Pontĭfex
（
γεφυροποιός). A member of the highest priestly
collegium in Rome, to which belonged the superintendence over all sacred
observances, whether performed by the State or by private persons. The meaning of the name is
uncertain; for the interpretation which follows most obviously from the form of the word, that
of “bridge-builder,” referring in particular to the sacred bridge on piles
(
pons sublicius) over the Tiber (Varro,
L. L. v. 83), is
open to objection. (See Nettleship,
Lectures and Essays, p. 27.) It is
probable, however, that the pontifex got his name from the duty assigned him of performing
rites for the propitiation of river deities on the building of bridges; for a widespread
superstition regarded the spanning of a river by a bridge as in itself insulting to the
divinity of the stream. See
Pons.
The foundation of the college is ascribed to Numa. At first it probably consisted of six
patrician members, with the addition of the king, whose place, after the abolition of the
monarchy, was transferred to the Pontifex Maximus; from B.C. 300 it was composed of nine
members (four patrician and five plebeian), from the time of Sulla of fifteen (seven patrician
and eight plebeian); Caesar added another member; and the emperors also raised the number at
their pleasure. The office was for life, as was also that of the president. While, in the time
of the monarchy, the pontiffs were probably named by the king, under the Republic the college
for a long time filled up its own numbers by coöptation, and also appointed the
high-pontiff from among its members. From somewhere about B.C. 250 the election of the latter
took place in the Comitia Tributa under the presidency of a pontiff, and, from B.C. 103, the
other members were also elected in the Comitia out of a fixed number of candidates presented
by the college. Under the Empire a preliminary election was held by the Senate, and merely
confirmed by the Comitia.
Besides the pontiffs proper, there were also included in the college the
rex
sacrorum, the three higher
flamines and the three
pontifices minores, who assisted the pontiffs in transactions relating to sacrifices
and in their official business, besides sharing in the deliberations and the banquets of the
whole college: these ranked according to length of service. In earlier times an advanced age
with freedom from secular offices was necessary for eligibility to the pontificate; the
high-pontiff, among other restrictions, was not allowed to leave Italy, was obliged to have a
wife without reproach, and might not enter upon a second marriage or see a dead body, much
less touch one. As regards his position, he was, as spiritual successor of the king, the sole
holder and exerciser of the pontifical power; and his official dwelling was in the king's
house, the
regia of Numa adjoining the Forum, the seat of the oldest
State worship. The college existed by his side only as a deliberative and executive body of
personal assistants. He appointed to the most important priestly offices of the
State—those of
flamen, of Vestal Virgin, and of
rex sacrorum; he made public the authoritative decisions of the college. In matters
which came within the limits of his official action, he had the right of taking auspices, of
holding assemblies of the people, and of publishing edicts. He also exercised a certain
jurisdiction over the persons subject to his highpriestly power, especially the flamens and
Vestals, over whom his authority was that of an actual father. Owing to the great importance
of the office, the emperors from the time of Augustus undertook it themselves until the year
382. As regards the functions of the college, besides performing a number of special
sacrifices in the service of the household gods, they exercised (as already mentioned) a
superintendence over the whole domain of the religious services recognized by the State,
public and private. In all doubts which arose concerning the religious obligations of the
State towards the gods, or concerning the form of any religious offices which were to be
undertaken, their opinion was asked by the Senate and by the other secular
bodies, which were obliged unhesitatingly to follow it. In the various religious transactions,
expiatory offerings, vows, dedications, consecrations, solemn appropriations, undertaken on
behalf of the State, their assistance was invited by the official bodies, in order that they
might provide for the correct performance, especially by dictating the prayers. The knowledge
of the various rites was handed down by the
libri pontificii, which were
preserved in the official dwelling of the highpontiff and kept secret. These included the
forms of prayer, the rules of ritual for the performance of ceremonial observances, the
acta pontificum— i. e. the records relating to the official actions
of the college—and the
commentarii pontificum—i. e.
the collection of opinions delivered, to which they were as a rule obliged to have recourse
when giving new ones.
An important and, indeed, universal influence was exercised by the pontiffs, not only on
religious, but also on civic life, by means of the regulation of the calendar, which was
assigned to them as possessing technical knowledge of the subject, and by means of their
superintendence over the observance of the holidays. Owing to the character of the Roman
reckoning of the year, it was necessary from time to time to intercalate certain days, with a
view to bringing the calendar into agreement with the actual seasons to which the festivals
were originally attached; and special technical knowledge was needed, in order to be sure on
what day the festivals fell. This technical knowledge was kept secret by the pontiffs as being
a means of power. It was for the month actually current that they gave information to the
people as to the distribution of the days, the festivals falling within the month, and the
lawful and unlawful days (
fasti and
nefasti; see
Dies) for civil and legal transactions. In B.C. 304
the calendar of the months was made public by Gnaeus Flavius; but the pontiffs still retained
the right of regulating the year by intercalations, and thereby the power of furthering or
hindering the aims of parties and individuals by arbitrary insertion of intercalary months.
This they kept until the final regulation of the year introduced by Caesar as high-pontiff in
B.C. 46. Closely connected with the superintendence of the calendar was the keeping of the
lists of the yearly magistrates, especially of the consuls, since it was by their names that
the years were dated, as well as the keeping of the yearly chronicle.
As experts in the law of ritual, the pontiffs had the superintendence over many transactions
of private life, so far as ceremonial questions were connected with them, such as the
conclusion of marriages, adoption by means of arrogation, and burial. Even upon the civil law
they had originally great influence, inasmuch as they alone were in traditional possession of
the solemn legal formulae, known as the
legis actiones, which were
necessary for every legal transaction, including the settlement of legal business and the
forms for bringing lawsuits. They even gave legal opinions, which obtained recognition in the
courts as customary law by the side of the written law, and grew into a second authoritative
source of Roman law. Until the establishment of the praetorship (B.C. 366), a member of the
college was appointed every year to impart information to private persons concerning the
legal forms connected with the formulating of plaints and other legal business. The
legis actiones were made public for the first time by the above-mentioned
Flavius at the same time as the calendar. See Bouché-Leclercq,
Les
Pontifes de l'Ancienne Rome (Paris, 1871); Mommsen,
Röm.
Staatsrecht, ii. 18-70; and the article
Iurisprudentia.
