Priests and Politicians: rex sacrorum and flamen Dialis in the Middle Republic

Among the many divine things created and instituted by our ancestors, there is none more admirable than that whereby they wished the same men to oversee the religious rituals of the gods and the most important matters of the res publica, so that the most renowned and distinguished citizens might protect the religious rituals by administering the state, and might protect the state by wisely interpreting the religious rituals.1 AS CICERO STATES IN DE DOMO SUA, the politicians and chief priests in the Roman republic were essentially the same men, and politics and religion were fused at a fundamental level.2 In fact, the major priesthoods, the pontífices, augures, and (quin)decemviri, were often stepping stones for politicians pursuing high magisterial office.3 The offices of rex sacrorum (king of religious rites) and flamen Dialis (priest of Jupiter) constitute seeming anomalies to this principle. [...]ancient and modern scholars alike have portrayed these priesthoods as inherently unpopular, necessary for the maintenance of the pax deorum, yet shunned by aristocratic elites who saw a steady progression along the ladder of magistracies as the only desirable career path.4 Recent scholars, in brief remarks, have reassessed this evaluation by emphasizing the priests' honored positions at public religious ceremonies, distinctions that in part compensated for political liabilities.5 This paper examines this new position more closely from ca 215 to 170, a period in which historical narratives implicating these priesthoods recur.