Editing Rex Sacrorum

{{Short description|Ancient Roman religious office}}
{{italic title}}
{{Priesthoods of ancient Rome}}
In [[Religion in ancient Rome|ancient Roman religion]], the '''''rex sacrorum''''' ("king of the sacred things", also sometimes '''''rex sacrificulus'''''<ref>{{Cite web |title=LacusCurtius • Roman Religion — Rex Sacrificulus (Smith's Dictionary, 1875) |url=https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/secondary/SMIGRA*/Rex_Sacrificulus.html |access-date=2022-06-21 |website=penelope.uchicago.edu}}</ref>) was a [[Roman senate|senatorial]] [[Glossary of ancient Roman religion#sacerdos|priesthood]]<ref>[[Jörg Rüpke]], ''Religion of the Romans'' (Polity Press, 2007, originally published in German 2001), p. 223 [https://books.google.com/books?id=fcsynr0fQIoC&dq=%22rex+sacrorum%22&pg=PA194 online.]</ref> reserved for [[Patrician (ancient Rome)|patricians]]. Although in the historical era, the ''[[pontifex maximus]]'' was the head of [[Imperial cult (ancient Rome)|Roman state religion]], [[Sextus Pompeius Festus|Festus]] says<ref>[[Sextus Pompeius Festus|Festus]] on the ''ordo sacerdotum'', 198 in the edition of Lindsay.</ref> that in the [[Glossary of ancient Roman religion#ordo sacerdotum|ranking of the highest Roman priests]] (''ordo sacerdotum''), the ''rex sacrorum'' was of highest prestige, followed by the ''[[Flamen#Flamines maiores|flamines maiores]]'' (''[[Flamen Dialis]]'', ''[[Flamen Martialis]]'', ''[[Flamen Quirinalis]]'') and the ''pontifex maximus''. The ''rex sacrorum'' was based in the [[Regia]].<ref>Gary Forsythe, ''A Critical History of Early Rome: From Prehistory to the First Punic War'' (University of California Press, 2005), p. 136 [https://books.google.com/books?id=aEfvR1Qcd0gC&dq=%22rex+sacrorum%22&pg=PA136 online.]</ref>
==Description==
During the [[Roman Republic]], the ''rex sacrorum'' was chosen by the ''pontifex maximus'' from a list of patricians submitted by the [[College of Pontiffs]].<ref>[[Arnaldo Momigliano]], "The Origins of the Roman Republic", in ''Quinto contributo alla storia degli studi classici e del mondo antico'' (Edizioni di storia e letteratura, 1975), vol. 1, p. 311, citing [[Livy]] 40.42 and [[Dionysius Halicarnassus]] 5.1.4.</ref> A further requirement was that he be born from parents married through the ritual of ''[[confarreatio]]'', which was also the form of marriage he himself had to enter.<ref>Kurt A. Raaflaub, ''Social Struggles in Archaic Rome: New Perspectives on the Conflict of the Orders'' (Blackwell 2005, originally published 1986), p. 223 [https://books.google.com/books?id=pPQEZj9iQNcC&dq=%22rex+sacrorum%22&pg=PA223 online.]</ref> His wife, the ''regina sacrorum'', also performed religious duties specific to her role.<ref>Rüpke, ''Religion of the Romans'', p. 223.</ref> Marriage was thus such a fundamental part of the priesthood that if the ''regina'' died, the ''rex'' had to resign.<ref>Although scholars agree that this applied to the ''rex sacrorum'', the requirement that the priest resign if his wife should die is better documented for the [[Flamen Dialis]].</ref> The ''rex sacrorum'' was above the ''pontifex maximus'', although he was more or less a powerless figurehead.

The ''rex sacrorum'' wore a [[toga]], the undecorated soft "shoeboot" ''([[calceus]])'', and carried a ceremonial axe; as a priest of archaic Roman religion, he sacrificed ''[[capite velato]]'', with head covered.<ref>[[Norma Goldman]], "Roman Footwear" and "Reconstructing Roman Clothing", in ''The World of Roman Costume'' (University of Wisconsin Press, 1994), pp. 125 and 216 [https://books.google.com/books?id=GxGPLju4KEkC&dq=%22rex+sacrorum%22&pg=PA216 online.]</ref> The ''rex'' held a sacrifice on the [[Kalends]] of each month. On the [[Nones (calendar)|Nones]], he announced the dates of [[Roman festivals|festivals]] for the month. On March 24 and May 24, he held a sacrifice in the [[Comitium]].<ref>[[Mary Beard (classicist)|Mary Beard]], J.A. North, and S.R.F. Price, ''Religions of Rome: A History'' (Cambridge University Press, 1998), p. 56.</ref> In addition to these duties the ''rex sacrorum'' seems to have functioned as the high priest of [[Janus]].<ref>{{Cite book|last=Le Glay, Marcel.|url=http://worldcat.org/oclc/760889060|title=A history of Rome|date=2009|publisher=Wiley-Blackwell|isbn=978-1-4051-8327-7|oclc=760889060}}</ref>

The ''rex sacrorum'' was a feature of [[Ancient peoples of Italy|Italic]] religion and possibly also [[Etruscan religion|Etruscan]]. The title is found in [[Latium|Latin cities]] such as [[Lanuvium]], [[Tusculum]], and [[Velitrae]]. At Rome the priesthood was deliberately depoliticized;<ref>See for instance Livy 2.2.1.</ref> the ''rex sacrorum'' was not elected, and his inauguration was merely witnessed by a ''[[Glossary of ancient Roman religion#comitia calata|comitia calata]]'', an assembly called for the purpose. Like the ''[[flamen Dialis]]'' but in contrast to the pontiffs and [[augur]]s, the ''rex'' was barred from a political and military career. After the overthrow of the [[kings of Rome]], the office of ''rex sacrorum'' fulfilled at least some of the [[Sacred kingship|sacral duties of kingship]], with the [[Roman consul|consuls]] assuming political power and military command, as well as some sacral functions. It is a matter of scholarly debate as to whether the ''rex sacrorum'' was a "decayed king" and it's discussed if this figure was created during the formation of the Republic, as [[Arnaldo Momigliano]] argued, or had existed in the [[Kingdom of Rome|Regal]] period.<ref>Tim Cornell, ''The Beginning of Rome: Italy and Rome from the Bronze Age to the Punic Wars'' (Routledge, 1995), pp. 234–235 [https://books.google.com/books?id=EAEOAAAAQAAJ&dq=%22rex+sacrorum%22&pg=PA234 online]; Momigliano, "The Origins of the Roman Republic", pp. 311–312 [https://books.google.com/books?id=VC2WfwHDdOsC&dq=%22rex+sacrorum%22&pg=PA311 online.]</ref>

==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>

==Decline and later use==
The office of ''rex sacrorum'' was not a highly coveted position among the patricians, for although the ''rex sacrorum'' was technically superior to the pontiffs, the rank conferred no real political gain. Because of this there would be some years without a ''rex sacrorum'' at all. By the time of [[Final War of the Roman Republic|Antony's civil war]] the office was entirely in disuse, but seems to have been revived later by [[Augustus]] as there was mention of it during the empire until it was probably abolished by [[Theodosius I]].<ref name="Billy">William Smith, Charles Anthon ''A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities'' 1870 p. 837</ref>

==In popular culture==
* "The King of Sacrifices" by [[John Maddox Roberts]] appears in ''The Mammoth Book of Historical Detectives'', edited by Michael Ashley. (Carroll & Graf Publishers, 1995) {{ISBN|0-7867-0214-1}}

==See also==
*[[Agonalia]]
*[[Archon basileus]], a similar office from [[ancient Greece]].
*[[Rex Nemorensis]], another Roman priest given the title "king".

==References==
{{Reflist}}

[[Category:Ancient Roman religious titles]]