Quintus Mucius Scaevola Pontifex

Quintus Mucius Scaevola "Pontifex" was a politician of the Roman Republic and an important early authority on Roman law. He is credited with founding the study of law as a systematic discipline. He was elected pontifex maximus, as had been his father and uncle before him. He was the first Roman pontifex maximus to be murdered publicly, in Rome in the temple of the Vestal Virgins, signifying a breakdown of historical norms and religious taboos in the Republic.