Flamen Martialis

In ancient Roman religion, the Flamen Martialis was the high priest of the official state cult of Mars, the god of war. He was one of the flamines maiores, the three high priests who were the most important of the fifteen flamens. The Flamen Martialis would have led public rites on the days sacred to Mars. Among his duties was the ritual brandishing of the sacred spears of Mars when the Roman army 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. It is not clear whether the death of his wife required him to resign his duties, as was the case for the Flamen Dialis.

Duties

At the Larentalia in April, the Flamen Martialis poured libations in honour of Acca Laurentia, wife of Faustulus, the foster-father of the Rome's twin founders, Romulus and Remus. 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.