Codex of FaithsAn illustrated atlas of belief

Clergy and religious life

Priests and priestesses of Greece and Rome

Greek and Roman religion had no church, no creed and no single sacred book, and its priests were not a separate class set apart from society. Worship centred on sacrifice, prayer and festivals performed for the good of the city, and priesthoods were usually public offices. In Greece a priest or priestess served a particular god at a particular sanctuary, often chosen by lot, election or inheritance, and needed no special training beyond knowing the local rites. In Rome the chief priests were organised in colleges whose members were drawn from the senatorial elite and combined religious office with political careers. A few priesthoods, such as the Vestals and the flamines, carried strict rules of life. The various cults lasted for well over a thousand years, until Christian emperors withdrew their funding and banned sacrifice at the end of the fourth century CE.

About Greek and Roman religion →

  1. The Roman priestly colleges
    1. Pontifex Maximus
    2. Augur
  2. Under the pontiffs
    1. Vestal Virgin
    2. Flamen
  3. Greek priesthoods
    1. Pythia

Orders and states of life

  • The Roman priestly colleges

    Rome’s most prestigious priests belonged to four great colleges: the pontifices, who oversaw sacred law and the calendar; the augurs, who interpreted the will of the gods through signs; the quindecimviri sacris faciundis, keepers of the Sibylline Books; and the epulones, who organised sacred banquets. Members served for life, and the posts were sought by leading senators.

  • Under the pontiffs

    Several priesthoods stood under the authority of the Pontifex Maximus. The fifteen flamines were each dedicated to a single god, the greatest being those of Jupiter, Mars and Quirinus. The six Vestal Virgins kept the sacred fire of Vesta. Both groups lived under ancient rules that marked them out from ordinary citizens.

  • Greek priesthoods

    Greek priests and priestesses were attached to one deity and one sanctuary. Goddesses were usually served by women and gods by men, though there were many exceptions. Some offices were annual, others for life; some were hereditary in old families, and in parts of the Hellenistic world priesthoods were even sold. Oracles such as Delphi formed a special case.

The Roman priestly colleges

Pontifex Maximus

pontifex maximus (Latin)

The Pontifex Maximus headed the college of pontiffs, which supervised sacred law, the calendar, burials, adoptions and the correct form of public rites. He chose the Vestal Virgins and the major flamines and had authority over them, and he lived in the Domus Publica beside the house of the Vestals in the Forum. The post was elective and held for life. Julius Caesar won it in 63 BCE, and Augustus took it in 12 BCE, after which every emperor held it until the late fourth century CE.

What the figure wears

  1. Toga praetexta toga praetexta (Latin)

    A white woollen toga with a broad purple border, worn by senior magistrates and by members of the major priestly colleges when performing their duties.

  2. Veiled head capite velato (Latin)

    A fold of the toga drawn up over the back of the head, the Roman manner of sacrificing and praying, unlike the bare-headed Greek rite.

  3. Patera patera (Latin)

    A shallow round dish, often of bronze or silver, used to pour libations of wine onto the altar or over the head of a sacrificial animal.

Outside services
Pontiffs were senators and politicians who also held magistracies and military commands. Away from rites they wore the ordinary toga or tunic of a Roman of their rank.
Insignia
The veiled toga praetexta and libation dish marked him at sacrifice; the ladle (simpulum) and sacrificial knife were pontifical emblems on coins.

Under the pontiffs

Vestal Virgin

virgo Vestalis (Latin); the eldest was Virgo Vestalis Maxima

The six Vestals tended the eternal fire in the round temple of Vesta in the Forum, on which the safety of Rome was thought to depend. They also guarded sacred objects, prepared the salted flour (mola salsa) used in sacrifice and took part in major festivals. Chosen as girls between six and ten by the Pontifex Maximus, they served for thirty years: ten learning, ten performing and ten teaching. A Vestal convicted of breaking her vow of chastity was buried alive in an underground chamber near the Colline Gate.

What the figure wears

  1. Stola stola (Latin)

    A long, sleeveless white overdress reaching to the feet, worn over a tunic; the dress of respectable Roman matrons, which the Vestals also wore.

  2. Infula infula, vittae (Latin)

    Bands of red and white wool wound around the head over the hair, a sign of sacred status also placed on sacrificial animals.

  3. Suffibulum suffibulum (Latin)

    A short white veil covering the head and pinned beneath the chin with a brooch, worn by the Vestals when sacrificing.

  4. Lamp or bowl of fire

    A small clay lamp or bowl holding a flame, standing for the sacred fire of Vesta that the Vestals were never to let go out.

Outside services
The Vestals lived together in the Atrium Vestae beside the temple. They were freed from their fathers' authority, could own property and make a will, and were escorted by a lictor.
Insignia
The infula, the white veil and their reserved seats at the games marked their sacred status in public.

Under the pontiffs

Flamen

flamen (Latin); Flamen Dialis, priest of Jupiter

Each flamen was the personal priest of one god, offering his sacrifices and maintaining his cult. The Flamen Dialis, priest of Jupiter, lived under the strictest rules: he could not ride a horse, see an army in battle array, swear an oath, wear a knot or an unbroken ring, or touch raw meat, a goat, ivy or beans. He had to be married by the oldest rite, and if his wife, the flaminica, died he left office. The post lay vacant from 87 to 11 BCE, when Augustus restored it.

What the figure wears

  1. Laena laena (Latin)

    A thick cloak of doubled wool, woven by the flaminica, worn over the tunic and fastened at the shoulder with a brooch.

  2. Apex apex, with the apiculum (Latin)

    A close-fitting cap topped by a short spike of olive wood wound with wool; the Flamen Dialis was not to be seen outdoors without it.

  3. Sacrificial knife secespita (Latin)

    A long iron knife with a round handle, often decorated with ivory or bronze, used by Roman priests in sacrifice.

Outside services
The Flamen Dialis was effectively a priest every day, bound by his rules even at home, which made the post unattractive to ambitious men. The other flamines lived freer lives.
Insignia
The apex with its olive-wood spike was the unmistakable mark of a flamen; the Dialis also had a lictor and a curule chair.

The Roman priestly colleges

Augur

augur (Latin)

The augurs interpreted the auspices, signs by which the gods showed approval or disapproval of a planned act. Magistrates themselves took the auspices before assemblies, battles and elections, watching the flight and cries of birds, the feeding of sacred chickens or lightning; the augurs were the experts on the rules and could declare a ceremony flawed. They also inaugurated temples and certain priests. The college grew from three to nine, then fifteen under Sulla and sixteen under Caesar. Cicero was an augur.

What the figure wears

  1. Toga praetexta toga praetexta (Latin)

    The white toga with a purple border worn by members of the great colleges; some ancient writers also describe a striped robe, the trabea, for augurs.

  2. Lituus lituus (Latin)

    A short staff curled at the top like a crook, with no knots, used to mark out the sacred area of sky (templum) to be observed.

Outside services
Augurs were senators and statesmen, and membership was a mark of high prestige. In daily life they dressed as other Romans of their class, in toga or tunic.
Insignia
The curved lituus was the emblem of the augurate and appears on coins of men who held it.

Greek priesthoods

Pythia

Pythia (Greek, Πυθία)

The Pythia was the priestess of Apollo at Delphi, the most famous oracle of the Greek world. Seated on a tripod in the inner shrine, she gave the god’s answers to questions from cities and individuals, which were then put into verse or prose by attendant officials. Consultations were held on set days, in later centuries monthly except in winter. She was a woman of Delphi, chosen to serve for life and to live in purity; Diodorus says that later Pythias were women over fifty dressed as maidens.

What the figure wears

  1. Chiton and himation chiton, himation (Greek, χιτών, ἱμάτιον)

    A long white linen or woollen tunic falling to the feet, with a mantle draped over it, the simple dress said to resemble a maiden’s.

  2. Laurel wreath daphne (Greek, δάφνη)

    A wreath of laurel leaves, the plant sacred to Apollo, worn on the head during consultations.

  3. Laurel sprig and phiale phiale (Greek, φιάλη)

    A sprig of laurel and a shallow libation bowl held in her hands, as on a fifth-century Athenian cup showing the goddess Themis seated on the Delphic tripod.

Outside services
Once appointed, the Pythia left family life and lived in a house within the sanctuary. She was not necessarily educated or aristocratic, and some were simple country women.
Insignia
The tripod, the laurel and the phiale identified her as Apollo's prophetess.

Questions people ask

Were Greek and Roman priests a separate class?

No. Most were citizens who held priestly office alongside ordinary lives and, in Rome, alongside political careers. In Greece many priesthoods were filled by lot or election for a year, while others were inherited within old families, such as the Eumolpidae and Kerykes who supplied the chief officials of the Eleusinian Mysteries. Priests needed to know the rites of their sanctuary, but there was no seminary, ordination or body of doctrine to master.

Is the pope's title Pontifex Maximus connected to the Roman office?

Only through the Latin word. The Roman Pontifex Maximus was the head of a pagan priestly college, and the emperors held the office until the late fourth century, when Gratian became the first to give it up. Christian writers had long called bishops *pontifices*, and from the Renaissance the popes came to use Pontifex Maximus as one of their titles, often abbreviated on buildings and coins. The papal use is a borrowing of prestige, not a continuation of the pagan priesthood.

What happened to a Vestal who broke her vows?

Unchastity by a Vestal was treated as a crime against the whole city, believed to endanger Rome's relationship with the gods. A Vestal found guilty was carried in a closed litter to an underground chamber near the Colline Gate, left with a little food and a lamp, and sealed in. Her lover was flogged to death. Such trials were rare and often followed military disasters. A Vestal who let the sacred fire go out was whipped by the Pontifex Maximus.

Did the Pythia speak in a trance caused by vapours?

Ancient writers such as Plutarch, who served as a priest at Delphi, mention a *pneuma*, a vapour or breath, rising in the shrine, and some modern geologists have argued that gases from faults beneath the temple could have affected her. Others doubt this. The surviving responses are usually clear and composed, and the role of the officials who received and recorded them was considerable. How the oracle worked remains debated.

How did these priesthoods end?

As Christianity became the religion of the emperors, state support for the old cults was withdrawn. Gratian removed the Altar of Victory from the Senate house and ended public funding for the priesthoods in 382 CE. Theodosius I then banned sacrifice and the use of temples in laws of 391 and 392, and the Vestals and the Delphic oracle ceased in that decade. Some modern groups have revived the worship of the Greek and Roman gods in new forms.

Sources and further reading

  1. Religions of Rome, Volume 1: A History – Mary Beard, John North and Simon Price (Cambridge University Press, 1998)
  2. Greek Religion – Walter Burkert, translated by John Raffan (Harvard University Press, 1985)
  3. Pagan Priests: Religion and Power in the Ancient World – Mary Beard and John North, eds. (Duckworth, 1990)
  4. Delphi: A History of the Center of the Ancient World – Michael Scott (Princeton University Press, 2014)
  5. The Last Pagans of Rome – Alan Cameron (Oxford University Press, 2011)