The summa honoraria (or summa legitima) was a sum that civic magistrates and priests paid upon entering their office in the cities of the

Roman Empire The Roman Empire ruled the Mediterranean and much of Europe, Western Asia and North Africa. The Roman people, Romans conquered most of this during the Roman Republic, Republic, and it was ruled by emperors following Octavian's assumption of ...

. In some places, like the Caesarian

colony A colony is a territory subject to a form of foreign rule, which rules the territory and its indigenous peoples separated from the foreign rulers, the colonizer, and their ''metropole'' (or "mother country"). This separated rule was often orga ...

at Urso, duoviri and aediles were required to contribute 2000

sesterces The ''sestertius'' (: ''sestertii'') or sesterce (: sesterces) was an ancient Roman coin. During the Roman Republic it was a small, silver coin issued only on rare occasions. During the Roman Empire it was a large brass coin. The name ''sester ...

towards the cost of the public games. Inscriptions from other cities record sums that typically range from 3000 to 35,000 sesterces. At Calama in Roman

Numidia Numidia was the ancient kingdom of the Numidians in northwest Africa, initially comprising the territory that now makes up Algeria, but later expanding across what is today known as Tunisia and Libya. The polity was originally divided between ...

, a newly elected

pontifex In Roman antiquity, a pontiff () was a member of the most illustrious of the colleges of priests of the Roman religion, the College of Pontiffs."Pontifex". "Oxford English Dictionary", March 2007 The term ''pontiff'' was later applied to any hi ...

is recorded as having paid 600,000 sesterces as their initiation fee. The ''summa honoraria'' was largely a phenomenon of the

Latin West Greek East and Latin West are terms used to distinguish between the two parts of the Greco-Roman world and of medieval Christendom, specifically the eastern regions where Greek was the ''lingua franca'' (Greece, Anatolia, the southern Balkans, t ...

. In the Greek East, the function was played by the

liturgy Liturgy is the customary public ritual of worship performed by a religious group. As a religious phenomenon, liturgy represents a communal response to and participation in the sacred through activities reflecting praise, thanksgiving, remembra ...

, by which some cost was imposed on the wealthy whether holding an office or not.

References

Ancient Roman government {{AncientRome-stub