He must not have near him, or behold, anything in the shape of a chain. He was not allowed to cast eyes on an armed host, to mount, or even to touch, a horse, to touch a corpse, or grave, or a goat, or a dog, or raw meat or anything unclean. He was preceded by his lictor, and by heralds, who called on the people to stop their work, as the flamen was not permitted to look upon any labour. ( See CAMILLUS.) Every day was for him a holy day, so that he never appeared without the insignia of his office, the conical hat, the thick woollen toga proetexta woven by his wife, the sacrificial knife, and a rod to keep the people away from him. In the performance of his sacred functions he was assisted by his children as camilli. ( See MARRIAGE.) If his wife died, he resigned his office. He must be born of a marriage celebrated by confarreatio, and live himself in indissoluble marriage. He, his wife, their children, and his house on the Palatine were dedicated to this god. Indeed, the Flamen Dialis, whose superior position among the flamens conferred upon him certain privileges, as the toga proetexta, the sella curulis, a seat in the senate, and the services of a lictor, was in proportion obliged to submit to more restrictions than the rest. The Flamen Dialis was originally not allowed to spend a night away from home: in later times, under the Empire, the Pontifex could allow him to sleep out for two nights in the year. In course of time, it is true, they were allowed to hold urban offices, but even then they were forbidden to go out of Italy. They were exempted from all the duties of civic life, and excluded at the same time from all participation in politics. This the flamines were obliged to wear always out of doors, indeed the Flamen Dialis had originally to wear it indoors as well.
The emblem of their dignity was a white conical hat ( apex), made out of the hide of a sacrificed animal, and having an olive branch and woollen thread at the top. Their office was for life, and they could only be deprived of it in certain events. The remaining 12 were flamines minores, plebeians, and attached to less important deities, as Vulcanus, Flora, Pomona, and Carmenta.
There were 15 Flamines three higher ones ( Flamines maiores) of patrician rank: these were the flamen Dialis (of Jupiter), Martialis (of Mars), and Quirinalis (of Quirinus). The special priest of a special deity among the Romans. Deprecated: Function split() is deprecated in /www/www-ccat/data/classics/myth/php/tools/dictionary.php on line 64
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