In the 1990s and early 2000s, he and a slew of other Internet Age prophets—many of them writing in this magazine—foretold a digital revolution that would flatten the priesthoods of politics, government, and journalism, and replace them with decentralized webs of direct participation.
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The memory of the pharaohs Hatshepsut and Akhenaten were both targeted for erasure: Hatshepsut as stepmother of the succeeding pharaoh, in what may have been an attempt to legitimate the change in the line of succession; Akhenaten for his rejection of traditional gods — and their powerful priesthoods — in favor of worshipping the Aten, the sun disk, alone.
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This would break the patrician monopoly of the priesthood for the first time and constituted a step towards the plebeians sharing power, as the priesthoods played an important role in Roman society. Later, other priesthoods were opened up to the plebeians. The patricians retained exclusivity in some of the oldest priesthoods.
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In Community of Christ the priesthood consists of two priesthoods, the Aaronic Order and the Melchisedec Order.
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The office could not have survived the ban of all non-Christian priesthoods during the persecution of pagans in the late Roman Empire.
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Related to the sodales Augustales were lesser known priesthoods that maintained other imperial cults, which included the sodales Flaviales, the sodales Hadrianales, and the sodales Antoniani Veriani.
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A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities. Albemarle Street, London. John Murray. Rome recruited many non-native deities, cults and priesthoods as protectors and allies of the state.
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Memmius Vitrasius Orfitus lists his priesthoods as pontifex of Vesta, one of the quindecimviri sacris faciundis, and pontifex of Sol, in that order (Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum vol. 6, 1739–1742). In a list of eight priesthoods, Vettius Agorius Praetextatus puts Pontifex Solis in third place (). Aurelian also built a new temple for Sol, which was dedicated on December 25, 274, and brought the total number of temples for the god in Rome to (at least) four.
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Eck, "Jahres- und Provinzialfasten der senatorischen Statthalter von 69/70 bis 138/139", Chiron, 12 (1982), pp. 320-324 However, the priesthoods he held are somewhat better known. An inscription found in Rome attests Serenus had been co-opted into the Sodales Augustales in the year 92. Another inscription from Rome, dated 24 May 102, attests that Serenus was a member of the College of Pontiffs, one of the four most prestigious priesthoods of ancient Rome, by that date.
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In the Latter Day Saint movement, the Book of Mormon makes reference to Melchizedek (Alma 13:17–19). According to Encyclopædia Britannica, Joseph Smith "appointed his male followers to priesthoods, named for the biblical figures Melchizedek and Aaron, that were overseen by the office of High Priest", incorporating selected practices from the Hebrew Bible. These priesthoods are laid out by Smith in (Doctrine and Covenants 107:1-2,4,6-10,14,17-18,22,29,71,73,76) as well as more than twenty additional references in that work.
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4–5, 9, 20 (historical overview and Aventine priesthoods), 84–89 (functions of plebeian aediles), 104–106 (women as priestesses): citing among others Cicero, In Verres, 2.4.108; Valerius Maximus, 1.1.1; Plutarch, De Mulierum Virtutibus, 26.
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Dionysius of Halicarnassus devotes much more space to Numa's religious reforms. In his account the institution of eight priesthoods is attributed to Numa: curiones, flamines, celeres, augurs, vestals, salii, fetials, pontiffs. However, the space he devotes to the description of these priesthoods and the official duties they discharged is very uneven. He says only a few words about the curiones, who were in charge of tending the sacrifices of the curiae; the flamines; the tribuni celerum,Fasti Praenestini II 13, 2, 123 Degrassi as cited by Capdeville.
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Religious practice organized different priesthoods and shrines for each different god and each different pantheon (sky, earth or thunder). Women made up a significant amount of the priest class and the chief priest was always a descendant of Dakodonou.
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As Rome eventually established hegemony over the Mediterranean world, Romanized forms of Cybele's cults spread throughout Rome's empire. Greek and Roman writers debated and disputed the meaning and morality of her cults and priesthoods, which remain controversial subjects in modern scholarship.
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Nevertheless, even in the late Republic it was still believed that the auspices ultimately resided with patrician magistrates, and certain ancient priesthoods: the Dialis, Martialis and Quirinalis flamines, and the college of the Salii were never opened to the plebeians.
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Syme, "Dozen Early Priesthoods", p. 253 Despite this honor, Quartinus' career was not rapid. After reaching the praetorship, he was legate to a proconsul of Asia, then juridicus in Hispania Tarraconensis, which duties we know he carried out in the years 117 and 119.
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361 His son, Lucius Minicius Natalis Quadronius Verus, served as his legatus, or assistant, during his tenure in Africa.Ronald Syme, "A Dozen Early Priesthoods", Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik, 77 (1989), p. 247 His life after he concluded his governorship in Africa is a blank.
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Where previously priests of Sol had been simply sacerdotes and tended to belong to lower ranks of Roman society, they were now pontifices and members of the new college of pontifices instituted by Aurelian. Every pontifex of Sol was a member of the senatorial elite, indicating that the priesthood of Sol was now highly prestigious. Almost all these senators held other priesthoods as well, however, and some of these other priesthoods take precedence in the inscriptions in which they are listed, suggesting that they were considered more prestigious than the priesthood of Sol.For a full list of the pontifices of Sol see J. Rupke (ed.), Fasti Sacerdotum (2005), p. 606.
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Six temples are planned or built in Africa outside of South Africa. In 2008, there were about 1 million black members worldwide. The priesthoods of most other Mormon denominations, such as the Community of Christ, Bickertonite, and Strangite, have always been open to persons of all races.
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Cameron, p. 142. Many are now lost, but most that survive were dedicated by high-status Romans after a taurobolium sacrifice to Magna Mater. None of these dedicants were priests of the Magna Mater or Attis, and several held priesthoods of one or more different cults.Cameron, pp.
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Pausanias, ix. 27. He was proconsular governor of Asia, possibly for the term 48/49.Ronald Syme, "Problems about Proconsuls of Asia," Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik, 53 (1983), p. 196 Regulus was one of the Sodales Augustales, the Epulones, and the Arval Brethren, all important priesthoods.
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Modestinus also held a number of Roman priesthoods. These included membership in the collegium of the fetiales, in the sodales Augustales, and in the Quindecimviri sacris faciundis, the Roman priesthood entrusted with the care of the Sibylline oracles. After his consulate, Modestinus' life is a blank.
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Ronald Syme, "A Dozen Early Priesthoods", Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik, 77 (1989), pp. 248-250 Pliny the Younger sent him and his wife a letter of congratulations about their daughter’s wedding. When Trajan died on August 8, 117, his cousin and adopted son Hadrian became emperor.
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Public cults (sacra publica) were state funded, at least in principle, and most priesthoods occupied by high-ranking citizens.Presiding cult priest- magistrates provided a proportion of funding, as a duty of office.Gradel, 15.Gradel, 9-13: citing legal definitions from Festus (epitome of Verrius Flaccus) “De verborum significatu” p.
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Fishwick vol 1, 1, 101 & vol 3, 1, 12–13: Fishwick determines the lower age limit at 25 years for these priesthoods. With minor exceptions, provincial priesthoods – whether described as sacerdos or flamen – appear to have been annual, but an elected priest remained influential within the ordo beyond his term of office. Female cult divinities were served by priestesses, who may have been the wives of the cult priests. The rejection of cult spurned romanitas, priesthood and citizenship; in 9 AD Segimundus, imperial cult priest of what would later be known as Colonia Claudia Ara Agrippinensium (sited at modern Cologne in Germany) cast off or destroyed his priestly regalia to join the rebellion of his kinsman Arminius.
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These two priesthoods are in authority today inasmuch as those holding them have not broken their covenants of baptism and ordination. Those baptized and confirmed by authorized priesthood are considered members of the Church of Jesus Christ Restored 1830. The church believes in all the quorums that were established to achieve common consent in the church by the General Assembly ratified laws at Kirtland, Ohio in 1835. The two priesthoods were restored in 1829 prior to the church being organized on the 6th of April 1830. The Church of Jesus Christ Restored 1830 claims to be a continuation of the Church of Jesus Christ established by Joseph Smith on April 6, 1830.
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Libertini were not entitled to hold public office or state priesthoods, nor could they achieve senatorial rank. During the early Empire, however, freedmen held key positions in the government bureaucracy, so much so that Hadrian limited their participation by law.Berger, entry on libertinus, Encyclopedic Dictionary of Roman Law, p. 564.
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As far as is known, no new temples to state divi were built after the reign of Marcus Aurelius.Gradel, 364. The Imperial divi and living genii appear to have been served by separate ceremonies and priesthoods. Emperors themselves could be priests of state gods, the divi and their own genius cult images.
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His discussion of Roman priesthoods is considered "vital."Christopher Smith, "The Religion of Archaic Rome," in A Companion to Roman Religion, p. 42. Latte viewed Roman religious traditions as in decline in the late Republic, and subject to political abuse.Susanne William Rasmussen, Public Portents in Republican Rome («L'Erma» di Bretschneider, 2003), p. 32.
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Inscriptions from Kourion attest elected offices that including: Archon of the City, the Council, Clerk of the Council and People, the Clerk of the Market, and various priesthoods including priests and priestesses of Apollo Hylates, and priesthoods of Rome. In the first to third centuries, epigraphic evidence attests a thriving elite at Kourion, as indicated by a floruit of honorific decrees (Mitford No.84, p. 153) and dedications, particularly in honour of the emperor, civic officials and provincial proconsuls. In the first and second centuries, Mitford suggests excessive expenses by the Council of the City and Peoples of Kourion on such honours, resulting in the sanctions and oversight of expenditures by the proconsul (Mitford 107), particularly during the Trajanic restorations of the Sanctuary of Apollo Hylates.
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While females could serve as Vestal Virgins, few were chosen, and those were selected as young maidens from families of the upper class.Spaeth, 1996, pp. 4–5, 9, 20 (historical overview and Aventine priesthoods), 84–89 (functions of plebeian aediles), 104–106 (women as priestesses): citing among others Cicero, In Verres, 2.4.108; Valerius Maximus, 1.1.
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After his death, the kingdom of Athens went to his son Erechtheus, while Butes received the priesthoods of Athena and "Poseidon Erechtheus" (in Athens, Erechtheus was a cult-title of Poseidon).Apollodorus, 3.15.1. He is said to have died of grief when he discovered that his daughters, Procne and Philomela, had died.Grimal, "Pandion" p.
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Both the mun and bongthing priesthoods are hereditary, although they do not pass strictly patrilineally. Trained disciples of existing masters are often recruited to service at times of crisis as an election by ancestors or shamanic gods. It is possible for a bongthing to advance to mun status. Padem are a male hereditary junior priesthood.
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Aaron also lends his name to one of the two "priesthoods" of Mormonism: the Aaronic priesthood. The other Quranic prophets (Hud, Salih, Shuayb, Dhul-Kifl and Mohammed) are not recognized by Mormons, although Shuayb and Dhul-Kifl are sometimes identified with Jethro and Ezekiel. Hud is sometimes identified with Eber of the Bible.Prophets in Islam .
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The text deals with the competencies of duumviri, aediles and quaestores, regulates the decurional order, manumission and the appointment of guardians, the relations between patronus and cliens, the acquisition of Roman civil rights by magistrates and public affairs, including the funding of cults, priesthoods, rituals, calendar and games, which were considered a religious matter.
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110 online. This glossary provides explanations of concepts as they were expressed in Latin pertaining to religious practices and beliefs, with links to articles on major topics such as priesthoods, forms of divination, and rituals. For theonyms, or the names and epithets of gods, see List of Roman deities. For public religious holidays, see Roman festivals.
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Quintus Veranius was governor of Cappadocia in AD 18.Tacitus, The Annals 2.56 He was involved in the prosecution of Gnaeus Calpurnius Piso, who was accused of poisoning Germanicus, in 20.Ronald Syme, The Augustinian Aristocracy (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1986), p. 376. After Piso's death in the same year, the emperor Tiberius conferred priesthoods on the prosecutors.
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Members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints believe the restoration of Christ's priesthood came about by the laying on of hands by John the Baptist to Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery, and laying on of hands is seen as a necessary part of confirmation and ordination to the Aaronic and Melchizedek priesthoods.
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259-276 Veiento's career in the Roman priesthood is far better documented. A votive inscription of Trajanic date recording Veiento's satisfaction of a vow to the goddess Nemetona in Moguntiacum (Mainz) attests to the priesthoods he held.H. Dessau, Inscriptiones Latinae Selectae 1010. These offices are listed as follows: Quindecimviri sacris faciundis, Sodales Augustales, Sodales Flaviales, and Sodales Titialis.
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This form of worship had spread from Sicily under Greek influence, and the Aventine cult of Ceres in Rome was headed by male priests.Spaeth, The Roman Goddess Ceres, pp. 4–5, 9, 20 (historical overview and Aventine priesthoods), 84–89 (functions of plebeian aediles), 104–106 (women as priestesses): citing among others Cicero, In Verres, 2.4.108; Valerius Maximus, 1.1.
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President Nelson counsels Central American members to claim the blessings of the temple, live the gospel, Church News, September 10, 2015. The following month, Nelson dedicated the renovated Aaronic Priesthood Restoration Site in Pennsylvania, where LDS Church members believe the Aaronic and Melchizedek priesthoods were restored.LDS Apostle dedicates newly developed Priesthood Restoration Site, Church News, September 19, 2015.
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The priesthoods of public religion were held by members of the elite classes. There was no principle analogous to separation of church and state in ancient Rome. During the Roman Republic (509–27 BC), the same men who were elected public officials might also serve as augurs and pontiffs. Priests married, raised families, and led politically active lives.
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Having set aside specific precincts and priesthoods for Battus, Demonax put in place Ephors to punish impostors and created an armed police force of 300 men to patrol and protect. Additionally, all else that had earlier belonged to the monarchs Demonax made public, placing it in the hands of the people. After completing the reforms, Demonax immediately left Cyrene.
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986 online. The office of sacerdos required Roman citizenship but the early concilium combined citizen and non- citizens. The sacredos would have been a person of great consequence within the concilium Galliarum and his own provincial ordo. His influence would have extended well beyond his term of office, which was - unlike the lifetime priesthoods of Rome itself - limited to a single year.
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At this point he gained acceptance into two Roman priesthoods, the salii Collini and flamines Claudiales, before acceding to the consulate. His life after the consulate is a blank. Since Ambibulus had such a promising career to that point, it is tempting to suggest he may have died within a few years of stepping down from his last known office.
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The Complete Priest's Handbook is a rules supplement for the 2nd edition Player's Handbook which details priestly characters and religion in campaigns. This includes guidelines for creating mythlogical history, designing faiths, detailing where special powers come from, duties of priests, rights and restrictions, how to role-play priest characters, and also the relationship a priest has with followers and believers. The book includes rules for "priest kits" (subclasses), including fighting-monks, pacifists, scholars, and prophets, and there are 60 sample priesthoods based on generic principles. This AD&D; game supplement provides noble priests, outlaw priests, fighting monks, amazon priestesses, and other “priest kits”; priest personality archetypes like the crusader, philosopher, hypocrite, and earnest novice; 60 sample priesthoods of deities for agriculture, birth, disease, elemental forces, hunting, literature, oceans, oracles, trade, wind, wisdom, and more; and rules for designing new faiths.
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She was the high priest of one of the three cults of the Acropolis of Athens: the other two were the High Priest of Poseidon-Erecheteusand the Priestess of Athena Nike. The most known individual official of this position was Lysimache I. The office could not have survived the ban of all non-Christian priesthoods during the persecution of pagans in the late Roman Empire.
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Brent, 17–20: citing Cicero, De Natura Deorum, 2.4.Beard et al, Vol 1, 17–21: most magistracies ran for only a year. Priesthoods were for life, which offered evident advantages in maintaining a high public and political profile. In the later Republic, augury came under the supervision of the college of pontifices, a priestly- magistral office whose powers were increasingly woven into the cursus honorum.
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Pliny notes that Bruttianus' reputation for honesty was strengthened and his fame increased.Epistulae, VI.22 The inscription attests to a number of offices Bruttianus held after his consulate. He was general of the army in Germania Superior and Inferior, then admitted to the Septemviri epulonum, one of the four most prestigious ancient Roman priesthoods, and finally was commander of the army in Roman Judea and Roman Arabia.
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After serving as suffect consul, Priscus was admitted to the collegia of the Septemviri epulonum, one of the four most prestigious ancient Roman priesthoods. He was also entrusted with governing, in succession, the imperial provinces of Germania Inferior (98-101),Werner Eck, "Jahres- und Provinzialfasten der senatorischen Statthalter von 69/70 bis 138/139", Chiron, 12 (1982), pp. 330-334 then Pannonia (102-105).
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The east and west towers represent the Melchizedek and Aaronic Priesthoods, just as the east and west facing pulpits did in the Kirtland and Nauvoo assembly halls. Additional symbolism has been added to the towers. The east-facing towers represent the First Presidency of the Church, the highest office of the Melchizedek Priesthood. The west towers represent the Presiding Bishopric, the highest office of the Aaronic Priesthood.
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Among the most important myths were those describing the creation of the world. The Egyptians developed many accounts of the creation, which differ greatly in the events they describe. In particular, the deities credited with creating the world vary in each account. This difference partly reflects the desire of Egypt's cities and priesthoods to exalt their own patron gods by attributing creation to them.
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However, as the wealth of the temples grew, the influence of their priesthoods increased, until it rivaled that of the pharaoh. In the political fragmentation of the Third Intermediate Period (c. 1070–664 BC), the high priests of Amun at Karnak even became the effective rulers of Upper Egypt. The temple staff also included many people other than priests, such as musicians and chanters in temple ceremonies.
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In 63 BC, his appointment as pontifex maximus "signaled his emergence as a major player in Roman politics".Orlin, in Rüpke (ed), 66. Likewise, political candidates could sponsor temples, priesthoods and the immensely popular, spectacular public ludi and munera whose provision became increasingly indispensable to the factional politics of the Late Republic.Otherwise, electoral bribery (ambitus): see Cicero, Letters to friends, 2.3: see also Beard et al.
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Cleopatra III added three further female priesthoods for her own personal cult as "Benefactor and Mother-Loving Goddess" (thea euergetis philometōr): the "sacred foal" (hieros pōlos), the "crown bearer" (stephanēphoros), and the "light bearer" (phōsphoros). The concept of "temple- sharing gods" was underlined under Ptolemy IV Philopator ( BC), who translated the remains of the Ptolemies and their consorts—unlike Alexander, they had been cremated and kept in urns—to the sēma.
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According to Suetonius, Lucius was the favorite of three emperors, thus winning "public offices and important priesthoods"; these public offices included curator of the public works. He was proconsul of Africa, where Suetonius writes he behaved with exceptional honesty for two years, acting part of the time in place of his brother.Suetonius, "Vitellius", 5 The emperors who favored him are most likely Claudius, Nero, and lastly his brother.Rutledge, Imperial Inquisitions, p.
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Evidence is lacking for the earliest priesthoods of the Aventine Triad, whether in joint or individual cult to its deities. The plebeian aediles, named after their service of aedes (shrine or temple) may have acted as cult priests for their communityBeard, M., Price, S., North, J., Religions of Rome: Volume 1, a History, illustrated, Cambridge University Press, 1998, pp. 64 -5. and may have served Liber and Libera in this capacity.
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A priest would perform religious ceremonies within the temple or outside in the enclosure, although the exact daily role they played in Romano- Celtic temples is not well understood. Performing sacrifice, prayers, and overseeing festivals are key features of priesthoods in the Roman Empire. In Aquae Sulis (modern Bath, England), an altar was dedicated by a haruspex;De la Bedoyere, G. 2002. Gods with Thunderbolts: Religion in Roman Britain.
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Male citizens of senatorial rank and office, including certain priesthoods, were expected to wear a red-bordered toga praetexta and red calcei (s. mulleus calceus) when engaged in their public duties. The combination of toga and calcei was impressive, but also hot and uncomfortable; the Roman poet Martial claims that in their leisure time, and more relaxed surroundings of rural life, hardly anyone used it.William Smith et al.
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However, the word—Isiacus or "Isiac"—was rarely used. Many priests of Isis officiated in other cults as well. Several people in late Roman times, like Vettius Agorius Praetextatus, joined multiple priesthoods and underwent several initiations dedicated to different gods. Mystery initiations thus did not require devotees to abandon whatever religious identity they originally had, and they would not qualify as religious conversions under a narrow definition of the term.
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Statue head of Akhenaten Akhenaten, also known as Amenhotep IV, was an ancient Egyptian pharaoh of the 18th Dynasty. This Pharaoh presided over radical changes in Egyptian religious practices. He established a form of solar monotheism or monolatry based on the cult of Aten, and disbanded the priesthoods of all other gods. His new capital, Akhetaten or 'Horizon of Aten', was built at the site known today as Amarna.
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29, 41–42 et passim. Democratic politics, driven by the charismatic appeal of individuals (populares) to the Roman people (populus), potentially undermined the conservative principle of the mos.Hölkeskamp, Reconstructing the Roman Republic, p. 42. Because the higher magistracies and priesthoods were originally the prerogative of the patricians, the efforts of plebeians (the plebs) for access could be cast as a threat to tradition (see Conflict of the Orders).
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Reform was accomplished by legislation, and written law replaced consensus.Gruen, The Last Generation of the Roman Republic, pp. 258, 498, 507–508. When plebeians gained admission to nearly all the highest offices, except for a few arcane priesthoods, the interests of plebeian families who ascended to the elite began to align with those of the patricians, creating Rome's nobiles, an elite social status of nebulous definition during the Republic.
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Ammianus Res Gestae 20.9; Themistius Oration 12. Official persecution of paganism in the Eastern Empire began under Theodosius I in 381 AD.Grindle, Gilbert (1892) The Destruction of Paganism in the Roman Empire, pp.29-30. Theodosius strictly enforced anti-pagan laws, had priesthoods disbanded and temples destroyed, and actively participated in Christian actions against pagan holy sites.Ramsay McMullan (1984) Christianizing the Roman Empire A.D. 100–400, Yale University Press, p.90.
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Kamehameha II refused. At the battle of Kuamoʻo on the island of Hawaiʻi, the king's better-armed forces, led by Kalanimōkū, defeated the last defenders of the Hawaiian gods, temples, and priesthoods of the ancient organized religion. The first Christian missionaries arrived only a few months later in the Hawaiian Islands. He never officially converted to Christianity because he refused to give up four of his five wives and his love of alcohol.
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This was followed by his admission to the Roman priesthoods of sodales Hadrianales then the College of Pontiffs; the latter may have transpired prior to his accession to the consulate. He was also made a member of the sodales Antoniniani around that time. As a member of the Patrician order, Priscus acceded to the consulate two years after he was praetor. After his consulate, Priscus became a member of the comites of emperor Marcus Aurelius.
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His suffect consulate followed his tenure as commander of the legion. Between his first consulate and his second, Priscus was governor of the imperial province of Hispania Tarraconensis. During this period he was likely admitted to the collegium of augurs; becoming one of the augurs usually came after one held the fasces. His membership in the sodales Hadrianales and sodales Antoniani Veriani, two priesthoods of lesser prestige, probably began years before this.
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In effect, priests throughout the empire were responsible for re-creating, expounding and celebrating the extraordinary gifts, powers and charisma of emperors.Gradel, 78–98. As part of his religious reforms, Augustus revived, subsidised and expanded the Compitalia games and priesthoods, dedicated to the Lares of the vici (neighbourhoods), to include cult to his own Lares (or to his genius as a popular benefactor). Thereafter, the Lares Compitales were known as Lares Augusti.
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She was a co- founder and former board member for Ordain Women, a group dedicated to creating increased access to administrative and ecclesiastical decision-making capacities for women in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints through the ordination of women to the Aaronic and Melchizedek Priesthoods. She is also on the board of the Sunstone Education Foundation, an organization that discusses Mormonism through scholarship, art, short fiction, and poetry.
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2002 Yet, Classic Maya civilization, being highly ritualistic, would have been unthinkable without a developed priesthood. Like other Pre-Hispanic Mesoamerican priesthoods, the early Maya priesthood consisted of a hierarchy of professional priests serving as intermediaries between the population and the deities. Their basic skill was the art of reading and writing. The priesthood as a whole was the keeper of knowledge concerning the deities and their cult, including calendrics, astrology, divination, and prophecy.
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Their number was increased to ten by the Licinian-Sextian Law in 367 BC, which also required for half of the priests to be plebeian. During the Middle Republic, members of the college were admitted through co-option. At some point in the third century BC, several priesthoods, probably including the quindecimviri, began to be elected through the voting tribes.Andrew Lintott, The Constitution of the Roman Republic (Oxford University Press, 1999), pp.
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The word religio originally meant an obligation to the gods, something expected by them from human beings or a matter of particular care or concern as related to the gods.Jerzy Linderski, "The Augural Law", Aufstieg und Niedergang der römischen Welt II.16 (1986), p. 2180, and in the same volume, G.J. Szemler, "Priesthoods and Priestly Careers in Ancient Rome," p. 2322. In this sense, religio might be translated better as "religious scruple" than with the English word "religion".
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Demeter in an ancient Greek fresco from Panticapaeum in the Bosporan Kingdom (a client state of the Roman Empire), 1st century Crimea. Ceres was served by several public priesthoods. Some were male; her senior priest, the flamen cerialis, also served Tellus and was usually plebeian by ancestry or adoption.Rome's legendary second King, Numa was thought to have instituted the flamines, so Ceres' service by a flamen cerialis suggested her oldest Roman cult as one of great antiquity.
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Saturninus was elected suffect consul for the nundinium July to December of AD 3, as the colleague of Publius Silius.Alison E. Cooley, The Cambridge Manual of Latin Epigraphy (Cambridge: University Press, 2012), p. 458 Here we learn he was a member of two Roman priesthoods: the sodales Augustales and the sodales Titii. Obviously the first did not exist until the emperor Augustus was deified after his death (AD 14), so he may have been admitted to the second first.
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At some point he was admitted to the Quindecimviri sacris faciundis, one of the four most prestigious collegia or priesthoods of ancient Rome. The last office this inscription attests for Carminius, which he held after his consulship, is the proconsular governorship of Asia, which appears to have been during the 60s. Carminius is known to have had two sons. One is Lucius Carminius Lusitanicus, suffect consul in 81; he was doubtlessly born during his father's tenure in Lusitania.
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Syme, "Eight Consuls", p. 112 Nevertheless, either date would fit the next known office: in the year 62 the emperor Nero appointed Geminus, along with Lucius Calpurnius Piso and Aulus Pompeius Paulinus, to a commission to manage the public revenues.Tacitus, Annales, XV.18 According to the inscription from Epidurus, after stepping down from the consulate Geminus became a member of the quindecimviri sacris faciundis, one of the four most prestigious priesthoods of ancient Rome, and the sodales Augustales.
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Patrician families, in particular the Cornelii, Postumii and Valerii, monopolised the leading state priesthoods: the flamines of Jupiter, Mars and Quirinus, as well as the pontifices. The patrician Flamen Dialis employed the "greater auspices" (auspicia maiora) to consult with Jupiter on significant matters of State. Twelve "lesser flaminates" (Flamines minores), were open to plebeians, or reserved to them. They included a Flamen Cerealis in service of Ceres, goddess of grain and growth, and protector of plebeian laws and tribunes.
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A priesthood was frequently a political office and consequently is mentioned along with political honours in the list of a man's distinctions. The priesthoods that a man had held are usually mentioned first in inscriptions before his civil offices and distinctions. Religious offices, as well as civil, were restricted to certain classes, the highest to those of senatorial rank, the next to those of equestrian status; many minor offices, both in Rome and in the provinces, are enumerated in their due order.
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The various colleges for religious purposes were very numerous. Many of them, both in Rome and Italy, and in provincial municipalities, were of the nature of priesthoods. Some were regarded as offices of high distinction and were open only to men of senatorial rank; among these were the Augurs, the Fetiales, the Salii; also the Sodales Divorum Augustorum in imperial times. The records of these colleges sometimes give no information beyond the names of members, but these are often of considerable interest.
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The ballot laws were not the first election laws to be passed. Due to the apparent ineffectiveness of the anti-corruption lex Baebia of 181 BC, the Cornelian- Fulvian law of 159 BC was passed, again targeting corruption. Extending the sumptuary law (lex Orchia) of 182 BC, the lex Didia of 143 BC restricted spending on banquets in all of Italy. In 145 BC, a bill by the tribune L. Licinius Crassus proposed that priesthoods be elected instead of co-opted.
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The gens Ogulnia was an ancient plebeian family at Rome. The gens first came to prominence at the beginning of the third century BC, when the brothers Quintus and Gnaeus Ogulnius, tribunes of the plebs, carried a law opening most of the Roman priesthoods to the plebeians. The only member of the family to obtain the consulship was Quintus Ogulnius Gallus in 269 BC. However, Ogulnii are still found in imperial times.Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, vol.
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Most priesthoods were reserved to high status, male Roman citizens, usually magistrates or ex-magistrates. Most traditional religious rites required that the priest wore a toga praetexta, in a manner described as capite velato (head covered [by a fold of the toga]) when performing augury, reciting prayers or supervising at sacrifices.Palmer, Robert (1996) "The Deconstruction of Mommsen on Festus 462/464, or the Hazards of Interpretation", p. 83 in Imperium sine fine: T. Robert S. Broughton and the Roman Republic.
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The toga virilis ("toga of manhood") was a semi-elliptical, white woolen cloth some 6 feet in width and 12 feet in length, draped across the shoulders and around the body. It was usually worn over a plain white linen tunic. A commoner's toga virilis was a natural off-white; the senatorial version was more voluminous, and brighter. The toga praetexta of curule magistrates and some priesthoods added a wide purple edging, and was worn over a tunic with two vertical purple stripes.
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The College of Epulones was established long after civil reforms had opened the magistracies and most priesthoods to plebeians, who were thus eligible from its beginning. Initially there were three epulones, but later their number was increased to seven; hence they were also known as the septemviri epulonum, "seven men of the epulones". Julius Caesar expanded the college to ten, but after his death it was reduced back to seven. The patera was the sacred bowl used by the epulones.
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79–81; Michael Lipka, Roman Gods: A Conceptual Approach (Brill, 2009), pp. 141–142 At least two state priesthoods were held jointly by a married couple.See Flamen Dialis and rex sacrorum. The Vestal Virgins, the one state priesthood reserved for women, took a vow of chastity that granted them relative independence from male control; among the religious objects in their keeping was a sacred phallus:Mary Beard, J.A. North, and S.R.F. Price, Religions of Rome: A History (Cambridge University Press, 1998), vol.
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It was among the instruments that the emperor Nero played. Although certain forms of dance were disapproved of at times as non-Roman or unmanly, dancing was embedded in religious rituals of archaic Rome, such as those of the dancing armed Salian priests and of the Arval Brothers, priesthoods which underwent a revival during the Principate.Naerebout, pp. 146ff. Ecstatic dancing was a feature of the international mystery religions, particularly the cult of Cybele as practiced by her eunuch priests the GalliNaerebout, pp.
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Public cults required greater knowledge and expertise. The earliest public priesthoods were probably the flamines (the singular is flamen), attributed to king Numa: the major flamines, dedicated to Jupiter, Mars and Quirinus, were traditionally drawn from patrician families. Twelve lesser flamines were each dedicated to a single deity, whose archaic nature is indicated by the relative obscurity of some. Flamines were constrained by the requirements of ritual purity; Jupiter's flamen in particular had virtually no simultaneous capacity for a political or military career.
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1, 104 – 8: there can be no doubt that politicians attempted to manipulate religious law and priesthoods for gain; but were compelled to do so lawfully, and often failed. Priesthood was a costly honour: in traditional Roman practice, a priest drew no stipend. Cult donations were the property of the deity, whose priest must provide cult regardless of shortfalls in public funding – this could mean subsidy of acolytes and all other cult maintenance from personal funds.Horster, in Rüpke (ed), 331 – 2.
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He could boast of membership in two of the most prestigious priesthoods of Imperial Rome, the sodales Augustales and augur. In 7073 he held the Proconsulate of Asia, anomalously extended to three years,Werner Eck, "Jahres- und Provinzialfasten der senatorischen Statthalter von 69/70 bis 138/139", Chiron, 13 (1983), pp. 287-292 then returned to Rome for his second suffect consulship in 74 as the colleague of Quintus Petillius Cerialis.Paul Gallivan, "The Fasti for A. D. 70-96", Classical Quarterly, 31 (1981), pp.
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Such duties included the authority to regulate public morality (censorship) and to conduct a census. As part of the census, the emperor had the power to assign individuals to a new social class, including the senatorial class, which gave the emperor unchallenged control over senate membership. The emperor also had the power to interpret laws and to set precedents. In addition, the emperor controlled the religious institutions, since, as emperor, he was always Pontifex Maximus and a member of each of the four major priesthoods.
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Fonteius Capito, a novus homo, was the son of Gaius Fonteius Capito and a supporter of the Triumvir Marcus Antonius. Of Plebeian origins, perhaps he was a Plebeian Tribune in about 39 BC, and he may have belonged to one of the priesthoods of Ancient Rome by this time.Broughton III, pg. 92 In 39/38 BC, Antonius appointed him to the office of monetalis in one of the eastern provinces of the empire, during which time he minted coins with Antony’s and his wife Octavia’s portrait.
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From Sumerian times, temple priesthoods had attempted to associate current events with certain positions of the planets and stars. This continued to Assyrian times, when Limmu lists were created as a year by year association of events with planetary positions, which, when they have survived to the present day, allow accurate associations of relative with absolute dating for establishing the history of Mesopotamia. The Babylonian astronomers were very adept at mathematics and could predict eclipses and solstices. Scholars thought that everything had some purpose in astronomy.
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The Ogdoadic Tradition stems from the Mediterranean mystery religions of ancient Greece as well as the Theurgic practices of the priesthoods of Ptolemaic Egypt. Its signature symbol is the Eight-pointed Star of Regeneration, an emblem signifying the Regeneration of the Soul and Divine Inspiration. Its philosophy and practices appear in the works of early Hermetists and the teachings of the Neoplatonic schools of Alexandria, Apamea, and Athens in Late Antiquity. According to its initiates, the father-figure of the Tradition is Hermes Trismegistus.
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According to Livy 1.19 the second king of Rome, Numa Pompilius, decided to distract the early, warlike Romans from their violent ways by instilling in them awe and reverence. His projects included promoting religion, certain priesthoods, and the building of temples as a distraction with the beneficial effect of imbuing spirituality. The Janus in the Roman Forum, although not a temple was claimed to be Numa's most famous architectural project. In the early stages of the city of Rome, the inhabitants lived in separate walled villas.
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The Aula Palatina of Trier, Germany (then part of the Roman province of Gallia Belgica), built during the reign of Constantine I (r. 306-337 AD) The conversion of Constantine I ended the Christian persecutions. Constantine successfully balanced his own role as an instrument of the pax deorum with the power of the Christian priesthoods in determining what was (in traditional Roman terms) auspicious – or in Christian terms, what was orthodox. The edict of Milan (313) redefined Imperial ideology as one of mutual toleration.
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The high priest of Mars in Roman public religion was the Flamen Martialis, who was one of the three major priests in the fifteen-member college of flamens. Mars was also served by the Salii, a twelve-member priesthood of patrician youths who dressed as archaic warriors and danced in procession around the city in March. Both priesthoods extend to the earliest periods of Roman history, and patrician birth was required.Christopher Smith, "The Religion of Archaic Rome," in A Companion to Roman Religion, p. 39.
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The identity of the wife of Quintus Junius Blaesus is unknown, as is the date of their marriage. However, Blaesus is known to have had at least two children, both sons, each of whom became consul in his own right: Quintus Junius Blaesus (suffect consul 26) and Lucius Junius Blaesus (suffect consul 28).Syme, R. Augustan Aristocracy (1989), pp. 163, 304 These sons both committed suicide in 36, when Tiberius transferred to others the priesthoods that had previously been promised to the Blaesi during their family's ascendance.
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Zothique is a polytheistic society, where many gods and goddesses are worshipped. Some of this worship is open, with temples and priesthoods; other deities or even demons are worshipped secretly, service to them being either forbidden or at least not spoken of. Some deities are known throughout Zothique; others have their worship confined to a small area or even a single city. Vergama, or "Destiny", is an ancient deity whose attributes are much disputed, though he is often believed to be almost omnipotent, ruling both the heavens and the earth.
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77 An inscription from Mediolanum (modern Milan), now lost, attests that Trachalus had been co-opted into the Septemviri epulones, one of the four most prestigious ancient Roman priesthoods. Trachalus' skill in oratory and at the bar led Otho, upon becoming Emperor during the Year of the Four Emperors (AD 69), to make him an advisor.Tacitus Histories I.90.2 However, with the suicide of Otho and the advent of his rival Vitellius to Rome and imperial power, the life of Trachalus was in danger. Here he was protected by Vitellius' wife Galeria.
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Along with others in the Latter Day Saint movement, members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints believe the restoration of Christ's priesthood came about by the laying on of hands by John the Baptist to Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery. The laying on of hands is seen as a necessary part of confirmation and ordination to the Aaronic and Melchizedek priesthoods. In addition to these confirmations and ordinations, worthy Melchizedek priesthood holders lay their hands on the head of one receiving a blessing of healing, comfort, or counsel.
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198 Following his consulate, Quartinus was admitted to the Septemviri epulonum, one of the four major priesthoods of ancient Rome. This collegium or priesthood was responsible for arranging feasts and public banquets at festivals and games (ludi). He was also assigned another office in the emperor's service, governor of Germania Superior, where a military diploma attests his presence in the province on 16 October 134. The last office Quartinus is known to have held was the proconsular governorship of Asia, at a date estimated by Géza Alföldy to be 144/145.
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Abbott, 352 The emperor Augustus established two new treasuries, which future emperors would always control, called the fiscus Caesaris and the aerarium militare. The fiscus Caesaris replaced the aerarium Saturni, and thus became the principal treasury in Rome.Abbott, 352 The aerarium militare was of minor importance, and its only significant function was to hold funds that were to be used to pay soldiers.Abbott, 353 In addition, the emperor controlled the religious institutions, since, as emperor, he was always Pontifex Maximus and a member of each of the four major priesthoods.
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As in most Latter Day Saint sects, Cutlerite church organization entails a presidency consisting of a prophet- president and two counselors; when a Cutlerite prophet dies, his First Counselor succeeds to his office subject to the "common consent" of the membership. All other offices of the Melchizedek and Aaronic priesthoods are accepted, including apostle, patriarch, high priest, elder, bishop, priest, teacher, and deacon, though not all are filled in the current organization due to its extremely small numbers. All priesthood offices in the church are limited to males.
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The Church of Jesus Christ is independent of any other church in the Latter Day Saint movement. The Church of Jesus Christ has long rejected plural marriage, celestial marriage, two separate priesthoods, and many other doctrines taught by some other Latter Day Saint movement denominations. The Church of Jesus Christ teaches that many of the doctrines and revelations Joseph Smith taught were not from God and were contrary to the Bible and the Book of Mormon. The church also teaches that many of the Latter Day Saint denominations fell into error by following these revelations.
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Marcus Iunius Brutus the founder of the Roman Republic was able to call the comitia exactly for the reason that his office of tribunus celerum entitled him to do so. who were the bodyguard of the king but who also took part in some religious ceremonies; and the augurs, who were in charge of official divination. He devotes much more attention to the last four priesthoods of his list, particularly the vestals and the salii. His minute prescriptions about the ceremonies and sacrifices were certainly written down in order to remember them correctly.
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During the Republic, priesthoods were prized as greatly as the consulship, the censorship, and the triumph. Membership gave the lifelong right to participate prominently in processions at ludi and in public banquets; augurs proudly displayed the symbol of his office, the lituus. Roman augurs were part of a college (Latin collegium) of priests who shared the duties and responsibilities of the position. At the foundation of the Republic in 510 BCE, the patricians held sole claim to this office; by 300 BCE, the office was open to plebeian occupation as well.
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G.W.S. Barrow, "The Clergy at St Andrews", in The Kingdom of the Scots, (Edinburgh, 2003), p. 190, n. 17. At some point between 1206 and 1216, and again in 1220, he managed to obtain absolution from the sentence of excommunication bestowed on the Céli Dé by the Pope; it may be that Bishop William's patronage ensured the opening priesthoods of its church, the Church of St Mary on the Rock at St. Andrews, to non-native clergy, to men such as Henry de Weles,ibid., p. 190, n. 19, & p. 200.
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The highly public nature of these sacrifices, like the role of the Vestals in official Roman religion, contradicts the commonplace notion that women's religious activities in ancient Rome were restricted to the private or domestic sphere. Unlike the Vestals, however, the regina sacrorum and the flaminica Dialis (the wife of the flamen Dialis or high priest of Jupiter) were complements to a male partner; these two priesthoods were gender-balanced and had shared duties.Celia E. Schultz, Women's Religious Activity in the Roman Republic (University of North Carolina Press, 2006), pp. 79–81.
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Dolabella served as consul from January to June 10 AD with Gaius Junius Silanus. Around the time he held the consulate Cornelius Dolabella was co-opted into two Roman priesthoods, the septemviri epulones and the sodales Titensis. When the emperor Augustus died in 14, Dolabella was governor of Dalmatia. Augustus' successor Tiberius, as came to be habitual, delayed the end of Dolabella's tenure to 19 or 20; the next governor of Dalmatia, Lucius Volusius Saturninus, found himself delayed in the office until after Tiberius died in the year 37.
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Also prohibited was the presence of any women in clergy's households unless they were relatives. In 1127 the council condemned the purchase of benefices, priesthoods, or places in monastic houses. It also enacted canons declaring that clergy who refused to give up their wives or concubines would be deprived of their benefices, and that any such women who did not leave the parish where they had been could be expelled and even forced into slavery. Lastly, in 1129 the clergy were once more admonished to live a celibate life and to put aside their wives.
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Beginning with their revolt against Tarquin, and continuing through the early years of the Republic, Rome's patrician aristocrats were the dominant force in politics and society. They initially formed a closed group of about 50 large families, called gentes, who monopolised Rome's magistracies, state priesthoods and senior military posts. The most prominent of these families were the Cornelii, followed by the Aemilii, Claudii, Fabii, and Valerii. The power, privilege and influence of leading families derived from their wealth, in particular from their landholdings, their position as patrons, and their numerous clients.
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In 367, they carried a bill creating the Decemviri sacris faciundis, a college of ten priests, of whom five had to be plebeians, therefore breaking patricians' monopoly on priesthoods. Finally, the resolution of the crisis came from the dictator Camillus, who made a compromise with the tribunes; he agreed to their bills, while they in return consented to the creation of the offices of praetor and curule aediles, both reserved to patricians. Lateranus also became the first plebeian consul in 366; Stolo followed in 361.Livy, vi. 36–42.
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The priesthoods of local urban and rustic Compitalia street-festivals, dedicated to the Lares of local communities, were open to freedmen and slaves, to whom "even the heavy-handed Cato recommended liberality during the festival"; so that the slaves, "being softened by this instance of humanity, which has something great and solemn about it, may make themselves more agreeable to their masters and be less sensible of the severity of their condition".Lott, John. B., The Neighborhoods of Augustan Rome, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2004, , pp. 31, 35, citing Cato, On agriculture, 5.3.
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So essential was the gender complement to these priesthoods that if the wife died, the husband had to give up his office. This is true of the flaminate, and probably true of the rex and regina. The title sacerdos was often specified in relation to a deity or temple, such as a sacerdos Cereris or Cerealis, "priestess of Ceres", an office never held by men. Female sacerdotes played a leading role in the sanctuaries of Ceres and Proserpina in Rome and throughout Italy that observed so-called "Greek rite" (ritus graecus).
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Priestesses of Liber, the Roman god identified with Dionysus, are mentioned by the 1st-century BC scholar Varro, as well as indicated by epigraphic evidence. Other religious titles for Roman women include magistra, a high priestess, female expert or teacher; and ministra, a female assistant, particularly one in service to a deity. A magistra or ministra would have been responsible for the regular maintenance of a cult. Epitaphs provide the main evidence for these priesthoods, and the woman is often not identified in terms of her marital status.
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In 1092 Waimea Valley was given to the high priests or the Kahuna Nui. It eventually became the home of one of the most distinguished priesthoods in the islands, the Pa'ao. Kamehameha the Great's exclusive Kahuna, Hewahewa, was a descendant of the Pa'ao. The Kahuna Nui were essential to Hawaiian society because they were the experts in various fields like farming, healing, spiritual guidance, fishing, and teaching both the Ali’i and the common people. Over the course of time, Waimea became known as “the valley of the priests”.
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Augustus' principate established peace and subtly transformed Rome's religious life – or, in the new ideology of Empire, restored it (see below). Towards the end of the Republic, religious and political offices became more closely intertwined; the office of pontifex maximus became a de facto consular prerogative. Augustus was personally vested with an extraordinary breadth of political, military and priestly powers; at first temporarily, then for his lifetime. He acquired or was granted an unprecedented number of Rome's major priesthoods, including that of pontifex maximus; as he invented none, he could claim them as traditional honours.
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The Romans thought of themselves as highly religious, and attributed their success as a world power to their collective piety (pietas) in maintaining good relations with the Gods. According to legendary history, most of Rome's religious institutions could be traced to its founders, particularly Numa Pompilius, the Sabine second King of Rome, who negotiated directly with the Gods. This archaic religion was the foundation of the mos maiorum, "the way of the ancestors" or simply "tradition", viewed as central to Roman identity. The priesthoods of public religion were held by members of the elite classes.
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Khufu possessed an extensive mortuary cult during the Old Kingdom. At the end of 6th dynasty at least 67 mortuary priests and 6 independent high officials serving at the necropolis are archaeologically attested. Ten of them were already serving during the late 4th dynasty (seven of them were royal family members), 28 were serving during the 5th dynasty and 29 during the 6th dynasty. This is remarkable: Khufu's famous (step-)father Sneferu enjoyed "only" 18 mortuary priesthoods during the same period of time, even Djedefra enjoyed only 8 and Khaefra enjoyed 28.
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By 338 BC, the privileges of the patricians had become largely ceremonial (such as the exclusive right to hold certain state priesthoods). But this does not imply a more democratic form of government. The wealthy plebeians who had led the "plebeian revolution" had no more intention of sharing real power with their poorer and far more numerous fellow-plebeians than did the patricians. It was probably at this time (around 300 BC) that the population was divided, for the purposes of taxation and military service, into seven classes based on an assessment of their property.
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Also before his consulate Proculus was made a fetial and admitted to the Quindecimviri sacris faciundis, the Roman priesthood entrusted with the care of the Sibylline oracles. His career after his consulate is disputed. A fragmentary inscription from Larinum, where most of the name of the subject is missing, nevertheless attests someone enjoyed a second consulate; the priesthoods, the governorship in Lugdunensis, and serving as a monetalis listed in this inscription, combined with the last portion of the subject's cognomen has convinced experts to identify the honorand as Gaius Julius Proculus.Birley, "Hadrian and Greek Senators", p.
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The pharaoh "disbanded the priesthoods of all the other gods... and diverted the income from these [other] cults to support the Aten." To emphasize his complete allegiance to the Aten, the king officially changed his name from Amenhotep IV to Akhenaten (, meaning "Effective for the Aten"). Meanwhile, the Aten was becoming a king itself. Artists started to depict him with the trappings of pharaos, placing his name in cartouchesa rare, but not unique occurrence, as the names of Ra-Horakhty and Amun-Ra had also been found enclosed in cartouches and wearing a uraeus, a symbol of kingship.
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And yet no mention of them occurs in the writings of Cicero or Livy, and that literary allusions to them are very scarce. On the other hand, we possess a long series of the acta or minutes of their proceedings, drawn up by themselves, and inscribed on stone. Excavations, commenced in the 16th century and continued to the 19th, in the grove of the Dea Dia, yielded 96 of these records from 14 to 241 AD. The last inscriptions (Acta Arvalia) about the Arval Brethren date from about 325 AD. They were abolished along with Rome's other traditional priesthoods by 400 AD.
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The lex Ogulnia was a Roman law passed in 300 BC. It was a milestone in the long struggle between the patricians and plebeians. The law was carried by the brothers Quintus and Gnaeus Ogulnius, tribunes of the plebs in 300 BC. For the first time, it opened the various priesthoods to the plebeians. It also increased the number of pontifices from five to nine (including the pontifex maximus), and led to the appointment of Tiberius Coruncanius, the first plebeian pontifex maximus, in 254 BC. The law further required that five of the augurs be plebeians.
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158-160 Propinquus held no further offices until after his consulship, when he was appointed cura alvei Tiberius; also following his consulate, Propinquus was co-opted into the quindecimviri sacris faciundis, one of the major priesthoods of ancient Rome. This was followed by Propinquus being appointed governor of the imperial province of Germania Inferior 130/131 to 132 and 133.Eck, "Jahres- und Provinzialfasten", pp. 169-173 His career was successfully completed when the sortition selected him proconsular governor of Asia, one of the most desired proconsular offices to hold; Propinquus was governor in 140/141.
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There was no principle analogous to "separation of church and state". The priesthoods of the state religion were filled from the same social pool of men who held public office, and in the Imperial era, the Pontifex Maximus was the emperor. Roman religion was practical and contractual, based on the principle of do ut des, "I give that you might give." Religion depended on knowledge and the correct practice of prayer, ritual, and sacrifice, not on faith or dogma, although Latin literature preserves learned speculation on the nature of the divine and its relation to human affairs.
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Existing civic cults to Hestia probably served as stock for the grafting of Greek ruler-cult to the Roman emperor, the Imperial family, and Rome itself. In Athens, a small seating section at the Theatre of Dionysus was reserved for priesthoods of "Hestia on the Acropolis, Livia, and Julia", and of "Hestia Romain" ("Roman Hestia", thus "The Roman Hearth" or Vesta). At Delos, a priest served "Hestia the Athenian Demos" (the people or state) "and Roma". An eminent citizen of Carian Stratoniceia described himself as a priest of Hestia and several other deities, as well as holding several civic offices.
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McKenna was opposed to Christianity and most forms of organized religion or guru-based forms of spiritual awakening, favouring shamanism, which he believed was the broadest spiritual paradigm available, stating that: > What I think happened is that in the world of prehistory all religion was > experiential, and it was based on the pursuit of ecstasy through plants. And > at some time, very early, a group interposed itself between people and > direct experience of the 'Other.' This created hierarchies, priesthoods, > theological systems, castes, ritual, taboos. Shamanism, on the other hand, > is an experiential science that deals with an area where we know nothing.
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Women make up much less than half of the Isiacs known from inscriptions and are rarely listed among the higher ranks of priests, but because women are underrepresented in Roman inscriptions, their participation may have been greater than is recorded. Several Roman writers accused Isis's cult of encouraging promiscuity among women. Jaime Alvar suggests the cult attracted male suspicion simply because it gave women a venue to act outside their husbands' control. Priests of Isis were known for their distinctive shaven heads and white linen clothes, both characteristics drawn from Egyptian priesthoods and their requirements of ritual purity.
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Alexander remained the main recipient of rituals and sacrifices, with the Ptolemies only partaking in them. The elevation of Alexander over the Ptolemies, and their connection to him, was further deepened through the expansion of the cult. Thus in 269 BC, the female priestly office of "basket bearer" (kanēphóros) for the "Sibling Goddess" (thea adelphos) Arsinoe II was established, followed in 211 BC by the "prize-bearer" priestess (athlophoros) in honour of the "Benefactor Goddess" (thea euergetis), Berenice II, and in 199 BC by a priestess for the "Father-Loving Goddess" (thea philopatōr), Arsinoe III. All these priesthoods were subordinate to the priest of Alexander.
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An inscription from Lugdunum (now lost) provides details of his cursus honorum. Quartinus began his career in the emperor's service as an equestrian tribune with Legio III Cyrenaica, which was stationed at Bostra in Syria. He pleased the emperor Trajan, who adlected him in splendissimum ordinem, which, Ronald Syme explains, means that he was "given the latus clavus and he entered the Senate as quaestor urbanus".Syme, "A Dozen Early Priesthoods", Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik, 77 (1989), p. 252 Syme also offers a possible reason for this honor: as tribune in III Cyrenaica, Quartinus participated in the Roman occupation of Arabia Petraea in the years 105/106.
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Statue of the Emperor Tiberius showing the draped toga of the 1st century AD Clothing in ancient Rome generally comprised a short-sleeved or sleeveless, knee-length tunic for men and boys, and a longer, usually sleeved tunic for women and girls. On formal occasions, adult male citizens could wear a woolen toga, draped over their tunic, and married citizen women wore a woolen mantle, known as a palla, over a stola, a simple, long-sleeved, voluminous garment that hung to midstep. Clothing, footwear and accoutrements identified gender, status, rank and social class. This was especially apparent in the distinctive, privileged official dress of magistrates, priesthoods and the military.
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Livy's account is concise: it occupies the whole chapters 20 and 21 of his first book. Livy begins with the priesthoods which Numa established. He created a residentiary flamen to Jupiter endowed with regal insignia, who could carry out the sacred functions of the royal office, which usually he himself discharged: he did so to avoid the neglect of the rites whenever the king went to war, for he saw the warlike attitude of the Romans. He also created the flamines of Mars and Quirinus, the Vestal virgins, who were salaried by the state treasury, the twelfth Salii of Mars Gradivus with their peculiar custom and ritual.
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Milestones in their ultimately successful struggle are the establishment of a plebeian assembly (the concilium plebis) with some legislative power and to elect officers called tribunes of the plebs, who had the power to veto Senatorial decrees (494); and the opening of the Consulship to plebeians (367). By 338, the privileges of the patricians had become largely ceremonial (such as the exclusive right to hold certain state priesthoods). But this does not imply a more democratic form of government. The wealthy plebeians who had led the "plebeian revolution" had no more intention of sharing real power with their poorer and far more numerous fellow-plebeians than did the patricians.
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The deputies, on the other hand, would be assigned proportionally to the number of inhabitants of the province or the capital, considered electoral districts for this matter. The constitution didn't recognize in any way the existence of political parties, though very much likely to occur at the verge of the country's political organisations. The incompatibilities inside the exercise of the legislative function extended to the priesthoods regular functions --in view of the vote of obedience that links the clerics with their superiors -- and the activity in the executive power, as ministry or any other positions alike, unless with special authorization. The constitution expressly dictated that the legislative function should be remunerated.
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Either the elder Aquila had his son at a relatively early point in his life, or he acceded to the consulship late in life.Syme, "Eight consuls", p. 113 A surviving inscription provides an outline of his career.ILS 980 Despite an auspicious start being selected as one of the tresviri monetales for his term in the vigintiviri, and serving his quaestorship in attendance to an unnamed emperor (likely Nero whose name was commonly omitted from inscriptions due to damnatio memoriae), except for his suffect consulship, Aquila's only other recorded achievement was becoming a member of the Quindecimviri sacris faciundis, one of the more prestigious collegia of Roman priesthoods.
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Archbishop Redwood accepted him into the Archdiocese of Wellington as long as no mention was made of his past. So he subsequently lived and worked for twenty years in New Zealand most of them as a lay brother at the Marist Mission Station and later Seminary in Meeanee, where he was known as "Brother Joe." He died on 24 May 1896, at the age of 58, and was buried in the Taradale Cemetery, Napier, Hawke's Bay; the name "Father Joachim Gata Gatafahefa" is now inscribed on his gravestone. After his death, although other Polynesians entered the priesthoods, no indigenous Tongans were ordained as Catholic clergymen until 1925.
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William concerned himself with the morals of the clergy, and presided over three legatine councils, which among other things condemned the purchase of benefices or priesthoods, and admonished the clergy to live a celibate life. He was also known as a builder; among his constructions is the keep of Rochester Castle. Towards the end of his life William was instrumental in the selection of Count Stephen of Boulogne as King of England, despite his oath to the dying King Henry I that he would support the succession of his daughter, the Empress Matilda. Although some chroniclers considered him a perjurer and a traitor for crowning Stephen, none doubted his piety.
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A libertinus was not entitled to hold public office or the highest state priesthoods, but he could play a priestly role in the cult of the emperor. He could not marry a woman from a family of senatorial rank, nor achieve legitimate senatorial rank himself, but during the early Empire, freedmen held key positions in the government bureaucracy, so much so that Hadrian limited their participation by law. Any future children of a freedman would be born free, with full rights of citizenship. The rise of successful freedmen—through either political influence in imperial service or wealth—is a characteristic of early Imperial society.
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However, patricians retained political influence greatly out of proportion with their numbers. Until 172 BC, one of the two consuls elected each year had to be a patrician. In addition, patricians may have retained their original six centuriae, which gave them a third of the total voting-power of the equites, even though they constituted only a tiny minority of the order by 200 BC. Patricians also enjoyed official precedence, such as the right to speak first in senatorial debates, which were initiated by the princeps senatus (Leader of the Senate), a position reserved for patricians. In addition, patricians monopolized certain priesthoods and continued to enjoy enormous prestige.
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In 131 or 130 BC, Ptolemy VIII and Cleopatra III took advantage of this tradition, in their conflict against Cleopatra II, by establishing a new priesthood in honour of Cleopatra III. This new position was called the 'Hieros Polos (sacred foal) of Isis, Great Mother of the Gods' and was placed immediately after the priest of Alexander and ahead of all the priestesses of the previous queens in the order of precedence. The position was unlike the previous priesthoods in that it was established for a living queen rather than a deceased one and because the holder was a priest rather than a priestess. The position is not attested after 105 BC.
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His influence in certain circles (see: the Social Gospel) was affected by his opinions regarding organized priesthoods, which he believed had been responsible for more evil than good throughout human history. Ward emphasized the importance of social forces which could be guided at a macro level by the use of intelligence to achieve conscious progress, rather than allowing evolution to take its own erratic course as proposed by William Graham Sumner and Herbert Spencer. Ward emphasized universal and comprehensive public schooling to provide the public with the knowledge a democracy needs to successfully govern itself. A collection of Ward's writings and photographs is maintained by the Special Collections Research Center of the George Washington University.
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The LDS Church does not recognize a patriarchal order of priesthood separate from the Melchizedek priesthood, and considers that both the Patriarchal and Aaronic priesthoods are subsets of the Melchizedek. Members of the Tribe of Levi are said to have held the Levitical priesthood by right of birth before Jesus, whereas after Jesus, holders of the Aaronic priesthood have received it "by prophecy, and by the laying on of hands". The Doctrine and Covenants, however, contains an indication that the Aaronic priesthood is only available until the Tribe of Levi again "makes an offering unto the Lord in righteousness" (See D&C; 13:1). The Aaronic priesthood is now typically given at the age of twelve.
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133 Syme also notes evidence of two possible relatives in Gades: an inscription by his slave attests to one Lucius Cornelius Pusio, while another to a Marcus Cornelius L.f. Pusio. The inscription from Tibur, created by Cornelia Sabina, a likely wife or daughter, provides notice of two offices the consul of 90 held: Pusio was a member of the Septemviri epulonum, one of the four most prestigious Roman priesthoods, responsible for arranging feasts and public banquets at festivals and games (ludi); and he was also governor of Africa, likely in the year 103/104.Werner Eck, "Jahres- und Provinzialfasten der senatorischen Statthalter von 69/70 bis 138/139", Chiron, 12 (1982), p.
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By "badges of servility" Dionysus seems to have meant distinctive slave-clothing; the slaves who ministered to the Lares were dressed as freedmen for the occasion. A fresco from a building near Pompeii, a rare depiction of Roman men in togae praetextae with dark red borders. It dates from the early Imperial Era and probably shows an event during Compitalia While the supervision of the vici and their religious affairs may have been charged to the Roman elite who occupied most magistracies and priesthoods,Lott, 32 ff. management of the day- to-day affairs and public amenities of neighbourhoods - including their religious festivals - was the responsibility of freedmen and their slave- assistants.
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Philae as seen from Bigeh Island, painted by David Roberts in 1838 Down to the end of the New Kingdom, Isis's cult was closely tied to those of male deities such as Osiris, Min, or Amun. She was commonly worshipped alongside them as their mother or consort, and she was especially widely worshipped as the mother of various local forms of Horus. Nevertheless, she had independent priesthoods at some sites and at least one temple of her own, at Osiris's cult center of Abydos, during the late New Kingdom. The earliest known major temples to Isis were the Iseion at Behbeit el-Hagar in northern Egypt and Philae in the far south.
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Numa was said to have authored several "sacred books" in which he had written down divine teachings, mostly from Egeria and the Muses. PlutarchPlutarch, "The parallel lives, Numa Pompilius, §XXII" (citing Valerius Antias) and LivyLivy, Ab urbe condita record that at his request he was buried along with these "sacred books", preferring that the rules and rituals they prescribed be preserved in the living memory of the state priests, rather than preserved as relics subject to forgetfulness and disuse. About half of these books—Plutarch and Livy differ on their number—were thought to cover the priesthoods he had established or developed, including the flamines, pontifices, Salii, and fetiales and their rituals. The other books dealt with philosophy (disciplina sapientiae).
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The inscription from Baloie mentions he had been admitted to the Septemviri epulonum, one of the four most prestigious ancient Roman priesthoods; because this inscription does not mention his consulate, it can be assumed his entrance preceded that office. Most, if not all, of the letters Pliny wrote to Fundanus fall before he was suffect consul. In the first letter of his collection, Pliny declares that living on his rural estate is preferable to living in Rome where he is subject to constant pleas for assistance;Pliny, Epistulae, I.9 Ronald Syme dates most of the material in that section of Pliny's collection to the year 97, but notes some "can or should be assigned to the next year."Syme, Tacitus (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1958), p.
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The Church of Jesus Christ Restored 1830 is a church of Latter Day Saints that is presently headquartered in Buckner, Missouri. It consists mainly of priesthood and members who left the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and the Restoration church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. The church separated under the leadership of the Quorum of Seventy in the year 2000 when it found these groups had departed from the ratified code of laws that was given of God for the governance of His church at Kirtland, Ohio in 1835. (See Doctrine and Covenants 1835 edition.) The church has two grand priesthoods that were restored to earth through Joseph Smith Jr., and Oliver Cowdery in 1829.
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1–4 This priesthood was thought to be the order of priesthood held by Jesus, and a distinction was made between the Aaronic and Melchizedek priesthoods, which derives in part from the Epistle to the Hebrews, whose author argues that Jesus arose "after the order of Melchizedec, and not ... after the order of Aaron" (Heb. 7:11). Although there were generally considered to be only two orders of priesthood during most of Smith's life, a year before his death, on August 27, 1843, he referred to a third order of priesthood called the Patriarchal priesthood.Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, § 6, pp. 322–23. This one of the "3 grand orders of priesthood", Smith said, was second in greatness between the lower Aaronic and the higher Melchizedek.
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While most Latter Day Saints recognize that priesthood may be conferred as part of an ordination ceremony, some feminist Mormons understand the endowment ceremony to be an endowment of priesthood authority. In the washing and anointing portion of the endowment, men are washed and anointed (by men) "to become kings and priests", while women are washed and anointed (by women) "to become queens and priestesses". Later in the ceremony, both men and women are clothed in the "robes of the priesthood" and "prepared to officiate in the ordinances of" the Aaronic and Melchizedek priesthoods. Thus, it has been suggested that the endowment ceremony was recognized as an endowment of priesthood authority to both men and women, although not an ordination to a specific priesthood office.
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One of Smith's associates that was present at the conference expressed the view that this ordination "consisted [of] the endowment—it being a new order—and bestowed authority",Corrill, 18 and later that year, an early convert who had left the church claimed that many of the Saints "have been ordained to the High Priesthood, or the order of Melchizedek; and profess to be endowed with the same power as the ancient apostles were". In 1835, the historical record was muddled a bit when the first edition of the Doctrine and Covenants altered pre-1831 revelations to make a distinction between the Aaronic and Melchizedek priesthoods, and to classify the offices of elder and apostle as part of the latter.
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As the eldest and most experienced of Vespasian's sons, Titus shared tribunician power with his father, received seven consulships, the censorship, and was given command of the Praetorian Guard; powers that left no doubt he was the designated heir to the Empire.Jones (1992), p. 18 As a second son, Domitian held honorary titles, such as Caesar or Princeps Iuventutis, and several priesthoods, including those of augur, pontifex, frater arvalis, magister frater arvalium, and sacerdos collegiorum omnium, but no office with imperium. He held six consulships during Vespasian's reign but only one of these, in 73, was an ordinary consulship. The other five were less prestigious suffect consulships, which he held in 71, 75, 76, 77 and 79 respectively, usually replacing his father or brother in mid-January.
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2, 4.8a for Livy, 1.9 & 5 – 7 (Sabines and temple to Jupiter) and Plutarch, Romulus, 11, 1 – 4. Aeneas urged by the Penates to continue his journey to found Rome (4th century AD illustration)Illustration of Vergil, Aeneid 3.147; MS Vat. lat. 3225, folio 28 recto His Sabine successor Numa was pious and peaceable, and credited with numerous political and religious foundations, including the first Roman calendar; the priesthoods of the Salii, flamines, and Vestals; the cults of Jupiter, Mars, and Quirinus; and the Temple of Janus, whose doors stayed open in times of war but in Numa's time remained closed. After Numa's death, the doors to the Temple of Janus were supposed to have remained open until the reign of Augustus.
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333 Two inscriptions, one an altar dedicated to the god Mercury, independently confirm Faustus as commander of this legion., Normal practice was to also allocate a province to a senator of praetorian rank to govern for about three years, but much of the rest of the inscription on the Colossi of Memnon, is lost so it is uncertain if that was the case with Faustus. Because priestly offices appear at the beginning of the list of his offices, we know Faustus was co-opted into the Septemviri epulonum, one of the four most prestigious ancient Roman priesthoods, as well as the sodales Augustales. The rest of his life is a blank except for one event: the inscribing of the text at Luxor.
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According to the LDS Church's Doctrine and Covenants, the duty of an elder is to "teach, expound, exhort, baptize, and watch over the church."Doctrine and Covenants, Elders have the authority to administer to and bless the sick and afflicted, to "confirm those who are baptized into the church, by the laying on of hands for the baptism of fire and the Holy Ghost",Doctrine and Covenants, to baptize and give others the Aaronic or Melchizedek priesthoods as directed by priesthood leaders, and to take the lead in all meetings as guided by the Holy Spirit.Doctrine and Covenants, An elder may ordain others to the priesthood offices of deacon, teacher, priest, or elder. In practice, elders may be responsible for many of the day-to-day operations of a ward.
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The population of Babylonia became restive and increasingly disaffected under Nabonidus. He excited a strong feeling against himself by attempting to centralize the polytheistic religion of Babylonia in the temple of Marduk at Babylon, and while he had thus alienated the local priesthoods, the military party also despised him on account of his antiquarian tastes. He seemed to have left the defense of his kingdom to his son Belshazzar (a capable soldier but poor diplomat who alienated the political elite), occupying himself with the more congenial work of excavating the foundation records of the temples and determining the dates of their builders. He also spent time outside Babylonia, rebuilding temples in the Assyrian city of Harran, and also among his Arab subjects in the deserts to the south of Mesopotamia.
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During the Old Kingdom, the priesthoods of the major deities attempted to organize the complicated national pantheon into groups linked by their mythology and worshipped in a single cult center, such as the Ennead of Heliopolis which linked important deities such as Atum, Ra, Osiris, and Set in a single creation myth. Meanwhile, pyramids, accompanied by large mortuary temple complexes, replaced mastabas as the tombs of pharaohs. In contrast with the great size of the pyramid complexes, temples to gods remained comparatively small, suggesting that official religion in this period emphasized the cult of the divine king more than the direct worship of deities. The funerary rituals and architecture of this time greatly influenced the more elaborate temples and rituals used in worshipping the gods in later periods.
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They retained their religious authority until the Christian emperor Gratian confiscated their revenues and his successor Theodosius I closed the Temple of Vesta permanently. The Romans also had at least two priesthoods that were each held jointly by a married couple, the rex and regina sacrorum, and the flamen and flaminica Dialis. The regina sacrorum ("queen of the sacred rites") and the flaminica Dialis (high priestess of Jupiter) each had her own distinct duties and presided over public sacrifices, the regina on the first day of every month, and the flaminica every nundinal cycle (the Roman equivalent of a week). The highly public nature of these sacrifices, like the role of the Vestals, indicates that women's religious activities in ancient Rome were not restricted to the private or domestic sphere.
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While Mormons do not believe such groups had the fullness of the gospel (often meaning priesthood authority of the Aaronic and Melchizedek Priesthoods), and neither considering themselves Protestant, they do however believe that such groups had many righteous leaders and members who could be considered saints because they followed the light of Christ and sought to follow Him. Such people would include Wycliffe and Tyndale, who have been brought up most recently in an LDS General Conference.Packer, Boyd K, October Conference 2005 (Ensign, November 2005,p.70). The majority of members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints believe that this great and abominable church includes any organized group of people who fight against God and His divine purposes by means of persecution, false teachings and belief systems, and oppression.
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The "fullness of the gospel" is contained within the Bible and Book of Mormon. Other scripture is also accepted from the Book of Commandments and portions of the RLDS Doctrine and Covenants but specific revelations therein must be deemed by the church to be "in harmony with the fullness of the gospel as contained in the Bible and Book of Mormon" (which is not always the case). Zion's Branch utilizes the Inspired Version of the Bible, and the RLDS edition of the Book of Mormon. Zion's Branch teaches baptism by immersion, laying of hands for receipt of the Holy Ghost ("Confirmation"), administration of the Sacrament (the church practices closed communion), laying on of hands for healing of the sick, and ordination (of males only) by laying on of hands to various offices in the Aaronic and Melchizedek priesthoods.
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The Grand Secretariat drew its members from the Hanlin Academy and were considered part of the imperial authority, not the ministerial one (hence being at odds with both the emperor and ministers at times). The Secretariat operated as a coordinating agency, whereas the Six MinistriesPersonnel, Revenue, Rites, War, Justice, and Public Workswere direct administrative organs of the state: # The Ministry of Personnel was in charge of appointments, merit ratings, promotions, and demotions of officials, as well as granting of honorific titles. # The Ministry of Revenue was in charge of gathering census data, collecting taxes, and handling state revenues, while there were two offices of currency that were subordinate to it. # The Ministry of Rites was in charge of state ceremonies, rituals, and sacrifices; it also oversaw registers for Buddhist and Daoist priesthoods and even the reception of envoys from tributary states.
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Lugdunum set the type for official Western cult as a form of Roman-provincial identity, parceled into the establishment of military-administrative centres. These were strategically located within the unstable, "barbarian" Western provinces of the new Principate and inaugurated by military commanders who were – in all but one instance – members of the imperial family.Fishwick, vol 1,1, 97–149.) The first priest of the Ara (altar) at Lugdunum's great Imperial cult complex was Caius Julius Vercondaridubnus, a Gaul of the provincial elite, given Roman citizenship and entitled by his priestly office to participate in the local government of his provincial concilium. Though not leading to senatorial status, and almost certainly an annually elected office (unlike the traditional lifetime priesthoods of Roman flamines), priesthood in imperial provinces thus offered a provincial equivalent to the traditional Roman cursus honorum.
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In the public religion of ancient Rome, men and women of the social elite served as priests of the state cultus. Most priesthoods for men allowed the officeholder to lead an active political and military life as well; a few of the most archaic offices, such as that of the Flamen Dialis or high priest of Jupiter, served under strict religious prohibitions. Through interpretatio graeca and romana, the religions of other peoples incorporated into the Roman Empire coexisted within the Roman theological hierarchy. The cult of the Phrygian goddess Cybele, for instance, was imported from Galatia and integrated into Roman state religion as a result of the Second Punic War, at the end of the 3rd century BC. Six centuries later, as the Empire was becoming Christianized, the Calendar of Filocalus records the official observance of other international deities such as Isis.
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Because Latter Day Saints believe that priesthood authority and keys may be granted only by one who holds that authority or keys, they believe it is important that a person trace their priesthood through a line of succession from a person in the Bible who was known to hold that authority or keys. Moreover, Latter Day Saints believe that the priesthood authority was absent from the earth during the Great Apostasy, and that priesthood had to be restored through Joseph Smith. Catholic and Orthodox Christians do not believe that such a complete apostasy ever took place when defending the validity of their priesthoods, and these churches do not recognize the priesthood exercised by Latter Day Saints. Latter Day Saints believe that ancient prophets and apostles conferred the priesthood directly upon Smith and other early members of the movement.
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Because Latter-day Saints believe that priesthood authority and keys may be granted only by one who holds that authority or keys, they believe it is important that a person trace their priesthood through a line of succession from a person in the Bible who was known to hold that authority or keys. Moreover, Latter-day Saints believe that the priesthood authority was absent from the earth during the Great Apostasy, and that priesthood had to be restored through Joseph Smith. Catholic and Orthodox Christians do not believe that such a complete apostasy ever took place when defending the validity of their priesthoods, and these churches do not recognize the priesthood exercised by Latter-day Saints. Latter-day Saints believe that ancient prophets and apostles conferred the priesthood directly upon Smith and other early members of the movement.
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In any important temple this must evidently have been far more than the priest or his family could consume, and accordingly it must have been sold, and so constituted a considerable source of income. Consequently, a priesthood was an office well paid and much sought after; and we actually find in later Greek times, especially in Asia Minor, that priesthoods were frequently sold, under proper guarantees and with due sureties as to the duties being carried out. Sometimes a fee to the priest had to be paid in cash; in some cases a priest or priestess was allowed to take up a collection on certain days. On the other hand, the duties of a priest are often recorded; he had to see to the cleaning and care of the temple and its contents, to provide flowers and garlands for decorations and to supply the regular daily service.
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The obverse depicts a group of statues representing the Lares Praestites, which was described by Ovid.Ovid, Fasti, v, 129–145Crawford, Roman Republican Coinage, p. 312. The Lex Ogulnia (300) gave patricians and plebeians more-or-less equal representation in the augural and pontifical colleges;Cornell, The beginnings of Rome, p. 342 other important priesthoods, such as the Quindecimviri ("The Fifteen"), and the epulonesEstablished in 196 to take over the running of a growing number of ludi and festivals from the pontifices were opened to any member of the senatorial class.Lipka, M., Roman Gods: a conceptual approach, Versnel, H., S., Frankfurter, D., Hahn, J., (Editors), Religions in the Graeco-Roman world, Brill, 2009, pp. 171–172 To restrain the accumulation and potential abuse of priestly powers, each gens was permitted one priesthood at any given time, and the religious activities of senators were monitored by the censors.
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Further Greek influences on cult images and types represented the Roman Penates as forms of the Greek Dioscuri. The military-political adventurers of the Later Republic introduced the Phrygian goddess Ma (identified with the Roman Bellona, the Egyptian mystery-goddess Isis and the Persian Mithras.) A 3rd-century Roman Pallas Athena mosaic from Tusculum, now in the Vatican Museums The spread of Greek literature, mythology and philosophy offered Roman poets and antiquarians a model for the interpretation of Rome's festivals and rituals, and the embellishment of its mythology. Ennius translated the work of Graeco-Sicilian Euhemerus, who explained the genesis of the gods as apotheosized mortals. In the last century of the Republic, Epicurean and particularly Stoic interpretations were a preoccupation of the literate elite, most of whom held – or had held – high office and traditional Roman priesthoods; notably, Scaevola and the polymath Varro.
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