ABSTRACT
The Romans in early days knew all about sacral kingship. The King was a mediator between the divine and life on earth. Servius Tullius traced his descent to Vulcanus, or else the Lar Familiaris. The rex sacrorum remained as a ritual priesthood despite the suspicion attaching to the word rex. The same office existed in a number of Latin cities. Tradition recalled reges augures. The Regia remained as a sacred building, containing shrines to Mars and Ops, and the site for ceremonies associated with the ritual of the October Horse and the worship of Janus. Something of the sacrosanctity attaching to the royal mediator was transferred to the magistrates of the Republic, to the two consuls (by whatever name they were known at first), and to the tribunes.
