A fetial (/ˈfiːʃəl/; Latin: fētiālis [feːt̪iˈaːlɪs], pl. fētiālēs) was a type of priest in ancient Rome. They formed a collegium devoted to Jupiter as...

to the later Republic. Tullus Hostilius and Ancus Marcius instituted the fetial priests. The first "outsider" Etruscan king, Lucius Tarquinius Priscus,...

and whom the chief fetial (pater patratus) invokes in the rite concluding a treaty. If a declaration of war ensues, the fetial calls upon Jupiter and...

probably assisted by "the use of recuperatores to mediate disputes and fetial priests to control the declaration of war". The effect to make it more difficult...

which should only be undertaken with a ritualized declaration of war by the fetial priests. Foreign ambassadors were protected by the ius gentium, and it was...

would be bound by the outcome of the fight. Marcus Valerius was appointed Fetial, and Spurius Fusius Pater Patratus, for the purposes of binding Rome by...

brought out to play a prominent part in the ceremony of treaty-making. The fetial, who on that occasion represented the Roman people, at the solemn moment...

appear in Cicero: "As for war, humane laws touching it are drawn up in the fetial code of the Roman People." Specifically, "no war is just, unless it is entered...

brought out to play a prominent part in the ceremony of treaty-making. The fetial, who on that occasion represented the Roman people, at the solemn moment...

"just war" (bellum iustum) thus required a ritualized declaration by the fetial priests. More broadly, conventions of war and treaty-making were part of...

Averruncus. A "just war" was a war considered justifiable by the principles of fetial law (ius fetiale). Because war could bring about religious pollution, it...

the first time that the Romans declared war by means of the rites of the fetials. Ancus Marcius marched from Rome with a newly levied army and took the...

attributed to Numa: curiones, flamines, celeres, augurs, vestals, salii, fetials and pontiffs. He says only a few words about the curiones, who were in...

into Campanian territory and ravage it." When this news reached Rome, the fetials were sent to demand redress, and when this was refused Rome declared war...

formalized the declaration of war by a special ceremony, the ritual of the Fetials, though the practice started to decline into the Imperial era. However...

famosity, famous, fanatic, fatal, fatality, fate, fatidic, fatiferous, fetial, ineffability, ineffable, infamous, infamy, infancy, infant, infanticide...

deserters who had fled to Falerii after their defeat, even though the Fetials had demanded their surrender. This campaign was assigned to consul Gnaeus...

Quirinus; Polybius Hist. III 25, 6 in occasion of a treaty stipulated by the fetials between Rome and Carthage; Livy VIII 9, 6 in the formula of the devotio...

with the care of the Sibylline oracles, as well as having been appointed a fetial. Other inscriptions recovered from the former province attest to his influence...

held a sacred piece of flint and a scepter, ancient relics used by the Fetials in the ceremonies attending the signing of treaties and the declaration...

first time that the Romans had declared war by means of the rites of the fetials. Ancus Marcius marched from Rome with a newly levied army and took the...

(silex). The most ancient known rites, those of the spolia opima and of the fetials, connect Jupiter with Mars and Quirinus, and are dedicated to Iuppiter...

books. In the last, he is known to have discussed military levies and the "fetial laws" (ius fetiale) such as the religious rituals involved in declaring...

Tiberius Gracchus. The consul Philus then went to Spain accompanied by the fetial priests, who supervised the surrender of Mancinus to the Numantines, according...

breaking the treaty they had negotiated. The senate appointed Cossus a fetial, a type of priest who ritually presided over foreign treaties and affairs...

curator operum publicorum. Also before his consulate Proculus was made a fetial and admitted to the Quindecimviri sacris faciundis, the Roman priesthood...

an alliance. The Romans decided to accept the alliance offer and sent fetials to insist the Samnites evacuate Lucania, but they refused and the war began...

the tribunes of the plebs, he was forced to lay down his office. After fetials had been sent to the Hernici to demand satisfaction without result, the...