PONTEFICE MASSIMO. — In the religious constitution of ancient Rome, the college of pontiffs was charged with supervising the entire body of the national religious patrimony, public and private (marriage, adoption, funeral law, etc.; cf. Cicero, De leg., II, 119); with adapting the received religious doctrine to circumstances through new regulations (decreta pontificum; cf. Gellius, II, 28); with enlightening the city’s magistrates through its advice (Livy, I, 20; Dionysius, II, 73); with possibly punishing transgressors of the religious regulations (Festus, Maximus pontifex), etc.
However, despite this broad range of religious powers, at least in the historical period the pontiffs never possessed the powers of magistrates (they could therefore not issue edicts and had no religious jurisdiction except over the priesthoods subordinate to them), their influence in reality remaining linked to that intimate connection existing between civil and religious institutions. The pontiff (accepting the etymology from pontem and facere; cf. Varro, De lingua lat., V, 83) would take us back to Latin prehistory, and specifically to those constructions of wooden villages which he would have been responsible for, as he is known actually to have been at Rome, in the historical period, for the Sublician Bridge, built of interlocking wood without nails. Tradition attributed the establishment of the pontifical college to King Numa, with an initial number of 5 (or 4; cf. Livy, X, 6) members, which by the age of Caesar had risen to 16. They were elected by the college (cooptatio) and then inaugurated (Dionysius, II, 2273); whereas under the Empire the right of appointment virtually belonged to the emperor, who was also p. m. The following belonged to the
pontifical college: the 15 flamines (priests of particular divinities, divided into 12 minores and 3 maiores), the rex sacrorum (or sacrificulus, the special priest of Janus, whose dignity was theoretically above that of all the other priests, including the p. m.), and the Vestals, all of whom depended upon the supreme authority of the p. m., who appointed them by choosing them from a list presented by the pontifical college (Tacitus, Annales, IV, 16; Livy, XL, 42; Dionysius, V, 1; Gellius, I, 12). The p. m. was appointed for life and was irremovable, like the king (Suetonius, Octav. 31; Dionysius, XLIX, 15); his powers were undoubtedly a remnant of the royal ones: his official residence was the king’s house (regio) on the Via Sacra.
The college of pontiffs took part in the worship of divinities closely connected with the life of Rome, namely Vesta, the Penates, and the Capitoline Triad; it also participated in Fordicidia (v.), Argei (v.), the aquaelicium, etc. The supervision of the calendar and the intercalation of an additional month (mercedonius) every two years, in order to bring the lunar year (of 355 days) into agreement with the astronomical year, were likewise entrusted to the same college; it exercised this supervision until Caesar’s reform (v. CALENDARIO)
Moreover, this college was responsible for the written collection of the religious and juridical regulations governing the life of Rome, as well as for recording the names of the magistrates and the principal events in the history of the city (Libri Sacerdotum populi Romani; Commentarii pontificum; Fasti; Annales pontificum or maximi). As for the p. m., his particular duties and powers, in addition to those already mentioned, included convening the «comitia calata» to validate the inaugurationes, adrogationes, and wills: acts concerning the transmission of the sacra privata, domestic or gentile; establishing the feast days each month; celebrating religious marriage (confarreatio), etc. Beginning with Augustus, the emperors held the office of p. m. and
retained it until the time of Gratian (who was the first to refuse it in A.D. 382). But, since this office was linked to the Principate, the emperor needed a permanent representative, especially to carry out ordinary business; consequently, an annual promagister was created within the college of pontiffs (first mentioned in A.D. 155).