Epulones

File:PiramideCestiaIscrizione1.jpg, noting that Gaius Cestius (1st century BC) was a member of the College of Epulones ({{small|EPVLO}}) and one of the septemviri Epulonum ({{small|VII·VIR·EPVLONVM}}).]]

The college was founded in 196 BC due to a law passed by Gaius Licinius Lucullus.{{Cite book |last=Orlin |first=Eric |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mHD4CgAAQBAJ |title=Routledge Encyclopedia of Ancient Mediterranean Religions |date=2015-11-19 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-134-62559-8 |language=en}}{{Cite book |last1=Rüpke |first1=Jörg |url=https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1515/9783110448184-002/html |title=Public priests and religious innovation in imperial Rome |last2=Santangelo |first2=Federico |date=2017-08-21 |publisher=De Gruyter |isbn=978-3-11-044818-4 |pages=16 |language=en |doi=10.1515/9783110448184-002}} The need for such a college arose as the increasingly elaborate festivals required experts to oversee their organization.{{cite web |url=http://www.roman-empire.net/religion/religion.html |title=Religion in the Roman Empire |access-date=2006-08-24 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160512041736/http://www.roman-empire.net/religion/religion.html |archive-date=2016-05-12 |url-status=dead }} They were tasked with attending and managing banquets known as epulum which were dedicated to the gods.{{Cite book |last=Smith |first=William |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Hhx0EAAAQBAJ |title=A Smaller Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities |date=2022-06-03 |publisher=DigiCat |language=en}}{{Cite web |last1=Rose |first1=Herbert Jennings |last2=North |first2=John |date=2016-03-07 |title=septemviri epulones |url=https://oxfordre.com/classics/display/10.1093/acrefore/9780199381135.001.0001/acrefore-9780199381135-e-5829 |access-date=2023-01-10 |website=Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Classics |language=en |doi=10.1093/acrefore/9780199381135.013.5829|isbn=978-0-19-938113-5 }} One major epulum was the epulum jovis which was dedicated to Jupiter.{{Cite book |url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/book/10.1002/9781444338386 |title=The Encyclopedia of Ancient History |date=2013-01-21 |publisher=Wiley |isbn=978-1-4051-7935-5 |editor-last=Bagnall |editor-first=Roger S |edition=1 |language=en |doi=10.1002/9781444338386.wbeah17415 |editor-last2=Brodersen |editor-first2=Kai |editor-last3=Champion |editor-first3=Craige B |editor-last4=Erskine |editor-first4=Andrew |editor-last5=Huebner |editor-first5=Sabine R.|editor-link5=Sabine R. Huebner }} Previously these banquets were managed by the pontiffs.{{Cite book |last=Denova |first=Rebecca I. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LZ5yDwAAQBAJ |title=Greek and Roman Religions |date=2019-01-14 |publisher=John Wiley & Sons |isbn=978-1-118-54295-8 |pages=108 |language=en}}

There were four great religious corporations (quattuor amplissima collegia) of ancient Roman priests; the two most important were the College of Pontiffs and the college of augurs; the fourth was the quindecimviri sacris faciundis. The third college was the epulones; their duties to arrange the feasts and public banquets for festivals and games (ludi) had originally been carried out by the pontiffs.{{cite book |first=Andrew |last=Lintott |title=The Constitution of the Roman Republic |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yaFPohP2lB8C&pg=PA184 |date=1 April 1999 |publisher=Clarendon Press |isbn=978-0-19-158467-1 |pages=184 ff}}

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.{{cite web |url=http://ancientlibrary.com/seyffert/0224.html |title=Dictionary of Classical Antiquities |page=221 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101203195818/http://www.ancientlibrary.com/seyffert/0224.html |archive-date=2010-12-03 |url-status=usurped |df=dmy-all}} Initially there were three epulones,{{Cite book |last1=Cadoux |first1=Theodore John |last2=Lintott |first2=Andrew |date=2016-03-07 |chapter=triumviri |url=https://oxfordre.com/classics/display/10.1093/acrefore/9780199381135.001.0001/acrefore-9780199381135-e-6576 |access-date=2023-01-10 |title=Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Classics |language=en |doi=10.1093/acrefore/9780199381135.013.65769 |doi-broken-date=1 November 2024 |isbn=978-0-19-938113-5 }} but later their number was increased to seven by Sulla;{{Cite book |last1=Dillon |first1=Matthew |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Ce3WAQAAQBAJ |title=Ancient Rome: A Sourcebook |last2=Garland |first2=Lynda |author2-link=Lynda Garland |date=2013-10-28 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-136-76143-0 |pages=125 |language=en}} hence they were also known as the septemviri epulonum, "seven men of the sacrificial banquets". Julius Caesar expanded the college to ten, but after his death it was reduced back to seven. The college continued to exist into the fourth century, although it faded away due to the rise of Christianity.{{Cite book |last=Bunson |first=Matthew |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=T5tic2VunRoC |title=Encyclopedia of the Roman Empire |date=2014-05-14 |publisher=Infobase Publishing |isbn=978-1-4381-1027-1 |pages=498 |language=en}}

The patera was the sacred bowl used by the epulones.{{Cite book |last1=Dillon |first1=Matthew |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sYQfEAAAQBAJ |title=The Ancient Romans: History and Society from the Early Republic to the Death of Augustus |last2=Garland |first2=Lynda |date=2021-04-21 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-317-39134-0 |language=en}} It was shallow with a raised center so that when held in the palm, the thumb could be placed on the raised centre without profaning the libation, as it is poured into the focus, or sacred fire. The patera was the special emblem of the epulones. The paten used today by Roman Catholic priests, omits the raised center.

{{reflist}}

• [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/secondary/SMIGRA*/Epulones.html Lacus Curtius website: Epulones] from William Smith, A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, John Murray, London, 1875.
• [http://www.csun.edu/~hcfll004/romanmagistrates.html Roman Magistrates]
• [https://archive.today/20050223115758/http://www.religioromana.net/ritualtools.htm religio Romana:] Patera
• {{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20101203195818/http://www.ancientlibrary.com/seyffert/0224.html Epulones]}}

Category:Ancient Roman religious titles

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