In ancient Rome, there were very few professional priests. There was a great variety of types of priests, but with a few exceptions, this was not a full-time occupation. Nor did priests receive any specialized training. Priests mainly performed certain public rituals and sacrifices. The most prominent priests, who were almost exclusively male, were members of several important priesthoods called colleges. Each college had a fixed number of positions. When one member died, a new one was selected to take his place. The existing priests nominated several names to fill the vacancy. An election was then held and the winner joined the college. Once elected to a priesthood, one held the office until death.
The most important of these colleges was the pontifical college. It contained 16 men called pontifexes and 15 called flamens. The leader of this college was known as the Pontifex Maximus, or the "Great Priest." He was considered the head of religious affairs, and it is from this title that Christianity derived its title of pope. The pontifexes' main duties were to preside over various religious festivals.
Each of the flamens was associated with one particular god. Of these, 12 were known as minor flamens. The remaining 3, the major flamens, were associated with the three gods thought to have special links to the Roman people: Jupiter, Mars, and Quirinus. In keeping with the importance attached to these gods, each of their flamens had special rules and regulations governing his behavior.
The flamen of Jupiter was known as the Flamen Dialis, and since Jupiter was the king of the gods, he was the most important flamen. Jupiter was particularly linked to the city of Rome; therefore, his flamen could never spend the night outside the city, nor could he sleep away from his own bed for more than three nights. To connect the Flamen Dialis with the earth, the legs of his bed were coated in clay. To avoid contamination, he could not eat beans; touch fermented flour, raw meat, or a dog; or see a dead body, a horse, or the Roman army. He could never have any knots on his clothing. At all times, even in the privacy of his own home, he had to wear a special hat called the apex, which was like a circular disk with a rod protruding from the middle. The Flamen Dialis was the link between the city of Rome and the most potent aspect of Jupiter, Jupiter Optimus Maximus, or "Jupiter the Best and the Greatest."
The next most important college was the college of augurs, of which there were 16. These priests had a specialized job. They had to discern the will of the gods through the interpretation of various signs. Much of Roman religious ritual practice, including augury, was derived from the Etruscans. The three main categories of augury were the observation of
The flight and feeding habits of birds; the inspection of the internal organs of sacrificed animals; and the interpretation of portents, such as lightning, natural disasters, and bizarre occurrences in general.
There was a special site on the Capitoline hill called the auguraculum. The augur would sit here and designate one of the four quarters of the sky for observation. Any birds that flew through this zone were thought to carry a message from the gods. For ravens, crows, and owls, they studied the cries of the birds; for eagles and vultures, they noted the direction of their flight and their number. There were also augurs who studied specific avian behaviors. One of the most famous of these was the pullaniis, who observed how a group of sacred chickens ate. The more eagerly the chickens ate their food, the better, and the best omen of all was when the chickens ate so greedily that bits of food fell from their beaks. Conversely, the worst sign was if the birds refused to eat at all.
This type of augury was frequently used as a test of the gods' favor before a battle. The most famous incident concerning the sacred chickens involved an admiral named Appius Claudius Fulcher, who, just before a naval battle, consulted the esteemed birds. The chickens absolutely refused to eat anything. Fulcher became enraged, saying, "If they won't eat, then let them drink." He then threw the sacred chickens overboard, drowning them. Needless to say, he lost the battle.
Another type of augur was the haruspex, who specialized in examining the internal organs of sacrificed animals, especially the liver. The emperor always had a haruspex on his staff. The haruspex examined the color, size, and shape of the liver. If the liver was diseased or malformed, it was a terrible omen. Archaeologists have discovered a liver made out of bronze, which was probably used as a training device to instruct novice harus-pices. The bronze liver was divided up into 40 sections, each of which had a certain god associated with it. The worst omen of all involving a liver was if part of it was missing. Supposedly such a liver turned up at a sacrifice at which Nero was presiding shortly before he was assassinated. By law, all important public acts or events had to be preceded by some form of augury, and if the omens were unfavorable, the event had to be canceled.
The final form of augury was the interpretation of prodigies. Whereas the examination of birds and organs was a form of men asking questions of the gods, prodigies were unsolicited messages sent from the gods. The most common of these was lightning. As lightning was the symbol of Jupiter, it held special significance for the Romans. Any site struck by lightning became holy. If lightning was seen before a public assembly, it had to be called off. This rule was much abused and manipulated for political purposes during the Late Republic. In this period, a remarkable number of magistrates seemed to see lightning that no one else noticed. On the other hand, if, when a magistrate first took up his office, he saw lightning on the left, it was a good sign.
Figure 10.1 Etruscan bronze liver of Piacenza marked into quadrants. Roman priests would study the livers of sacrificed animals to determine the will of the gods. (Drawing by Alicia Aldrete, Phaeton Group, Scientific Graphic Ser'ices Division.)
Any exceptional or bizarre event was a sign from the gods and had to be interpreted by the augurs. All Roman authors report such portents as having occurred before most important events. Some of the types of portents listed include the following: cows talk; it rains stones; statues weep tears or blood; it rains blood; spears, statues, or swords burst into flame; swarms of bees settle on battle standards; a bull kicks over an altar; the sky bursts into flames; animals are born with multiple heads; an ox climbs up a building and commits suicide by throwing itself off; and mysterious voices speak.
Particularly dramatic omens were associated with the death and deification of emperors and famous men. Toward the end of Augustus's life, lightning struck one of his statues and melted off the first letter of the word Cnesar inscribed on the base. Since C is the Roman numeral 100 and aesar was the Etruscan word for "god," this was interpreted to mean that in 100 days he would die and become a god. When Julius Caesar died, a comet appeared in the sky, which was also interpreted as a sign of his divinity. This interpretation was strengthened by the fact that the Romans called comets "hairy stars" and the word caesar in Latin means "hairy." Dreams were also thought to be messages from the gods, particularly useful as predictions of the future.
In times of great disaster, when the state itself seemed threatened, the third of the colleges, the Decemviri, was called upon. They were the custodians ofagroupof ancient scrolls called the Sibylline Books. These were a series of manuscripts supposedly given to the Romans in the earliest days of their history by a prophetess known as the Sibyl. The Decemviri would randomly pluck a page from these books and read it, and whatever it instructed, they would do. Usually this involved the introduction of a new god or ceremony.
Another type of specialized religious ritual was the lustratio. This was a purification ceremony to cleanse of impurities a plot of land that was about to be used for some purpose and to protect it from future hazards. The way this was accomplished was by taking a pig, a sheep, and a bull and leading them in a procession all around the perimeter of a territory. The three animals were then sacrificed in a rite known as a siiovetaurilia (sus = pig, ovis = sheep, taurus = bull).
Another important priestly college was the fetials. This priesthood, with 20 members, performed religious rites involving international relations, including declarations of war and the signing of treaties. When the Romans went to war, they were very concerned that it be a just war, at least in their eyes. To make it a just war, one of the fetid priests had to perform the following actions: He traveled to the land of the people against which the Romans were considering declaring war. To the first person he met after crossing the border, he said, "Hear me, Jupiter and Quirinus and all the gods of the sky and all the gods of the earth and of the underworld. I call you to witness that these people are unjust and do not make reparations." He then wandered around for 33 days, saying the same thing to the first person he met whenever he entered a city or marketplace. If, at the end of this time, the demands of the Romans had not been met, then a vote was taken and the Romans declared war. The fetid then took a bloody spear and, in the presence of three adult men, recited another formula stating the war to be a just war, at the end of which he threw the spear into enemy territory. This was the formal procedure by which the Romans declared war. When the Romans signed a treaty with another nation, the fetids again played an important role. To formalize the treaty, they recited a very long prayer to call the gods' attention to what was happening. The prayer ended with the phrase, "If the Romans shall break this treaty, then on that day great Jupiter smite the Roman people as today I smite this pig." With these words, the priest bludgeoned a pig.
When the Romans addressed a prayer to one of the gods, they usually first addressed it to all the different names associated with that particular deity and then to the geographic locations with which he or she was thought to be linked. Finally, just to make sure they had not left anything out, they would add the phrase, "Or whatever name you care to be called."
Sacrifice was a major parf of religious worship. The Romans sacrificed many different animals to their various gods, including goats, cows, bulls, sheep, pigs, birds, dogs, and horses. Male animals were sacrificed to male gods and female animals to goddesses. White animals were sacrificed to gods of the sky, and black animals to gods of fhe underworld. The animal
Figure 10.2 Animal being led to sacrifice by temple attendant carrying the axe that will be used to kill the animal.
Had to be perfect. Any deformities or unusual coloration or characteristics rendered it unsuitable. If the animal had horns, ribbons were tied around them. If the sponsor of the sacrifice were rich, he or she would have the horns gilded with gold.
When the animal was led to the altar, it was a good sign if it went willingly. If it struggled a lot, the officiant was supposed to get another animal and start over. All temples had their altars located outside, which was where the sacrifices actually occurred. Before the sacrifice, worshipers would go inside the temple and, if making a vow, would write it on wax tablets and attach these to the cult statue. At the sacrifice, everyone involved had to be sure they had washed tlieir hands, and the priests had to cover their heads. Except for the prayers, everyone was expected to remain silent. Throughout the course of the sacrifice, one person played a flute.
Once the animal had been led to the altar, a prayer was recited following the usual prayer formula of invocation of the deity's name, the geographic locations associated with the deity, and the actual request being made. If it was a large animal, one of the priest's attendants struck it on the head with a hammer or axe, and then another cut its throat. They cut upward if it was for a god of the skies, downward if it was for a god of the underworld. The kill needed to be done cleanly and efficiently. If it was performed sloppily, it was a bad omen. The worst thing that could happen was if the wounded animal broke free and ran off. This once occurred at a sacrifice Julius Caesar was presiding over, and because he ignored it, he received much criticism.
The internal organs were then removed, in particular the heart, liver, and intestines. These organs were cut up and burned in a fire on the altar. This comprised the actual offering to the gods, and as they were burned, the priest directed the following phrase to the god being honored: "Be you increased by this offering." If an error was made at any stage of this process, the whole thing had to be repeated, along with an extra prayer and sacrifice to make up for the error. Sometimes the priest would make a preliminary sacrifice to atone ahead of time for any error he might make.
These sacrifices could be on a gigantic scale. When Caligula became emperor, to celebrate his accession, 160,000 cows were sacrificed at Rome over a three-month period—nearly 2,000 per day. This must have created quite a gory scene, since each cow would have contained over two gallons of blood.
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