Fasti 1438009 225001208 2008-07-11T11:55:27Z Kranf 1541095 /* Modern fasti */ Fasti Ecclesiae Scoticanae ~~~~ {{refimprove|date=June 2006}} '''''Fasti''''', a [[Latin]] word, refers to the [[Roman calendar]] and [[almanac]]; and especially, to a long, possibly unfinished poem on the religious festivals of the Roman year and their [[mythology|mythological]] underpinnings, by the poet [[Ovid]]. In Roman [[Classical antiquity|antiquities]], ''fasti'' is the plural of the Latin adjective ''fastus'', but more commonly used as a substantive, derived from ''fas'', meaning what is binding, or allowable, by divine law, as opposed to ''jus'', or human law. ''Fasti dies'' thus came to mean the days on which law business might be transacted without impiety, corresponding to our own lawful days; the opposite of the ''dies fasti'' were the ''dies nefasti'', on which, on various religious grounds, the courts could not sit. The word ''fasti'' itself then came to be used to denote lists or registers of various kinds, and especially those that had to do with keeping or marking [[time]]. {{col-begin}}{{col-2}}__TOC__{{col-2}} [[Image:Roman-calendar.png|thumb|400px|An inscription containing the [[Roman calendar]]. This calendar predates the Julian reform of the calendar; it contains the months ''[[Quintilis]]'' and ''[[Sextilis]]'', and allows for the insertion of an [[intercalary month]].]]{{col-end}} ==''Dies Fasti'' and the Roman calendar== ===The Roman almanac=== ''Fasti Diurni'', divided into ''urbani'' and ''rustici'', were a kind of official year-book, with dates and directions for religious ceremonies, court-days, market-days, divisions of the month, and the like. Until [[304 BC]] the lore of the ''calendaria'' remained the exclusive and lucrative monopoly of the [[priest]]hood; but in that year [[Gnaeus Flavius (jurist)|Gnaeus Flavius]], a pontifical secretary, introduced the custom of publishing in the [[Roman Forum|Forum]] tables containing the requisite information, besides brief references to victories, triumphs, prodigies, and so forth. This list was the origin of the public Roman calendar, in which the days were divided into weeks of eight days each, and indicated by the letters A-H. Each day was marked by a certain letter to show its nature; thus the letters F., N., N.P., F.P., Q. Rex C.F., C., EN., stood for ''fastus'', ''nefastus'', ''nefastus priore'' ("unlawful before noon"), ''fastus priore'' ("lawful before noon"), ''quando rex (sacrorum) comitiavit fastus'' ("lawful after the ''[[rex sacrorum]]'' has appeared in the assembly"), ''comitialis'' ("assembly day") and ''intercisus'' ("divided" --- having an unlawful time sometime within that day). The ''dies intercisi'' were partly ''fasti'' and partly ''nefasti''. Upon the cultivators fewer feasts, sacrifices, ceremonies and holidays were enjoined than on the inhabitants of cities; and the rustic ''fasti'' contained little more than the ceremonies of the calends, nones and ides, the fairs, signs of zodiac, increase and decrease of the days, the tutelary gods of each month, and certain directions for rustic labors to be performed each month. ===The Roman official chronicles===<!-- This section is linked from [[Palimpsest]] --> ''Fasti Magistrales'', ''Annales'' or ''Historici'', were concerned with the several feasts, and everything relating to the [[deity|gods]], religion and the [[magistrate]]s; to the [[Roman Emperor|emperors]], their birthdays, offices, days consecrated to them, with feasts and ceremonies established in their honor or for their prosperity. They came to be denominated ''magni'', by way of distinction from the bare calendar, or ''fasti diurni''. Of this class, the ''fasti consulares'', for example, were a chronicle or register of time, in which the several years were denoted by the respective [[consul]]s, with the principal events which happened during their consulates. The ''fasti triumphales'' and ''sacerdotales'' contained a list in chronological order of persons who had obtained a [[Roman triumph|triumph]], together with the name of the conquered people, and of the priests. The word ''fasti'' thus came to be used in the general sense of [[annals]] or [[chronicle|historical records]]. A famous specimen of the same class are the ''fasti Capitolini'', so called because they were deposited in the Capitol by [[Alessandro Farnese (cardinal)|Alexander Farnese]], after their excavation from the Roman forum in [[1547]]. They are chiefly a nominal list of statesmen, victories, triumphs, &c., from the expulsion of the kings to the death of Augustus. A considerable number of ''fasti'' of the first class have also been discovered; but none of them appear to be older than the time of [[Augustus]]. The [[Praeneste|Praenestine]] calendar, discovered in [[1770]], arranged by the famous grammarian [[Verrius Flaccus]], contains the months of January, March, April, and December, and a portion of February. The tablets give an account of festivals, as also of the triumphs of Augustus and [[Tiberius]]. There are still two complete calendars in existence, an official list by [[Funda Dionysius Philocalus]] ([[354]]), and a [[Christian]] version of the official calendar, made by [[Polemius Silvius]] ([[448]]). But some kinds of ''fasti'' included under the second general head were, from the very beginning, written for publication. The ''Annales Pontificum'' different from the calendaria properly so called were annually exhibited in public on a white table, on which the memorable events of the year, with special mention of the prodigies, were set down in the briefest possible manner. Any one was allowed to copy them. Like the ''[[pontifex|pontifices]]'', the [[augur]]s also had their books, ''libri augurales''. In fact, all the state offices had their ''fasti'' corresponding in character to the consular ''fasti'' named above. ==Literary and other uses== ===Ovid's ''Fasti''=== {{Main|Fasti (poem)}} Ovid's '''''Fasti''''' is a long, possibly unfinished [[Latin]] [[poetry|poem]] by the Roman poet [[Ovid]]. It is believed that Ovid wrote the poem during his [[exile]] in [[Tomis]] towards the end of his life. ===Modern fasti=== While the original senses died as Roman paganism was replaced by Christianity, and the Roman empire was gradually devoured by invading barbarians and Islam, the vocabulary did not. Apart from occasional uses of the terminology in other contexts (especially the word nefast remains, but generalized from a taboo to anything with grave negative consequences) the word fasti, or a translation (e.g. ''fastes'' in French, still a ''plurale tantum'') has been used for more modern writings, such as the (official, treasured) history and traditions of a regiment (e.g. in Belgium). The word is also used in Scotland for a publication listing the biographies of clergy of a particular denomination: most famously, ''Fasti Ecclesiae Scoticanae: the succession of ministers in the Church of Scotland from the reformation'', the first volume of which was produced by Hew Scott in 1915 and which is still updated at irregular intervals. Between 1946 and 1987 the International Association for Classical Archaeology (AIAC) published the ''Fasti Archaeologici''. It contained very useful summary notices of excavations through the area of the Roman Empire. It has now been moved to a web-based version, designed by L - P : Archaeology which can be found at [http://www.fastionline.org Fasti_online] ===Fasti in popular culture=== In the [[Home Box Office|HBO]] television series "[[Rome (TV series)|Rome]]", a priest is shown updating a fasti at the beginning of each episode to indicate the amount of time that has lapsed since the previous episode. ==See also== *[[Julian calendar]] *[[Roman mythology]] ==References== {{1911}} ==External links== *[http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/8738 ''The Fasti''], annotated Latin edition of Ovid's poem, from [[Project Gutenberg]]. *[http://www.fastionline.org Fasti Online: an interactive list of archaeological sites within the Classical World] [[Category:Roman calendar]] [[da:Fasti]] [[de:Fasti]] [[es:Fasti]] [[it:Fasti (Ovidio)]]