The Flamen Dialis was an important position in Roman religion. Ancient Rome was a Civilization that grew out of a small agricultural community founded on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 10th century BC He was the high priest of Jupiter, and, according to tradition, was forbidden to touch metal, ride a horse, or see a corpse. In Roman mythology, Jupiter was the king of the gods and the god of Sky and Thunder.

The Flamen Dialis enjoyed many peculiar honours. When a vacancy occurred, three persons of patrician descent, whose parents had been married according to the ceremonies of confarreatio (the strictest form of Roman marriage), were nominated by the Comitia, one of whom was selected (captus), and consecrated (inaugurabatur) by the Pontifex Maximus. The term " patrician " originally referred to a group of elite families in Ancient Rome, including both their natural and The confarreatio was the ancient Patrician form of Marriage among the Romans especially necessary at the nuptials of those whose children were The Legislative Assemblies of the Roman Republic were political institutions in the ancient Roman Republic. The Pontifex Maximus was the high priest of the Ancient Roman College of Pontiffs. ^[1] From that time forward he was emancipated from the control of his father, and became sui juris. ^[2] He alone of all priests wore the albogalerus (Apex) ^[3]; he had a right to a lictor,^[4] to the toga praetexta, the Sella Curulis, and to a seat in the Roman senate in virtue of his office. The lictor, derived from the Latin ligare (to bind was a member of a special class of Roman civil servant with special tasks of attending and guarding This article is about the aviation term for the Roman garment see Toga. According to Livy the curule chair originated in Etruria, and it has been used on surviving Etruscan monuments to identify magistrates but stools supported The Roman Senate was a political institution in Ancient Rome. This last privilege, after having been suffered to fall into disuse for a long period, was asserted by C. Valerius Flaccus (209 BC), the claim allowed however, says Livy, more in deference to his high personal character than from a conviction of the justice of the demand. Events By place Roman Republic The Romans under Fabius Maximus Cunctator capture Tarentum (modern Taranto Titus Livius (traditionally 59 BC &ndash AD 17 known as Livy in English, was a Roman historian who wrote a monumental history of Rome ^[5] The Rex Sacrificulus or Rex Sacrorum alone was entitled to recline above him at a banquet; if one in bonds took refuge in his house, the chains were immediately struck off and conveyed through the impluvium to the roof, and thence cast down into the street^[6]: if a criminal on his way to punishment met him, and fell suppliant at his feet, he was respited for that day^[7]; usages which remind us of the right of sanctuary attached to the persons and dwellings of the papal cardinals. The Rex Sacrorum ( Latin: "king of sacred things" was the office of the highest-ranking priest under the Roman Kingdom. A cardinal is a senior ecclesiastical official usually a bishop, of the Catholic Church.

Restrictions

To counterbalance these high honours, the Dialis was subjected to a multitude of restrictions and privations, a long catalogue of which has been compiled by Aulus Gellius^[8] from the works of Fabius Pictor and Masurius Sabinus, while Plutarch, in his Roman Questions, endeavours to explain their import. Aulus Gellius (ca 125 AD—after 180 AD Latin author and grammarian possibly of African origin probably born and certainly brought up at Rome. Quintus Fabius Pictor (c 254 BC -? was one of the earliest Roman Historians and considered the first of the Annalists. Masurius Sabinus was one of the most important Roman Jurists of the first century Lucius Mestrius Plutarchus ( Greek: Μέστριος Πλούταρχος c Among these were the following:

It was unlawful for him to be out of the city for a single night^[9]; a regulation which seems to have been modified by Augustus, in so far that an absence of two nights was permitted^[10]; and he was forbidden to sleep out of his own bed for three nights consecutively. Augustus ( Latin: IMPERATOR·CAESAR·DIVI·FILIVS·AVGVSTVS September 23 63 BC – August 19 AD 14) born Gaius Octavius Thurinus, was Thus, it was impossible for him to undertake the government of a province. He might not mount upon horseback, nor even touch a horse, nor look upon an army marshalled without the pomoerium (or pomerium), and hence be elected to the consulship. The pomerium (or pomoerium) from post + moerium>murum (wall was the sacred boundary of the city of Rome. Indeed, it would seem that originally he was altogether precluded from seeking or accepting any civil magistracy^[11]; but this last prohibition was certainly not enforced in later times. The object of the above rules was manifestly to make him literally Jovi adsiduum sacerdotem; to compel constant attention to the duties of the priesthood; to leave him in a great measure without any temptation to neglect them. The origin of the superstitions which we shall next enumerate is not so clear, but the curious will find abundance of speculation in Plutarch^[12], Festus,^[13] and Pliny the Elder. Gaius or Caius Plinius Secundus, ( AD 23 – August 25, AD 79 better known as Pliny the Elder, was an ancient Author ^[14] He was not allowed to swear an oath^[15], nor to wear a ring nisi pervio et cass, that is, as they explain it, unless plain and without stones^[16]; nor to strip himself naked in the open air, nor to go out without his proper head-dress, nor to have a knot in any part of his attire, nor to walk along a path over-canopied by vines. He might not touch flour, nor leaven, nor leavened bread, nor a dead body: he might not enter a bustum [Funus], but was not prevented from attending a funeral. A leavening agent (sometimes called just leavening or leaven) is a substance used in Doughs and batters that causes a foaming action intended Bread is a Staple food prepared by Baking a Dough of Flour and Water. He was forbidden either to touch or to name a dog, a she-goat, ivy, beans, or raw flesh. Hedera (English name ivy, plural ivies) is a genus of 15 species of climbing or ground-creeping Evergreen woody plants in the family None but a free man might cut his hair; the clippings of which, together with the parings of his nails, were buried beneath a felix arbor. No one might sleep in his bed, the legs of which were smeared with fine clay; and it was unlawful to place a box containing sacrificial cakes in contact with the bed-stead.

Flaminica was the name given to the wife of the dialis. He was required to wed a virgin according to the ceremonies of confarreatio, which regulation also applied to the two other flamines maiores^[17]; and he could not marry a second time. A flamen was a name given to a Priest assigned to a state-supported god or goddess in Roman religion. Hence, since her assistance was essential in the performance of certain ordinances, a divorce was not permitted, and if she died the dialis was obliged to resign. The restrictions imposed upon the flaminica were similar to those by which her husband was fettered. ^[18] Her dress consisted of a dyed robe (venenato operitur); her hair was plaited up with a purple band in a conical form (tutulus); and she wore a small square cloak with a border (rica), to which was attached a slip cut from a felix arbor^[19] It is difficult to determine what the rica really was; whether a short cloak, as appears most probable, or a napkin thrown over the head. She was prohibited from mounting a staircase consisting of more than three steps (the text of Aulus Gellius is uncertain, but the object must have been to prevent her ankles from being seen); and when she went to the argei she neither combed nor arranged her hair. Aulus Gellius (ca 125 AD—after 180 AD Latin author and grammarian possibly of African origin probably born and certainly brought up at Rome. On each of the nundinae a ram was sacrificed to Jupiter in the regia by the flaminica. The Roman calendar changed its form several times in the time between the foundation of Rome and the fall of the Roman Empire. ^[20]

After the death of the flamen Lucius Cornelius Merula, who was chosen consul suffectus on the expulsion of Lucius Cornelius Cinna,^[21] and who, upon the restoration of the Marian faction, shed his own blood in the sanctuary (B. Lucius Cornelius Merula (d 87 BC was a politician and priest of the late Roman Republic. Consul (abbrev cos; Latin plural consules) was the highest elected office of the Roman Republic and an appointive office under the Empire Lucius Cornelius Cinna (d 84 BC was a four-time Consul of the Roman Republic, serving consecutive terms from 87 to 84 BC and a member of the ancient Roman C. 87), calling down curses on his enemies with his dying breath,^[22] the priesthood remained vacant until the consecration of Servius Maluginensis (11 BC) by Augustus, then Pontifex Maximus. Julius Caesar had indeed been nominated in his 17th year, but was never installed; and during the whole of the above period the duties of the office were discharged by the Pontifex Maximus. ^[23]

This article is based on a portion of the article "Flamen" in Smith's Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, in the public domain.

References

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