Pontifex Maximus facts for kids

Augustus as Pontifex Maximus
(Via Labicana Augustus)

The Pontifex Maximus was the high priest of the Roman Republic and Empire. The words meant 'greatest bridge-builder'. It was a religious post under the Roman Republic, and a mostly ceremonial post under the Roman Empire. The term was later used in the Roman Catholic Church for the Pope.

Images for kids

Denarius depicting Julius Caesar as pontifex maximus
Pontifex maximus and Augustus Marcus Aurelius (r. 161 – 180) performing sacrifice in a relief from the Arch of Marcus Aurelius (Capitoline Museums)
Papal coin of Pius VI from 1795, marked on the reverse:

·pivs· ·sextus· pontifex maximus mdccxcv

Pius the Sixth Pontifex Maximus 1795
Inscription of Pope Pius IX (r. 1846 – 1878) on the Colosseum describing him as pivs ix pont· max· and commemorating the 19th-century restoration