menologium rusticum

A menologium rusticum (pl. "Plural (grammar)") menologia rustica ), also known by other names , was a publicly displayed month -by-month inscription of the Roman calendar with notes on the farming activities appropriate for each part of the year . Two versions were recovered in Rome during the Italian Renaissance , the Menologium Rusticum Colotianum and the Menologium Rusticum Vallense . The first is now held by the Naples Museum and the second has been lost. Both of the known examples of the style appear to copy a separate original, include a sundial for tracking the hours of the day") , and prominently display astrological information for each month. The original was probably carved sometime during the 1st century. In addition to these pillar-style menologia, the name is also sometimes applied to fasti and other wall calendars that include similar agricultural details in their coverage of the year. Menologium rusticum is Latin for "rural menologium ", from Greek menológion (μηνολόγιον) meaning a monthly record. The name was given to the two known inscriptions by Mommsen in the 1st volume of the Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum .[[1]]( They are also sometimes described as agricultural calendars ,[[2]]( rustic calendars [[3]]( (German : Bauernkalender ),[[4]]( or as a Roman farmers' almanac .[[5]]( [[6]]( Broughton") cautioned against overemphasizing the rustic nature of the surviving examples of the genre, however, given their expensive material, mathematical detail, and—most importantly—the omission of most of the principal agricultural festivals from the era of their creation, including the Cerialia , Fordicidia , Robigalia , and Vinalia .[[7]]( The Menologium Rusticum Vallense (CIL VI 2306) was a short four-sided marble pillar with an inset horologium or concave sundial . It was inscribed with similar information about each month of the year "Julian year (calendar)") , although its twelve columns were organized into sets of four on three sides with the fourth left blank. Despite its cosmetic differences, however, it seems to derive with the Colotian calendar from a single source.[[16]]( [[17]]( The pillar was discovered before 1480[[18]]( in the Circus Flaminius area of Rome [[14]]( or in a ruinous old church " apud Augustam ", usually taken to indicate the Mausoleum of Augustus .[[19]]( (The Solarium was nearby.) It was held by Andrea della Valle at his Palazzo di Giove.[[20]]( [[a]]( Its artwork and details on Roman daily life and science made it one of the chief treasures of the collection.[[18]]( It featured prominently in Herman Posthumus") 's 1536 Tempus Edax Rerum") (Latin for "Time, Devourer of All Things"),[[21]]( where it is used as an embodiment of time .[[22]]( The lower parts of its face are covered, removing the Roman festivals from the calendrical information and further emphasizing the painting's theme of inevitable loss.[[23]]( The della Valle collection was purchased in 1584 by Ferdinando de' Medici and subsequently broken up and dispersed among the various Medici estates. Lost by the early 20th century.[[12]]( Villas on working estates often displayed mosaics and wall paintings depicting seasonal or monthly agricultural activities, with elaborate examples serving as a kind of menologia rustica.[[24]]( In 1966, archeologists excavating under Maria Maggiore on the Esquiline Hill in Rome found the remains of a Roman building that included a wall decorated with an imperial calendar with fasti and agricultural annotations and illustrations,[[25]]( which has been described as a menologium rusticum.[[6]]( Various classical scholars have used the menologia rustica in their work on the Roman calendar , including Fowler [[26]]( and Frazer .[[27]]( Johnson") has even conjectured that the four-sided shape of the menologia preserved an original four-month Roman "year" or festival cycle.[[28]]( Aside from their recovery within Rome, Wissowa had allowed for such speculation by affirming that the menologia and their