Any of a group of 20 Roman priestly officials who dealt with foreign relations.
Selected from noble families and appointed for life, they acted as emissaries to foreign lands in times of conflict. When Rome was offended by another city-state, the fetials would visit the city-state and demand satisfaction. They also delivered treaties and made formal declarations of war, based on the decisions of the Senate . This priesthood had faded by the late republic, but was later revived by Augustus .