Temples and Priests

Question 1

templum

Answer 1

Originally described a patch of land which had been set aside and made holy for the gods

Question 2

Design influenced by

Answer 2

• Etruscans

* Greeks

Question 3

Describe the design

Answer 3

• rectangular
• built on a high podium
• steps (closer to the gods)
• porch area
• cella surrounded by columns of a colonnade
• underground chamber or extra room behind the cella to store treasure dedicated to the god

Question 4

Describe the cella

Answer 4

• main room
• the statue of the tor to whom the temple was dedicated 
• no seats or other furniture 
• no windows 
•

Question 5

Temple believed to be

Answer 5

The home of the god; no worship took place inside the temple

Question 6

Sacrifice took place

Answer 6

At the altar in the open air outside the front of the temple

Question 7

The Pantheon

Answer 7

• ‘All gods’
• first commissioned in time of Augustus
• present form dates to 126CE - reign of Hadrian
• one grand circular space, curved and vaunted ceiling, central opening to the sky (feel closer)

Question 8

Priests job

Answer 8

• ensures the various religious rituals were performed correctly
• closely tied to pitiful - priesthoods went to influential elite

Question 9

College

Answer 9

Committees of priests
Had different functions in the religious life of the state
Introduced by Numa Pompilius

Question 10

The pontifices general

Answer 10

• most important
• pontifex - bridge builder
• king’s main religious advisors
• new pontifex elected by vote among current pontifices
• 15

Question 11

The pontifices jobs

Answer 11

• protection of all temples
• regulation of the laws regarding burials and cemeteries
• supervision of the religious calendar
• overseeing of laws regarding wills and inheritance
• consulted on points of religious law
• kept ‘pontifical books’ which recorded all the religious prodigies (thunder from clear skies, statues sweating blood)

Question 12

Pontifex Maximus

Answer 12

• chief priest - ‘greatest pontiff’
• official residence in the forum ‘domus publica’ between the House of the Vestal Virgins and the Via Sacra
• carried out religious duties from the Regia ‘house of the king’
• part time role
• 63BCE - Julius Caesar elected
• emperor was automatically
• 4th century CE- Pope

Question 13

flamines

Answer 13

• 15
• priesthoods attached to one particular god (e.g. Flamen Dialis (Jupiter))
• Falacer, Furrina
• Mark Antony was flamen to divus Iulius

Question 14

College of augurs

Answer 14

• second most important
• interpreted the will of the gods (looked for signs and omens - flight of birds for example or thunder and lighting, behaviour of animals)
• ‘taking the auspices’
• central to war, business and marriage

Question 15

lituus

Answer 15

Augur’s rod

Used to define the region of land or sky from where he would read omens

Question 16

Sacred chickens

Answer 16

• taken to military campaigns for augury
• never started battle without taking the auspices
• pieces of cake dropped in front of them- if they didn’t come out to eat, flew away or flapped their wings and cackled it was a bad sign. If they gobbled up the cake and bits fell from their beak, it was a favourable omen

Question 17

Quindecimviri Sacris Faciundis

Answer 17

• Fifteen men in charge of conducting the rites

* guardians of the Sibylline books- in charge of introducing Greek rites into Roman religion

Question 18

Septemviri Epulones

Answer 18

• Seven men in charge of feasts
• helped the pontifices oversee arrangements for public sacrifices and the feasts
• introduced in 196BCE

Question 19

Fetiales

Answer 19

Responsible for the rituals incoming going to eat to ensure that the war was supported by the gods and was therefore a ‘just war’

Question 20

College of Vestal Virgins

Answer 20

• consisted of the only major female priests of Rome
• 6 priestesses of the goddess Vesta
• tensed the fire in her temple in the Roman forum
• fire was symbolic of the ‘hearth of the state’ and therefore its security - terrible omen if it went out

Question 21

Describe the temple of Vesta

Answer 21

• round
• smaller
• no cult state
• sacred fire - from the ashes of Troy by Aeneas
• hole in roof
• store-House containing the palladium and fascinum

Question 22

What was the palladium?

Answer 22

statue of Athena said to have been brought from Troy

Question 23

What was the fascinum?

Answer 23

Erect phallus believe to symbolise fertility

Question 24

Selection of Vestal Virgins

Answer 24

• huge honour for girl and fam
• chosen from senatorial families
• between the ages of six and ten
• free of physical and mental defects
• two living parents

Question 25

After selection

Answer 25

• vow of chastity
• first 10 years as novice, learning trade
• next 10 years performing most of the Vestal’s duties
• last 10 years teaching novices

Question 26

Vestal duties

Answer 26

• guard the sacred flame to ensure it never went out
• bake mola sansa
• attend certain important state sacrifices
• act ad guardians of important documents (wills, state treaties)

Question 27

mola sansa

Answer 27

Sacred flour used at state sacrifices

Question 28

Privileges of a Vestal Virgins

Answer 28

• lictor (escort) to guard them
• seats if honour at the games in Rome
• freedom to own property, make wills and vote
• palatial residence in the forum next to the temple of Vesta - 3 storeys high, open air courtyard, pool

Question 29

Punishments of Vestal Virgins

Answer 29

• whipped if they let the flame go out
• buried alive if broke vow of chastity
• lover was publicly whipped to death

Question 30

Tarpeia

Answer 30

• approached Sabine camp offering to let them in the city in exchange for ‘what they bore on their left arms’ hoping for bracelets
• crushed her to death with their shield
• Romans hurled her dead body from a sheer cliff on the Capitoline Hill - called Tarpeian Rock - became place of execution for Rome’s most notorious traitors

Question 31

Vestal Virgins at Festivals

Answer 31

• ones which promoted fertility and the health of the city
• Vestalia
• Bona Dea - 4th December - associated with fertility, healing and women - secret rites conducted by the wife of a senior magistrate, assisted by Vestal virgins at senior magistrates house. No men. Sacrifice of pig probs