Chief Priest
What is known for certain is that the king alone possessed the right to the auspice on behalf of Rome as its chief augur, and no public business could be performed without the will of the gods made known through auspices. The people knew the king as a mediator between them and the gods (cf. Latin pontifex "bridge-builder", in this sense, between man and the gods) and thus viewed the king with religious awe. This made the king the head of the national religion and its chief executive. Having the power to control the Roman calendar, he conducted all religious ceremonies and appointed lower religious offices and officers. It was Romulus who instituted the augurs and who was believed to have been the best augur of all. Likewise, King Numa Pompilius instituted the pontiffs and through them developed the foundations of the religious dogma of Rome.
Read more about this topic: King Of Rome
Famous quotes containing the words chief and/or priest:
“The vanity of being known to be trusted with a secret is generally one of the chief motives to disclose it.”
—Samuel Johnson (1709–1784)
“Embraces are cominglings from the head even to the feet,
And not a pompous high priest entering by a secret place.”
—William Blake (1757–1827)