THE PONTIFICAL COLLEGE IN ANCIENT ROME

Like Livy, I am fascinated by the etymology of some Latin words and by their semantic development. I have chosen to analyze the term " Pontifex" to have an idea of the most important religious priest in ancient Rome. In the kings' age the King was at the same time Pontifex Maximus but in the republican age this religious component of the Roman civilization was mostly assigned to the Patricians.The Pontifex maximus lived in the Domus Publica and was the main expert of the Religious rituals.At the beginning of the Roman empire Augustus merged within his attributes this function and the famous statue called " Augustus of Via Labicana" located in the Vatican museum, shows him with a long toga and with the veiled head performing religious duties. What is however interesting is that the name pontifex is connected with the Sublican bridge, that was the oldest bridge built in early Rome to connect the Etruscan and the Roman territories. The etymology of Pontifex really means " Bridge maker " and probably stands as an original duty of the Pontifex to be the guardian of the bridge.One of the religious functions of the Sublican bridge (whose etymology is Oscan and means "bridge made of beams") was the throwing into the the Tiber of puppets called "Argei" who were the memory of the human sacrifices made at the beginning of the iron age. In addition, the name "Pontifex" is today one of the nine attributes of the Pope of the Roman Catholic church and this testifies the desire of the Church to be considered the heir of the Roman civilization.