Pontifex maximus

The pontifex maximus (Latin for 'supreme pontiff') was the chief high priest of the College of Pontiffs (Collegium Pontificum) in ancient Rome. This was the most important position in the ancient Roman religion, open only to patricians until 254 BC, when a plebeian first held this position. Although in fact the most powerful office in the Roman priesthood, the pontifex maximus was officially ranked fifth in the ranking of the highest Roman priests (Ordo Sacerdotum), behind the Rex Sacrorum and the flamines maiores (Flamen Dialis, Flamen Martialis, Flamen Quirinalis).

A distinctly religious office under the early Roman Republic, it gradually became politicized until, beginning with Augustus, it was subsumed into the position of emperor in the Roman imperial period. Subsequent emperors were styled pontifex maximus well into Late Antiquity, including Gratian (r. 367–383), but during Gratian's reign the phrase was replaced in imperial titulature with the Latin phrase: pontifex inclytus ("honourable pontiff"), an example followed by Gratian's junior co-emperor Theodosius the Great and which was used by emperors thereafter including the co-augusti Valentinian III (r. 425–455), Marcian (r. 450–457) and the augustus Anastasius Dicorus (r. 491–518). The first to adopt the inclytus alternative to maximus may have been the rebel augustus Magnus Maximus (r. 383–388).

The word pontifex and its derivative "pontiff" became terms used for Christian bishops, including the Bishop of Rome. The title of pontifex maximus was adopted by the Catholic Church for the pope as its chief bishop and appears on buildings, monuments and coins of popes of Renaissance and modern times. The official list of titles of the pope given in the Annuario Pontificio includes "supreme pontiff" (Latin: summus pontifex) as the fourth title, the first being "bishop of Rome".

The etymology of "pontifex" is uncertain, but the word has been used since Roman times. The word appears to consist of the Latin word for "bridge" and the suffix for "maker" (pons + facere)". However, there is a possibility that this definition is a folk etymology for an Etruscan term, since Roman religion was heavily influenced by Etruscan religion, and little is known about the Etruscan language, which is a non-Indo-European and poorly attested language.

According to the common interpretation whereby the term pontifex means "bridge-builder", this could have been originally meant in a literal sense: the position of bridge-builder was indeed an important one in Rome, where the major bridges were over the Tiber, the sacred river (and a deity): only prestigious authorities with sacral functions could be allowed to "disturb" it with mechanical additions. However, it was always understood in its symbolic sense as well: the pontifices were the ones who smoothed the "bridge" between gods and men.

The interpretation of the word pontifex as "bridge-builder" was that of Dionysius of Halicarnassus and Marcus Terentius Varro. Plutarch pointed out that the term existed before there were any bridges in Rome and derived the word from Old Latin pontis [sic] meaning a powerful or absolute master, while others derived it from potis facere in the sense of "able to sacrifice". The last derivation is mentioned also by Varro, who rejected it, but it was the view of pontifex maximus Quintus Scaevola. Others have held that the word was originally pompifex (leader of public processions). The word pons originally meant "way" and pontifex would thus mean "maker of roads and bridges."

Another opinion is that the word is a corruption of a similar-sounding but etymologically unrelated Etruscan word. Yet another hypothesis considers the word as a loan from the Sabine language, in which it would mean a member of a college of five, from Osco-Umbrian ponte, five. This explanation takes into account that the college was established by Sabine king Numa Pompilius and the institution is Italic: the expressions pontis and pomperias found in the Iguvine Tablets may denote a group or division of five or by five. The pontifex would thence be a member of a sacrificial college known as pomperia (Latin quinio).

The Roman title pontifex maximus was rendered in Greek inscriptions and literature of the time as Koine Greek: ἀρχιερεύς, romanized: archiereús, lit. 'Archpriest' or by a more literal translation and order of words as Koine Greek: ἀρχιερεὺς μέγιστος, romanized: archireús mégistos, lit. 'greatest archpriest'. The term ἀρχιερεύς is used in the Greek Septuagint text of the Old Testament and in the New Testament to refer to the High Priest of Israel, including in 2 Maccabees (2 Maccabees 4:7).