Flamen
(from
flare, one who blows or kindles the sacrificial fire; or from the
root of
flagro, to burn). The special priest of a special deity among the
Romans (
De Leg. ii. 8). There were fifteen flamines—three higher ones
(
flamines maiores) of patrician rank: these were the
flamen
Dialis (of Iupiter),
Martialis (of Mars), and
Quirinalis (of Quirinus). The remaining twelve were
flamines
minores, plebeians, and attached to less important deities, as Vulcanus, Flora, Pomona,
and Carmenta. Their office was for life, and they could be deprived of it only in certain
cases. The emblem of their dignity was a white conical hat (
apex) made
out of the hide of a sacrificed animal, and having an olive branch and woollen thread at the
top. This the flamines were obliged to wear always out of doors—indeed, the
flamen Dialis had originally to wear it indoors as well. They were exempted
from all the duties of civic life, and excluded at the same time from all participation in
politics. In course of time they were allowed to hold urban offices, but even then they were
forbidden to go out of Italy.
The flamen Dialis was originally not allowed to spend a night away from home; in later
times,
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Coin of a Flamen Martialis. (Spanheim)
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under the Empire, the pontifex could allow him to sleep out for two nights in the
year. Indeed, the flamen Dialis, whose superior position among the flamens conferred upon him
certain privileges, as the
toga praetexta, the
sella
curulis, a seat in the Senate, and the services of a lictor, was in proportion obliged
to submit to more restrictions than the rest. He, his wife, their children, and his house on
the Palatine were dedicated to this god. He must be born of a marriage celebrated by
confarreatio, and live himself in indissoluble marriage. If his wife died, he
resigned his office. In the performance of his sacred functions he was assisted by his
children as
camilli. (See
Camillus.) Every day was for him a holy day, so that he never appeared without the
insignia of his office, the conical hat, the thick woollen
toga praetexta
woven by his wife, the sacrificial knife, and a rod to keep the people away from him. He was
preceded by his lictor, and by heralds who called on the people to stop their work, as the
flamen was not permitted to look upon any labour. He was not allowed to set eyes on an armed
host; to mount, or even to touch, a horse; to touch a corpse, or grave, or a goat, or a dog,
or raw meat, or anything unclean. He must not have near him or behold anything in the shape of
a chain; consequently there must be no knots, but only clasps, on his raiment; the ring on his
finger was broken, and any one who came into his house with chains must instantly be loosened.
If he were guilty of any carelessness in the sacrifices, or if his hat fell from his
head, he had to resign. His wife, the
flaminica, was priestess of Iuno.
She had, in like manner, to appear always in her insignia of office—a long woollen
robe, with her hair woven with a purple fillet (
tutulum) and arranged in
pyramidal form, her head covered with a veil and a kerchief, and carrying a sacrificial knife.
On certain days she was forbidden to comb her hair. The chief business of the flamines
consisted in daily sacrifices; on certain special occasions they acted with the pontifices and
the Vestal Virgins. The three superior flamines offered a sacrifice to Fides Publica at the
Capitol on the Kalends of October, driving there in a two-horse chariot. During the imperial
period flamines of the deified emperors were added to the others. See the illustration under
Apex.
