Sodales Augustales

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Priesthoods
of ancient Rome
Portrait of a flamen, Louvre museum, Paris, Ma431.jpg
Flamen (AD 250–260)
Major colleges
Pontifices · Augures · Septemviri epulonum
Quindecimviri sacris faciundis
Other colleges or sodalities
Fetiales · Fratres Arvales · Salii
Titii · Luperci · Sodales Augustales
Priests
Pontifex Maximus · Rex Sacrorum
Flamen Dialis · Flamen Martialis
Flamen Quirinalis · Rex Nemorensis
Curio maximus
Priestesses
Virgo Vestalis Maxima
Flaminica Dialis · Regina sacrorum
Related topics
Religion in ancient Rome · Imperial cult
Glossary of ancient Roman religion
Gallo-Roman religion
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The Sodales or Sacerdotes Augustales (singular Sodalis or Sacerdos Augustalis),[1] or simply Augustales,[2][3] were an order (sodalitas) of Roman priests originally instituted by Tiberius to attend to the maintenance of the cult of Augustus and the Julii. Their establishment in 14 A.D. was described by Tacitus in his first book of the Annales.

Augustales or seviri Augustales became institutions throughout the cities of the western Roman empire and were usually selected by the town councillors. Up to 95% of Augustales were freedmen as has been attested in inscriptions. They were rich and acted as benefactors, funding public entertainments and new buildings.

In Rome the sodales were chosen by lot among the principal persons of Rome, and were twenty one in number, to which were added Tiberius, Drusus, Claudius, and Germanicus, as members of the imperial family.[2] Women might be appointed priestesses of Augustus, a practice probably originating in the appointment of Livia by a decree of the Senate as priestess to her deceased husband.[4] A flamen could also be a member of the Augustales.[5]

These senatorial sodales Augustales were different from the municipal seviri Augustales, as Linderski put it: “two vastly dissimilar organizations sharing a similar name”.[6] Related to the sodales Augustales were lesser known priesthoods that maintained other imperial cults, which included the sodales Flaviales, the sodales Hadrianales, and the .

See also[]

Notes[]

  1. ^ Tacitus, Annales 1.83
  2. ^ a b Tacitus, Annales 1.54
  3. ^ CIL 10.1624; ILS 156
  4. ^ Dio Cassius. LVI.46
  5. ^ Orelli, Inscrip. 2366, 2368
  6. ^ Linderski, J. (2007). "Augustales and Sodales Augustales". Roman Questions II, Selected Papers: 183.


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