In ancient Roman religion

Religion in ancient Rome

Religion in ancient Rome encompassed the religious beliefs and cult practices regarded by the Romans as indigenous and central to their identity as a people, as well as the various and many cults imported from other peoples brought under Roman rule. Romans thus offered cult to innumerable deities...

, the Flamen Martialis was the high priest of the official state cult of Mars

Mars (mythology)

Mars was the Roman god of war and also an agricultural guardian, a combination characteristic of early Rome. He was second in importance only to Jupiter, and he was the most prominent of the military gods worshipped by the Roman legions...

, the god of war. He was one of the flamines maiores, the three high priests who were the most important of the fifteen lamen]s. The Flamen Martialis would have led public rites on the days sacred to Mars. Among his duties was the ritual brandishing of the sacred spear

Spear

A spear is a pole weapon consisting of a shaft, usually of wood, with a pointed head.The head may be simply the sharpened end of the shaft itself, as is the case with bamboo spears, or it may be made of a more durable material fastened to the shaft, such as flint, obsidian, iron, steel or...

s of Mars when the Roman army

Roman army

The Roman army is the generic term for the terrestrial armed forces deployed by the kingdom of Rome , the Roman Republic , the Roman Empire and its successor, the Byzantine empire...

 was preparing for war.

Like other flamines maiores, the high priest of Mars was a patrician and required to marry through the ceremony of confarreatio

Confarreatio

In ancient Rome, confarreatio was a traditional patrician form of marriage. The ceremony involved the bride and bridegroom sharing a cake of spelt, in Latin far or panis farreus, hence the rite's name. The Flamen Dialis and Pontifex Maximus presided over the wedding, and ten witnesses had to be...

. It is not clear whether the death of his wife required him to resign his duties, as was the case for the Flamen Dialis

Flamen Dialis

In ancient Roman religion, the Flamen Dialis was the high priest of Jupiter. There were 15 flamines, of which three were flamines maiores, serving the three gods of the Archaic Triad...

.

Duties

At the Larentalia

Larentalia

The Roman festival of Larentalia was held on December 23, but was ordered to be observed twice a year by Augustus; by some supposed to be in honour of the Lares, a kind of domestic genii, or divinities, worshipped in houses, and esteemed the guardians and protectors of families, supposed to reside...

 in April, the Flamen Martialis poured libation

Libation

A libation is a ritual pouring of a liquid as an offering to a god or spirit or in memory of those who have died. It was common in many religions of antiquity and continues to be offered in various cultures today....

s in honour of Acca Laurentia, wife of Faustulus

Faustulus

In Roman mythology, Faustulus was the shepherd who found the infants Romulus and Remus, who were being suckled by a she-wolf, known as Lupa, on the Palatine Hill. He, with his wife, Acca Larentia, raised the children. In some versions of the myth, Larentia was a prostitute...

, the foster-father of the Rome's twin founders, Romulus and Remus

Romulus and Remus

Romulus and Remus are Rome's twin founders in its traditional foundation myth, although the former is sometimes said to be the sole founder...

. It is assumed by modern scholars, though nowhere specifically stated in any ancient source, that the Flamen Martialis presided over the October Horse, a sacrifice of a horse to Mars in the Campus Martius

Campus Martius

The Campus Martius , was a publicly owned area of ancient Rome about in extent. In the Middle Ages, it was the most populous area of Rome...

.

The major flamens were placed under several religious prohibitions that restricted their military and political careers. In the 240s BC, for instance, the consul Aulus Postumius Albinus could not assume his military command, because the pontifex maximus

Pontifex Maximus

The Pontifex Maximus was the high priest of the College of Pontiffs in ancient Rome. This was the most important position in the ancient Roman religion, open only to patricians until 254 BC, when a plebeian first occupied this post...

 Lucius Caecilius Metellus

Lucius Caecilius Metellus (died 221 BC)

Lucius Caecilius Metellus was the son of Lucius Caecilius Metellus Denter. He was Consul in 251 BC and 247 BC, Pontifex Maximus in 243 BC and Dictator in 224 BC....

 invoked the prohibition against a Flamen Martialis leaving the city.

List of Flamines Martiales

The priesthood was held for life; dates given below represent the year in which the priesthood is recorded.

• Aulus Postumius Albinus
  Aulus Postumius Albinus (consul 242 BC)
  Aulus Postumius Albinus was a politician of Ancient Rome, of patrician rank, of the 3rd century BC.He was elected consul in 242 BC with Gaius Lutatius Catulus, who defeated the Carthaginians in the Battle of the Aegates Islands, and thus, brought the First Punic War to an end. Albinus was kept in...
  
   (consul 242 BC), ca. 244 BC.
• Marcus Aemilius Regillus, d. 204 BC.
• Lucius Veturius Philo, his successor in 204 BC.
• Lucius Valerius Flaccus, consul 131 BC
  131 BC
  Year 131 BC was a year of the pre-Julian Roman calendar. At the time it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Mucianus and Flaccus...
  
  .
• Lucius Valerius Flaccus
  Lucius Valerius Flaccus (princeps senatus 86 BC)
  Lucius Valerius Flaccus was a consul of the Roman Republic in 100 BC and princeps senatus during the civil wars of the 80s...
  
  , consul 100 BC and princeps senatus
  Princeps senatus
  The princeps senatus was the first member by precedence of the Roman Senate. Although officially out of the cursus honorum and owning no imperium, this office brought enormous prestige to the senator holding it.-Overview:...
  
  in 86 BC.
• Lucius Cornelius Lentulus Niger (d. 56 BC
  56 BC
  Year 56 BC was a year of the pre-Julian Roman calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Lentulus and Philippus...
  
  ?), successor of the preceding in 69 BC, and notable for the detailed record of the pontifical dinner held for his inauguration.
• Lucius Lentulus, ca. 25 BC
• C. Iunius Silanus, 10 AD.