CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
Living on Religion:
Professionals and Personnel
Marietta Horster
The priests of the official pagan cults in Rome, and in Italian and provincial cities
organized similarly to Rome, were well-off men, senators, knights, or other citizens
with income from landed property, trade and commerce, or handicraft. In some cities
of the Greek-speaking part of the Roman empire, priesthoods were sold. These priests
sometimes received a personal income out of the purchase of the hides of the sacrificed
animals or as part of the fees for sacrifices (Dignas 2002: 251–71). However, even
these priests and priestesses did not depend on that priestly income as sustenance.
They did not make their living from religion. This income was only a surplus, a wel-
come addition to the priests’ existing wealth and income. It was meant as a recom-
pense for their taking over these sometimes costly duties and the purchase price.
As a rule, in Roman as in Greek cults incoming money, as for example penalties
(multae) and votives, belonged to the sanctuaries and their gods or heroes and not
to the priests. To give “the tenth” (dekate,decuma) to a god or goddess (of course
not to a priest) was a sign of respect and thankfulness for all kinds of situations
in life, like the harvest every year or booty in times of war. In Jewish religion the
tenth or tithe was a kind of tax depending on income which had to be paid once a
year. In contrast to Roman and Greek cults, the priests and Levites of the temple
in Jerusalem, and later also some Christian priests, were sustained by their commun-
ity, their temple or church (e.g. 1 Maccabees 10. 3, 11. 35; 1 Samuel 8. 15, 8. 17;
1 Corinthians 9. 13–14). The tradition of the payment and sustenance of priests and
attendants of the temples or churches is also to be found in Egyptian religion, even
in the times of Roman domination. Hence, in different religions and cultic tradi-
tions of the orient there existed priests who made their living from religion under
Roman rule.
However, priests and priestesses in the city of Rome as well as in Roman and Greek
cities all over the empire did not make a gain from their cultic duties, and did not
make their living from religion.