The following article is from The Great Soviet Encyclopedia (1979). It might be outdated or ideologically biased.

Pontifices

in ancient Rome, members of one of the most important colleges of priests. The pontifices were in charge of general state religious rites and other matters of sacred law, composed and corrected the calendar, and kept lists of the consuls and annual notations of major events. Until the late fourth century B.C., they were also charged with the interpretation of civil law and worked out several procedural formulas that became the basis of Roman judicial proceedings. The pontifices were appointed, and later elected, for life. Their number increased from three in the eighth century B.C. (according to ancient tradition) to 15 in the first century B.C.

The most powerful among the pontifices was the pontifex maximus. Julius Caesar was elected pontifex maximus in 63 B.C., and Augustus in 12 B.C. From then on, pontifex maximus was part of the title of all the Roman emperors until Gratian (A.D. 367–383).

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References in periodicals archive

Pontifex University's MSA is the new catalyst that shows how to bring these elements together in harmony with one's personal vocation, whatever it may be, for the glory of God and joy of mankind.

New Catholic University Aims to Renew Culture of Beauty

The Romanus Pontifex was based on a convoluted and highly adaptive web of precedents, building on the legal reasoning and diplomatic practices that emerged over several centuries in response to the expanding trade with the Muslim world, the Crusades, and the Iberian Reconquest.

The Bull Romanus Pontifex (1455) and the early European trading in sub-Saharan Atlantic Africa

The father, Thomas Butler in life and Theobald Pontifex in the book, stands accused (and of course convicted) of many odious sins.

Butler's unhappy youth

"Pontifex Maximus" was a title bestowed on Roman officials whose authority extended over both the political state and the official state religion.

President or pontiff?

Mrs Pontifex was quoted after the case, and she said: "I'm not an old fuddy-duddy - do you know what it's like to live under a rock star?"

It's a boom with a view

Next, that Mary is a true pontifex maximus, for her symbol functions as a bridge (pons) between diverse cultures and traditions, linking Judaism and Christianity, Christianity and Islam (Maryam as the most important female figure in the Qur'an), Eastern and Latin Christianity, rich and poor, and different races (Guadalupe, the Black Madonnas).

Mary Through the Centuries: Her Place in the History of Culture

Pontifex family Fictional characters, several generations of a self-satisfied, middle-class English family in Way of All Flesh, The, the autobiographical novel by Samuel Butler that was published in 1903, the year after his death.

Pontifex family

Born Gaius Octavius, into a wealthy and respectable but undistinguished Latin family (63); a nephew of Julius Caesar, he accompanied Julius Caesar on his Spanish campaign (45); named Caesar's heir and adopted son, as well as being made pontifex maximus and awarded patrician rank (44); took the name Gaius Julius Caesar in honor of his adoptive father (44?); after Caesar's death (March 44), his position was precarious, as both Mark Antony and the conspirators regarded him with suspicion; raised an army from among Julius Caesar's veterans; made a senator and became the Senate's champion against Antony (43); sent with both consuls against Antony, and after Antony's defeat and the consuls' deaths at Mutina (Modena) (April?

Augustus, Gaius Julius Caesar Octavianus (Octavian, Octavius) (63 B.C.-A.D.14)

The hero, Ernest, is the son of an English clergyman, Theobald Pontifex. Few clergymen in fiction are as unsympathetic as this pious bully, nor is his docile, sanctimonious wife, Christina, any more lovable.

Way of All Flesh, The