maximus, Pontiffs served for life.
When a Pontiff died, the College voted internally to select his replacement.
New Pontiffs were usually picked from prominent families at a young age, and trained on the
job by his colleagues.
Briefly, in the Late Republic, new Pontiffs were elected by the people, but that reform
didn't last long.
The Pontifex Maximus also oversaw a group called the Flamen.
These men were also priests, but appointed directly by the Pontifex Maximus, for life.
There were 15 of them, each the head of a cult devoted to a different deity.
The Flamen to Jupiter, Mars, and Romulus were the three most prestigious ones, and were
usually given to members of prominent families.
Unlike the Pontiffs, Flamen were subject to a litany of religious restrictions.
For example, it was forbidden for them to see a dead body, or to travel outside of Rome.
This meant that while they were technically allowed to have political careers, all of
the good stuff was off limits.
Also, they weren't allowed to see a table without food on it, which might be the world's
worst superpower.
I can't decide if it would be more annoying to know a Flamen, or to be a Flamen.
The Pontifex Maximus was also responsible for appointing Vestal Virgins, which was an
order of women that maintained an eternal flame in the center of the city.
These were easily the most powerful women in Rome, and could own property, vote, and
even free slaves at will.
Each one was appointed for 30 years, but most chose stayed on after their time was up.
The Pontifex Maximus worked right next door to the Temple of Vesta in a building called
the Regia, which once been the site of the royal palace during the monarchy.
This was where the College of Pontiffs met.
It's also where Rome housed its official calendar, which was so broken that the Pontifex Maximus
needed to manually add days to the end of every year in order for it to make sense.
This was also where many of Rome's most sacred artifacts were kept.
Perhaps most famous were the Spears of Mars, which were said to vibrate whenever Rome was
about to befall some disaster.
We're told that Caesar saw them vibrating the night before his own assassination.
Speaking of which, after Caesar's assassination, one of his deputies, Lepidus, was elected
the new Pontifex Maximus.
This same Lepidus that became the junior member of the Second Triumvirate, with Octavian and
Marc Antony.
After Octavian became the Emperor Augustus and consolidated power, he forced Lepidus
to move to the countryside, where he retained his title but no influence.
Years later, when Lepidus died of old age, the office passed to Augustus without much
fuss, and the headquarters of the Pontifex Maximus quietly moved from the Regia to the
new Imperial Palace.
And for the next four hundred years, that's where it stayed.