List of Pontifices maximi

This annotated list of Pontifices maximi, the high priest of the collegium of the Pontifices, the most important position in Roman religion, [Bowersock, p. 380. The date is provided by inscribed calendars; see also Augustus, Res Gestae 10.2. Dio 27.2 reports this under 13 BC, probably as the year in which Lepidus died (Bowersock, p. 383).] is based on readings from Livy and other classical historians, but also from lists available elsewhere. Suggested identifications are made where possible, but are tentative.

Incomplete list of "Pontifices maximi"

*753 BC to 712 BC - Duties and power of office held by the Kings of Rome (Rex Sacrorum)
*712 BC - Numa Marcius (Rex Sacrorum)
*...
*509 BC - Papirius (1st Pontifex Maximus)
*...
*449 BC - Furius
*431 BC - Cornelius Cossus
*420 BC - Minucius
*390 BC - Follius Flaccinator
*...
*332 BC - Cornelius Callissa

*304 BC - Cornelius Scipio Barbatus (d. circa 280 BC), possibly Lucius Cornelius Scipio Barbatus, consul in 298 BC and censor in 280 BC.

*280 BC-254 BC ...

*254 BC - Tiberius Coruncanius (d. 241 BC), consul in 280 BC.
**He was the first plebeian to hold this office, and was the first Roman jurist and legal teacher

*243 BC - Lucius Caecilius Metellus (d. 221 BC), probably the consul of 251 BC and 247 BC
** Interestingly, he was removed from office or resigned circa 237 BC before his death in 221 BC; later Pontifices usually held the position until death.

*237 BC - Lucius Cornelius Lentulus Caudinus, consul in 237 BC (d. ca 213 BC)

*212 BC - Publius Licinius Crassus Dives (d. 183 BC),
** In his unusual political career (per Livy), this handsome amiable and wealthy man was first elected Pontifex Maximus while not yet a curule aedile, and then as Pontifex Maximus, chosen Censor circa 211 BC and then becoming Master of the Horse, then praetor in 208 BC and consul in 205 BC, i.e., doing everything the wrong way around. He also refused to leave Italy for Sicily, citing religious law and the mos maiorum.

*183 BC - Gaius Servilius Geminus (d. 180 BC), possibly Gaius Servilius C.f. Geminus who was consul in 203 BC with his Servilius cousin (both patricians, and both from the same gens in a late breach of the lex Licinia Sextia!)

*180 BC - Marcus Aemilius Lepidus (d. 152 BC), consul in 187 BC and 175 BC, elected censor in 179 BC
**also Princeps Senatus in 179 BC, thus in control of the top priestly role and the first man in the Roman Senate for nearly 28 years until his death.

*152 BC-150 BC - Vacant; the position was not immediately filled after the death of Lepidus

*150 BC - Publius Cornelius Scipio Nasica Corculum (d. 141 BC), consul in 162 BC and 155 BC, censor 159 BC
**also Princeps Senatus for some years.

*141 BC - Publius Cornelius Scipio Nasica Serapio (d. 132 BC Pergamum, Asia Minor), consul in 138 BC
**(son of the above); another man to become Pontifex before he was consul,
** the first Pontifex to leave Italy (being sent off by the Senate to escape Gracchan plots against his life). He died in Asia Minor, presumably poisoned, being the first Pontifex to die outside Italy.

*132 BC - Publius Licinius Crassus Dives Mucianus (killed in battle 131 BC, Asia Minor), consul in 131 BC
**Like Scipio Nasica Serapio, he was Pontifex before being consul; like Serapio, he left Italy, being the first Pontifex to do so willingly, contrary to the mos maiorum.
**He was apparently the first Pontifex to die in battle (deliberately to avoid capture).

*130 BC - Publius Mucius Scaevola, consul in 133 BC
**(elder brother of the above), chosen to replace his brother; died 115 BC most probably, but died 113 BC per other sources.
**He is the last Pontifex Maximus to have published the Annales Maximi, the list of events of the year.

*115 BC - Lucius Caecilius Metellus Dalmaticus, consul 119 BC and censor 115 BC.

*103 BC - Gnaeus Domitius Ahenobarbus (d. 88 BC), later elected consul 96 BC and censor in 92 BC

*89 BC - Quintus Mucius Scaevola (murdered 82 BC in the Temple of Vesta, during the last stages of the Social War), consul 95 BC
**(son of a previous Pontiff);
** he was the first Pontiff to be openly murdered, that too in a temple sacred to Rome, and his body then being thrown into the Tiber

*81 BC - Quintus Caecilius Metellus Pius (d. ca 63 BC), consul in 80 BC,
**first cousin once removed of an earlier Pontiff
**chosen Pontifex Maximus before becoming consul, as Sulla's friend and ally.

*63 BC - Gaius Julius Caesar, consul 59 BC and later Dictator;
** he defeated two former Optimate consuls Quintus Lutatius Catulus (c. 120-61 B.C.) who had been consul in 78 BC and censor in 65 BC, and Publius Servilius Vatia Isauricus (d. 44 BC), who had been consul in 79 BC and Caesar's sometime commander. [# ^ Velleius Paterculus, Roman History 2.43; Plutarch, Caesar 7; Suetonius, Julius 13]
** later Dictator of Rome, who put together religious, political, and military power in his own hands. His very different career can be compared with that of Publius Licinius Crassus Dives (consul 205 BC) who also defeated two older and more prominent conservative men in an election, and who also assumed the position of Pontifex Maximus before becoming consul.

*44 BC - Marcus Aemilius Lepidus, triumvir (d. 13 BC), consul in 46 BC (as Caesar's nominee) during his Dictatorship, and in 42 BC as a triumvir.
** Lepidus rapidly lost political power to the other triumvirs, and was removed from the triumvirate in 36 BC which became a contest between Augustus and Mark Antony. He was however allowed to retain the position of Pontifex Maximus until his death.
**Lepidus was a direct descendant of the earlier Marcus Aemilius Lepidus, who had been Pontifex Maximus from 180 BC to his death in 152 BC.

*6 March 12 BC - Augustus, (adoptive son of Caesar, above).
**Like his adoptive father, Augustus consolidated political, military, and religious power in his own hands; unlike his adoptive father, he also assumed the title of Princeps Senatus] . The careers of both Caesars can be compared with that of Marcus Aemilius Lepidus in the Middle Republic.

*12 BC to 376 - Held by the Emperors. Gratian was the 1st emperor of the Western Roman Empire refuse to hold the office of Pontifex Maximus. [ [http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/06729c.htm Catholic Encyclopedia: Gratian ] ]

*376 to present - Held by the Popes.

Notes and references

References

# 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.

External links

* [http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/secondary/SMIGRA*/Pontifex.html article "Pontifex" in Smith's Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities]
* [http://www.hostkingdom.net/rome.html#Pontifex List from republican times]
* [http://www.unrv.com/culture/pontifex-maximus-list.php Annotated Pontifex Maximus list]
* [http://www.tyndale.cam.ac.uk/Egypt/ptolemies/chron/roman/roman_consuls.htm List of roman consuls (Fasti consulares) 300 BC - AD 60] at http://www.tyndale.cam.ac.uk/Egypt/ptolemies/chron/chronology.htm - in the list of consuls the column on the right (Pontifex Maximus) lists those that are known in this period.