4-515: The Sodales or Sacerdotes Augustales ( singular Sodalis or Sacerdos Augustalis ), or simply Augustales , were an order ( sodalitas ) of Roman priests originally instituted by Tiberius to attend to the maintenance of the cult of Augustus and the Julii . Their establishment in 14 AD is described in the Annales of Tacitus . Their membership and organisation was very different from that of
8-486: A member of the Augustales. These senatorial sodales Augustales were very different from the municipal seviri Augustales , as Linderski put it: “two vastly dissimilar organizations sharing a similar name”. Related to the sodales Augustales were lesser known priesthoods that maintained the cults to deceased, deified emperors, each of whom had their own dedicated sodality . This Ancient Rome –related article
12-548: The Cura Annonae ( annona or grain dole). In Rome, the twenty one sodales were chosen by lot from among the aristocracy, to which were added Tiberius, Drusus , Claudius , and Germanicus , as members of the imperial family. Women might be appointed priestesses of Augustus, a practice probably originating in the appointment of Livia by a decree of the Senate as priestess to her deceased husband. A flamen could also be
16-501: The Augustales or seviri Augustales , found throughout the cities and towns of the western Roman empire and usually selected by town councilors. Up to 95% of attested seviri Augustales were freedmen. Many were members of professional associations, not invariably wealthy but still respectable, acting as benefactors to their communities and the State by funding public gifts ( Munera ), such as entertainments, new buildings and distribution of
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