Roman Religion: State, Household, and Empire

Roman state religion was organized as a public institution closely bound to the political life of the city, administered by colleges of priests whose offices were typically held by members of the elite alongside their political careers rather than by a separate professional clergy. The pontifex maximus, head of the College of Pontiffs, held ultimate authority over Roman religious law, the calendar, and the conduct of public rites, a position of such prestige that Julius Caesar sought and won it in 63 BCE as a step in his political rise, and which was later absorbed permanently into the powers of the emperor, beginning with Augustus. Other priestly colleges included the augurs, who interpreted the will of the gods through the observation of bird flight before major public actions, and the Vestal Virgins, who tended the sacred flame of Vesta in the Roman Forum. Roman religious practice emphasized correct ritual performance, or pax deorum, over personal belief, meaning that a flawed ceremony had to be repeated from the beginning regardless of the sincerity of those performing it.