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Abstract:
The Roman emperor accumulated political and religious power, which in republican tradition was divided between magistrates and priests. This does not mean, however, that the boundary between these authorities has been erased, which also confirms the manner in which the individual ruler held the pontifex maximus function. This article concerns two cases of Tiberius' interventions as the pontifex maximus recorded by Tacitus. The first event is connected with the choosing of a new Vestal, and the next is related to the flamen Dialis' (S. Cornelius Maluginensis) requests for governorship of the province. In both situations, the emperor appeared before the Senate in a dual role; he presented the pontiffs' opinion as pontifex maximus, and as the princeps he made a decisions on its basis.
Key words: Roman religion, princeps, Augustus, Tiberius, pontifex maximus.
In republican Rome, religious authority was divided unevenly among the Senate, magistrates, and priests. Magistrates (mainly consuls) played the key role; they were not only administrators of cults but also the main celebrants of public religious rituals. Priests assisted magistrates as experts, but did not directly preside over cults. Changes introduced under the Principate had little impact on the everyday functioning of public Roman religion, although this was expanded to include the new phenomenon of imperial cult. The fundamental change followed from the accumulation of power in the hands of the emperor, who combined the religious authority of traditional Republican offices and priestly authority, previously divided among the amplissima collegia. From the time of Augustus onwards, the princeps belonged to all the main colleges; apart from the obvious prestige, this also gave him an influence on the composition of the colleges and the decisions they made. The princeps' religious authority reached its highest point in the high pontificate, which Octavian took in 12 BC after the death of M. Aemilius Lepidus and included among the imperial titles.1 From that point onward it was the emperor who upheld the pax deorum and represented the Roman people before the state's protective deities. On behalf of the people, he officiated and dedicated sacrifices, offered vows, and consulted the opinion of the Senate and priestly colleges. The right to take the auspices was a powerful tool for shaping the political reality and the...