institution
Collegium Pontificum
College of Pontiffs
also: pontifices
Chief Roman priestly college, headed by the pontifex maximus; jurisdiction over sacral law, including consecration of property.
Reading notes
- Ad Atticum 1.13 §3 the matter, by senate's decree, was referred to the Vestals and the pontiffs, who declared it sacrilege
On questions of sacred law the Senate consulted the religious authorities; the College of Pontiffs (with the Vestals) gave the formal ruling that the act was nefas (impious), after which the consuls were directed to bring a bill (rogatio) setting up a court to try it.
- Ad Atticum 4.1 §6 the pontiffs have so far given no reply on our house
The College of Pontiffs, Rome's highest priestly board, had to rule whether Clodius's consecration of Cicero's razed Palatine house (a shrine of Liberty) was a valid 'religious dedication'. Until they lifted it, the site could not be rebuilt.
- Ad Atticum 4.2 §2 We spoke before the pontiffs on the day before the Kalends of October
This is the speech De Domo Sua, delivered on 29 September 57 BC to the College of Pontiffs. The board had to decide whether Clodius's consecration of Cicero's house-site barred its restitution.
- Cato the Elder, On Old Age §38 I am studying the law of the augurs, the pontiffs, and the civil courts
The three great branches of Roman sacred and civil jurisprudence: augural law (the auspices), pontifical law (sacred rites, the calendar, burial, vows), and the ius civile of private suits.
- On His House §1 Pontiffs
The collegium pontificum, the chief priestly college of the Roman state, before which Cicero argued in late September 57 BC that the consecration Clodius had imposed on his Palatine house site was void. The college's ruling in Cicero's favour cleared the way for the Senate to order the house rebuilt at public expense.
- On the Laws §2.47 the rites be perpetual
The pontifical rule that a family's sacra (private cult) must be maintained without interruption and pass with the inheritance. The pontiffs attached the obligation to whoever received the dead man's property, generating the maze of cases Cicero reviews.
- On the Nature of the Gods §1.84 in our own pontifical books
The official records and ritual manuals of the College of Pontiffs, which listed the names invoked in state worship. Cotta notes that these names are few while the gods are beyond counting.