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| Facts about Position/Title |
| Date Founded |
720 BCE |
Place Founded |
Rome |
| Founder(s) |
King Numa Pompilius (717-673 BCE) |
| Etymology |
Latin meaning "Greatest Pontiff". From pontifex meaning "bridge-builder" (pons + facere); "maximus" meaning "greatest". |
| Original Function |
High priest of the Ancient Roman College of Pontiffs. The most important position in the Ancient Roman religion. |
| Superior Position(s) |
None |
| Inferior
Position(s) |
College of Pontiffs |
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The position of Pontifex Maximus ("Greatest Pontiff") was first established by the second King of Rome Numa Pompilius (717-673 BCE) around 720 BCE as part of his foundation of the Collegium Pontificum (College of Pontiffs). |
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While no credible historical accounts remain for this period, it is probable the collegium provided both a dual spiritual and political advisory rule to the King, much like a government and prime minister to a modern monarch. Similar to the modern British monarchy, the Roman King remained both the supreme temporal and spiritual (high priest) of the state based polytheistic religion. |
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When the Roman monarchy was abolished in 509 BCE by the founder of the republic of Rome Lucius Junius Brutus, the previous official religious duties of the King were preserved into a new office of Rex Sacrorum which means 'king of rites' or 'king of the sacred rites'. These rights were then granted to the Pontifex Maximus, with an oaths promising to limit his political influence. |
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During the Republic and Imperial period, the Pontifex Maximus was usually elected from one of the existing College of Pontiffs. The official residence of the Pontifex Maximus was the Domus Publica which stood between the House of the Vestal Virgins and the Via Sacra, close to the Regia, in the Roman Forum. |
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Because of the power of the office, the position was highly prized amongst the noble Roman families. Julius Caesar, for example, became pontifex in 73 BC and Pontifex Maximus in 63 BCE. To reduce the chance of one gens (family) controlling the office, no more than one family member of a gens was permitted to be a member of the College of Pontiffs, nor did one person hold more than one priesthood in the collegium. These traditions were largely ignored during the political upheaval in the 3rd Century CE. |
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The arrival of Magna Mater - Cybele Mother Goddess |
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In 204 BCE, the Simulacrum of Cybele, the largest black iron meteorite in the world along with a large number of priests and attendants from the original temple complex made their arrival into Rome to a massive welcoming festival in 204 BCE undertaken by the Roman Senate. |
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So important was the new Goddess to Rome, the Senate commissioned two Censors M. L. Salinator and C. Cl. Nero to plan, design and construction an edifice worthy of housing the Black Stone- the Goddess Cybele (known as Magna Mater to Romans). A grand temple over 200 ft long was planned. |
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They selected Vatican Hill, on account of its important proximity and geographic relationship to the Capitol Capitolium Temple Complex on Capitoline Hill and that it did not hold any primary temples to the old gods of Rome. However, the site presented significant religious and engineering problems. Firstly, the Vatican Hill was the most important and sacred Necropolis of Rome. Secondly, the soft clay soil did not provide sufficient stability to support a typically grand Roman engineered Temple of bricks, stone and marble. |
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Instead, the Romans designed a brilliant series of levels of open chambers or "catacomb" structures as platforms into the soft soil allowing the weight to be redistributed evenly and flattening out the hill to provide greater space. It also meant most of the original 200+ year old Necropolis of Vatican Hill would be undisturbed. |
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The massive foundation catacombs and the Temple complex is recorded to have taken 13 years to build between 204 and 191 BC. On April 11, 191 BC, Praetor Marcus Iunius Brutus inaugurated and dedicated the temple to Cybele on Vatican Hill. |
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On this date, the Magna Mater was enthroned as the Sacred Protectress of the City by carrying a much smaller conical meteorite in a procession overseen by the Pontifex Maximus to a second Temple to Cybele midst the sanctuaries of the other gods upon Palatine Hill. In honour of this occasion the Ludi Megalenses were instituted and celebrated for the first time. |
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From this date on, the office of Pontifex Maximus was intimately entwined with the religion of the Mother Goddess Cybele as its High Priest and to the massive Phrygianum Temple complex upon the top of Vatican Hill. |
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Original Duties of Office |
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Under the republic, the official duties of the Office of Pontifex Maximus swelled in importance. His general primary duty remained 'pax deorum' or "peace of the gods". |
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However, his duties of state included the administration of Roman jus divinum or "divine law". As religious traditions were codified, they were officially noted as "dogma" and entered into a bound corpus. |
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The Pontifex Maximus was also traditionally in charge of the official standards of Roman calendar and measures. |
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In terms of religious duties, the Megalesia (April) represented one of two important annual ceremonies, including Saturnia (December) associated with his roles as Pontiff of the "Mother Church" of Cybele on Vatican. |
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As an extension of the powers of the Roman Emperor |
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During the period of Imperial Rome, the role of Pontifex Maximus was assumed into many titles and powers of the Emperor. |
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During the reign of Domitian (81-96), the official state religion of Magna Mater (Cybele) was banned on account of Domitian's conversion to gnosticism under the old Jseophus bar Matthias (St. Luke). While the Emperor did not cede the title of Pontifex Maximus, the Phrygianum of Cybele on Vatican Hill was sealed shut until the end of the 2nd Century. |
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In 193, Gaius Fulvius Victor (193-199) otherwise known as "Pope Victor I" became the first non-Emperor to claim the title of Pontifex Maximus under the patronage of Emperor Septimus Severus (193-211). Severas not only lifted the ban on Cybele, but assisted in major resources to help re-build and refurbish the Phrygianum on Vatican Hill. In response, "Pope Victor" reputedly sacrificed babies and innocents almost on a daily basis to the goddess. |
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Victor was then followed by his son Pontifex Maximus Zephnrinus (199-205) as the second of the Fulvius pagan high priests and then finally his grandson, the infamous Pontifex Maximus Callixtus (217-222). |
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The first association of Pontifex Maximus and Christian Bishop of Rome |
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On the overthrow of the Severans and the execution of the last of the dynastic line of Fulvius pontiffs, the position returned to the titles of Emperors, until during the reign of the Theodosian Byzantine Emperors, the title was granted to their relative Christian Bishop Siricius ("Pope Siricius") around 385 as a way of strengthening the family claim of spiritual over control of the crumbling Western half of the Holy Roman Empire. |
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The title remained a key title of the Christian Theodosian Bishops of Rome until the death of Leo at the hands of Geiseric, Gnostic King of the Vandals in 455 during the sacking of Rome. |
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Return of title and association to Cybele |
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From 455 to 750, Rome essentially lost all influence as a christian centre as Ravenna became the new capital of Christianity in Italy from the mid 6th Century. During this period, the descendents of the priestly families of the collegium, centered around Tusculum attempted to kick-start the religion of Cybele and the office of Pontifex Maximus as High Priest of the human sacrificing within the catacombs of the Vatican. |
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None of these Pontiffs were Christian, Arian or any version of positive. During the great plagues, these Popes had become more monsters than spiritual teachers -undertaking bizarre and horrendous murders to Cybele. |
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Most of the reigns of these various "Pontiffs" were short lived including Felix III (484-493), Felix IV (526-530) and Gregory I (590-607) with Gregory being the last of the purely pagan Pontifex Maximus in history. |
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Pepin the Fat and the false Empire |
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When in 755/6 Pepin the Fat seized the opportunity during the crumbling Holy Roman Empire to create the entirely ficticious role of the Roman "Catholic" Pontiff, the title was shortened to Pontiff and "Pope" of Rome. |
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However, when in 827 the direct descendents of the Counts of Tusculum, the ancient high priests of Cybele finally took the Papacy into their own, the complete title of Pontifex Maximus began to be officially used in association with the Catholic Popes. |
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It remains the primary historical title claimed by the lineage of Catholic Popes since the invention of the Catholic Church in 755. |
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The 1st antiPope Pontifex Maximus |
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Following the loss of Italy to the Carolingians, the Counts of Tusculum submitted a claim to the ancient Roman families of the region for the right as Pontifex Maximus and head pagan high priest of the cult of Magna Mater (Cybele). |
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The 1st Pontifex Maximus of the family was certainly AntiPope Formosus, the man credited with crowning Guy of Spoleto the false "Emperor" using the spurious claims of the Carolingians against them. |
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Formoses was then followed by a long unbroken line of purely pagan High Priests known in history as the "pornocracy", including: |
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The last purely Pontifex Maximus- Gregory VII |
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Pontifex Maximus is not only the founder of the Roman Cult, but the last purely pagan Pontifex Maximus in history. |
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When King Henry IV finaly invaded Italy in 1083, followed by Rome in 1084, Pontifex Gregory VII was captured and executed. In addition, Henry ordered the complete destruction of the town of Tusculum and execution of all suspected pagan priests. |
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