Reply to Thread

Message:: [QUOTE="GinoLR, post: 8000376, member: 128351"]In Rome this emperor was very controversial, but everything he did was perfectly legal. Being the Pontifex Maximus, he was the only male admitted in the Temple of Vesta and in the House of Vestal virgins. The Pontifex Maximus was - and still is - the only one who has the right to touch what is sacred : a plebeian tribune (Tiberius Gracchus was killed by a mob led by the Pont. Max. Scipio Nasica), the calendar (reformed by the Pont. Max. Julius Caesar and later by the Pont. Max. Gregory XIII), a Vestal Virgin. Today the catholic marriage is a sacrament that cannot be cancelled except by the Pont. Max., the Pope. Elagabalus also justified this by the fact she was a priestess, and himself was the High Priest: in oriental religions sex could be a religious act, there were sacred prostitutes in temples, and sex between the priest and priestess was a ritual called "hierogamy". And please, consider that Elagabalus married her ! He did not act like Caracalla (another Pont. Max. by the way) who had attempted to rape a Vestal...[/QUOTE]