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The Fasti Antiates Maiores is a painted wall-calendar from the late
James Grout: Fasti Antiates
Attalus Roman calendar Archaeological discoveries in Italy 1915 archaeological discoveries
The Fasti Antiates Maiores is a painted wall-calendar from the late Roman Republic
The Roman Republic ( la, Res publica Romana ) was a form of government of Rome and the era of the classical Roman civilization when it was run through public representation of the Roman people. Beginning with the overthrow of the Roman Ki ...
, the oldest archaeologically attested local Roman calendar
The Roman calendar was the calendar used by the Roman Kingdom and Roman Republic. The term often includes the Julian calendar established by the reforms of the dictator Julius Caesar and emperor Augustus in the late 1stcenturyBC and sometim ...
and the only such calendar known from before the Julian calendar reforms. It was created between 84 and 55 BC and discovered in 1915 at Anzio
Anzio (, also , ) is a town and ''comune'' on the coast of the Lazio region of Italy, about south of Rome.
Well known for its seaside harbour setting, it is a fishing port and a departure point for ferries and hydroplanes to the Pontine Islands ...
(ancient Antium
Antium was an ancient coastal town in Latium, south of Rome. An oppidum was founded by people of Latial culture (11th century BC or the beginning of the 1st millennium BC), then it was the main stronghold of the Volsci people until it was conqu ...
) in a crypt next to the coast. It is now located in the Palazzo Massimo alle Terme
The National Roman Museum (Italian: ''Museo Nazionale Romano'') is a museum, with several branches in separate buildings throughout the city of Rome, Italy. It shows exhibits from the pre- and early history of Rome, with a focus on archaeological ...
in Rome, part of the Museo Nazionale Romano
The National Roman Museum (Italian: ''Museo Nazionale Romano'') is a museum, with several branches in separate buildings throughout the city of Rome, Italy. It shows exhibits from the pre- and early history of Rome, with a focus on archaeological ...
, while a reconstruction of it is in the Museo del Teatro de Caesaragusta in Zaragoza, Spain
Zaragoza, also known in English as Saragossa,''Encyclopædia Britannica'"Zaragoza (conventional Saragossa)" is the capital city of the Zaragoza Province and of the autonomous community of Aragon, Spain. It lies by the Ebro river and its tributari ...
.
Background
Anzio lies about 58 km south of Rome in the region ofLatium
Latium ( , ; ) is the region of central western Italy in which the city of Rome was founded and grew to be the capital city of the Roman Empire.
Definition
Latium was originally a small triangle of fertile, volcanic soil ( Old Latium) on w ...
. In the sixth century, at the latest, the Latins inhabited the region of Latium, remaining independent of Rome until 338 BC. Rome first took control of the region in the Latin War
The (Second) Latin War (340–338 BC)The Romans customarily dated events by noting the consuls who held office that year. The Latin War broke out in the year that Titus Manlius Imperiosus Torquatus and Publius Decius Mus were consuls and ended ...
after the Battle of Trifanum
The Battle of Trifanum was fought in 340 BC between the Roman Republic and the Latins. The Roman force was led by Manlius Imperiosus. He pursued the Latins to the north following the Battle of Vesuvius and met them at Trifanum near the mouth o ...
and incorporated it into the incipient Roman empire.
Description
The ''Fasti Antiates maiores'' consist of two fragments of the thirteen month calendar and theList of Roman consuls
This is a list of consuls known to have held office, from the beginning of the Roman Republic to the latest use of the title in Imperial times, together with those magistrates of the Republic who were appointed in place of consuls, or who superse ...
. The 1.16 m high and 2.5 m wide calendar contains the leap month
Intercalation or embolism in timekeeping is the insertion of a leap day, Leap week calendar, week, or month into some calendar years to make the calendar follow the seasons or moon phases. Lunisolar calendars may require intercalations of both d ...
Mensis Intercalaris in addition to the twelve months.
The list of consuls was the same height as the calendar, but 1.36 m wide. The names of the consuls span the period from 164 BC to 84 BC. According to the restoration of the lacuna
Lacuna (plural lacunas or lacunae) may refer to:
Related to the meaning "gap"
* Lacuna (manuscripts), a gap in a manuscript, inscription, text, painting, or musical work
** Great Lacuna, a lacuna of eight leaves where there was heroic Old Norse p ...
e at both ends, the list originally extended from 173 BC to 67 BC.
Contents
The calendar takes the form of a table with thirteen columns, each of which is a month labelled with an abbreviation of its name. Still legible are the following: IAN for ''Ianuarius
''Ianuarius'', fully ''Mensis Ianuarius'' ("month of Janus"), was the first month of the ancient Roman calendar, from which the Julian and Gregorian month of January derived. It was followed by ''Februarius'' ("February"). In the calendars of ...
'' (January), FEB for '' Februarius'' (February), APR for ''Aprilis
''Aprilis'' or ''mensis Aprilis'' (April) was the second month of the ancient Roman calendar, following '' Martius'' (March) and preceding '' Maius'' (May). On the oldest Roman calendar that had begun with March, ''Aprilis'' was the second of ten ...
'' (April), IVN for '' Iunius'' (June), and SEP for ''September
September is the ninth month of the year in both the Julian and Gregorian calendars, the third of four months to have a length of 30 days, and the fourth of five months to have a length of fewer than 31 days. September in the Northern H ...
''.
Each column consists of several rows containing the days as well as a supplementary row indicating the total number of days in the month. Still visible are XXIIX (28) for February, XXIX (29) for April, June and partly for August, XXXI (31) (partly) for May and October.
Each day is marked with a letter from A to H, indicating the position of the day in the Roman nundinal cycle
The nundinae (), sometimes anglicized to nundines,. were the market days of the ancient Roman calendar, forming a kind of weekend including, for a certain period, rest from work for the ruling class (patricians).
The nundinal cycle, market w ...
.
The first day of each month is marked by the letter K, short for ''Kalendae
The calends or kalends ( la, kalendae) is the first day of every month in the Roman calendar. The English word " calendar" is derived from this word.
Use
The Romans called the first day of every month the ''calends'', signifying the start of a n ...
''. The fifth day of January, February, April, June, August, September, November and December is marked with the letters NON, short for ''Nonae
The Roman calendar was the calendar used by the Roman Kingdom and Roman Republic. The term often includes the Julian calendar established by the reforms of the Roman dictator, dictator Julius Caesar and Roman emperor, emperor Augustus in the ...
''. It is placed in the seventh day for the months of March, May, July, and October. The eighth day after the Nones of each month is labelled EIDVS (Ides Ides or IDES may refer to:
Calendar dates
* Ides (calendar), a day in the Roman calendar that fell roughly in the middle of the month. In March, May, July, and October it was the 15th day of the month; in other months it was the 13th.
**Ides of Mar ...
).
Some days are marked with the letters F, N or C. F is short for ''fastus dies'' ("allowed days", when it was legal to initiate action in the courts of civil law), N for ''Nefastus dies'' ( banned days, when it was not), and C for ''comitialis dies'' (assembly days, when political assemblies were permitted).
The calendar also lists the foundation dates (''dies natales'') of the temples in the city of Rome. The fact that the foundation of the Temple of Venus connected to the Theatre of Pompey
The Theatre of Pompey ( la, Theatrum Pompeii, it, Teatro di Pompeo) was a structure in Ancient Rome built during the latter part of the Roman Republican era by Pompey the Great (Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus). Completed in 55BC, it was the first perma ...
is missing indicates that the calendar was created before 55 BC. The calendar also includes important events, like the ''Ludi Megalenses
The Megalesia, Megalensia, or Megalenses Ludi, was a festival celebrated in Ancient Rome from April 4 to April 10, in honour of Cybele, known to Romans as ''Magna Mater'' (Great Mother). The name of the festival derives from Greek ''Megale'' (μϵΠ...
'', one of the festivals of the cult of Magna Mater
Cybele ( ; Phrygian: ''Matar Kubileya/Kubeleya'' "Kubileya/Kubeleya Mother", perhaps "Mountain Mother"; Lydian ''Kuvava''; el, ΚυβÎλη ''Kybele'', ''Kybebe'', ''Kybelis'') is an Anatolian mother goddess; she may have a possible foreru ...
. The inauguration of her temple on the Palatine
A palatine or palatinus (in Latin; plural ''palatini''; cf. derivative spellings below) is a high-level official attached to imperial or royal courts in Europe since Roman times.
occurred in 191 BC on 11 April. The relevant festival took place from 4–11 April. A confirmation of the date of the ''Ludi Megalenses'' is found in the Fasti Quirinales, which additionally classify 11 April as Endoitio Exitio Nefas. Later ''Fasti'' contain a transmission error, which is why they provide the incorrect dates of 4–10 April.Jörg Rüpke, "Fehler und Fehlinterpretationen in der Datierung des "dies natalis" des stadtrömischen Mater Magna-Tempels," ''Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik
The ''Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik'' (commonly abbreviated ZPE; "Journal of Papyrology and Epigraphy") is a peer-reviewed academic journal which contains articles that pertain to papyrology and epigraphy. It has been described as " ...
'', 102 (1994), pp. 237–240.
References
Bibliography
*Jörg Rüpke Jörg Rüpke (born 27 December 1962 in Herford, West Germany) is a German scholar of comparative religion and classical philology, recipient of the Gay-Lussac Humboldt Prize in 2008, and of the Advanced Grant of the European Research Council in 2011 ...
. ''Kalender und Öffentlichkeit: Die Geschichte der Repräsentation und religiösen Qualifikation von Zeit in Rom''. de Gruyter, Berlin 1995, {{ISBN, 3-11-014514-6
* Attilio Degrassi Attilio Degrassi (Trieste, 21 June 1887 – Rome, 1 June 1969) was an archeologist and pioneering Italian scholar of Latin epigraphy.
Degrassi taught at the University of Padova where he trained, among others, the epigraphist Silvio Panciera, c ...
. ''Inscriptiones Italiae'', Vol. 13: Fasti et Elogia, Fasc. 2: Fasti anni Numani et Iuliani, 1963. Original publication, including large color images, with reconstruction.
External links
James Grout: Fasti Antiates
Attalus Roman calendar Archaeological discoveries in Italy 1915 archaeological discoveries