Editing College of Pontiffs (section)

==Membership==

Membership in the various colleges of priests, including the College of Pontiffs, was usually an honor offered to members of politically powerful or wealthy families.  Membership was for life, except for the [[Vestal Virgin]]s whose term was 30 years.  In the early Republic, only [[Patrician (ancient Rome)|patrician]]s could become priests.  However, the ''[[Lex Ogulnia]]'' in 300 BC granted the right to become ''pontifices'' and ''augures'' to [[plebeian]]s. Nevertheless, even in the late Republic it was still believed that the auspices ultimately resided with patrician magistrates, and certain ancient priesthoods: the ''Dialis'', ''Martialis'' and ''Quirinalis flamines'', and the college of the ''Salii'' were never opened to the plebeians.<ref>Hoffman Lewis, ''The Official Priests of Rome'', pp. 8f</ref>

The number of members in the College of Pontiffs grew over time. Originally consisting of three members, the number was increased to nine by the third century BC; [[Sulla]] increased the number to fifteen; Augustus increased the number even further, perhaps to as many as twenty-five.<ref>Hoffman Lewis, ''The Official Priests of Rome'', pp. 9f, 12</ref>

[[File:Coin Julius Caesar Pontifex Maximus.PNG|thumb|left|[[Denarius]] depicting [[Julius Caesar]] as ''pontifex maximus'']]
Until the 3rd century BC, the College elected the ''pontifex maximus'' from their own number. The right of the college to elect their own ''pontifex maximus'' was returned, but the circumstances surrounding this are unclear. This changed again after Sulla, when in response to his reforms, the election of the ''pontifex maximus'' was once again placed in the hands of an assembly of seventeen of the twenty-five [[Roman tribes|tribes]]. However, the College still controlled which candidates the assembly voted on. During the Empire, the office was publicly elected from the candidates of existing pontiffs, until the Emperors began to automatically assume the title, following [[Julius Caesar]]’s example.  The ''pontifex maximus'' was a powerful political position to hold and the candidates for office were often very active political members of the College.  Many, such as Julius Caesar, went on to hold [[consul]]ships during their time as ''pontifex maximus''.

However, after 44 BC the pontiffs, as with the other official priests of Rome, lost their political influence. Martha Hoffman Lewis could only find four instances where the pontiff's advice was asked: before Augustus' marriage to Livia; in 37 BC when they ordered the removal of the body of one of the proscribed from the Campus; they made expiatory sacrifices on the day the emperor Claudius married Agrippina; and their advice was sought concerning reforms of the discipline of the [[haruspices]].<ref>Hoffman Lewis, ''The Official Priests of Rome'', p. 17 n. 51</ref>