Editing Rex Sacrorum (section)

==Regina sacrorum==
As the wife of the ''rex sacrorum'', the ''regina sacrorum'' ("queen of the sacred things") was a high priestess who carried out ritual duties only she could perform. On the [[Kalends]] of every month, the ''regina'' presided at the sacrifice of a sow ''(porca)'' or female lamb ''(agna)'' to [[Juno (mythology)|Juno]].<ref>Emily A. Hemelrijk, "Women and Sacrifice in the Roman Empire," in ''Ritual Dynamics and Religious Change in the Roman Empire. Proceedings of the Eighth Workshop of the International Network Impact of Empire (Heidelberg, July 5–7, 2007)'' (Brill, 2009), pp. 258–259 [https://books.google.com/books?id=Crzsx0aKeeYC&dq=%22regina+sacrorum%22&pg=PA258 online], citing [[Macrobius]], ''Saturnalia'' 1.15.19.</ref> The highly public nature of these sacrifices, like the role of the [[Vestals]] in official Roman religion, contradicts the commonplace notion that women's religious activities in ancient Rome were restricted to the private or [[Separate spheres|domestic sphere]]. Unlike the Vestals, however, the ''regina sacrorum'' and the ''[[Flamen Dialis#Flaminica Dialis|flaminica Dialis]]'' (the wife of the ''flamen Dialis'' or high priest of [[Jupiter (mythology)|Jupiter]]) were complements to a male partner; these two priesthoods were gender-balanced and had shared duties.<ref>Celia E. Schultz, ''Women's Religious Activity in the Roman Republic'' (University of North Carolina Press, 2006), pp. 79–81.</ref>

While performing her rituals, the ''regina'' wore a headdress called the ''arculum'', formed from a garland of [[pomegranate]] twigs tied up with a white woolen thread.<ref>[[Maurus Servius Honoratus|Servius]], note to ''[[Aeneid]]'' 4.137; pomegranate = ''malus Punica'', "Phoenician apple."</ref> The ''rex'' and ''regina sacrorum'' were required to marry by the ritual of ''[[confarreatio]]'', originally reserved for [[Patrician (ancient Rome)|patricians]], but after the ''[[Lex Canuleia]]'' of 445 BC, it is possible that the ''regina'' could have been [[plebs|plebeian]].<ref>Michael Lipka, ''Roman Gods: A Conceptual Approach'' (Brill, 2009), pp. 182–183.</ref>

[[Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum|Inscriptions]] record the names of a few ''reginae sacrorum'', including Sergia Paullina, the wife of Cn. Pinarius Cornelius Severus, shortly before 112 AD, and Manlia Fadilla around the 2nd/3rd century AD.<ref>Jörg Rüpke, ''Fasti sacerdotum: A Prosopography of Pagan, Jewish, and Christian Religious Officials in the City of Rome, 300 BC to AD 499'' (Oxford University Press, 2008, originally published in German 2005), pp. 223, 783, 840.</ref>