Priest (ancient Rome)

The priest (in Latin sacerdos, plural sacerdotes) is, in Roman religion, an official figure responsible for the care, supervision, and control of everything concerning the gods, any object or being belonging to them, any act directed towards them (offerings, sacrifices), and any phenomenon considered a particular sign of their will. The word sacerdos comes from the adjective sacer (“sacred”) and dos, a word related to the root da, which expresses the idea of giving.

The sacerdos did not have, in ancient Rome, exclusivity over the practice of the usual rites of worship, such as prayers, libations, sacrifices, vows, dedications, etc., whether in their private capacity or on behalf of the state. Thus, magistrates performed or presided over religious ceremonies on behalf of the state, and heads of families rendered the prescribed honors to domestic or gentilicial deities. However, only the sacerdotes were “experts” or “professionals” in religious acts: indeed, even the most common sacrifices were performed according to meticulous rules that could not be observed without precise knowledge of the rites and extensive experience. Therefore, the sacerdotes publici populi romani were tasked with controlling and overseeing not only public worship but also private, domestic, and gentilicial religious ceremonies.

Unlike magistrates and heads of families, they were specifically appointed, through special nomination procedures, to perform their liturgical functions; as priests, they had specific duties, rights, and privileges.

Types of priesthoods

Roman priesthoods were numerous and varied, and were not linked to one another by hierarchical ties to form a cohesive whole. Three types can be distinguished:

Individual priesthoods: these priests, individually responsible for serving the cult of a specific deity, usually bore the title of flamines. However, the term sacerdos or sacerdotes was officially used to designate priests attached to various cults, if not of purely Roman origin, at least adopted early by Rome: thus, we find sacerdotes Albani, Cabenses, Caeninenses, Lanuvini, Laurentes Lavinates, Laurentini, Suciniani, Tasculani.