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Ancient Roman farmers' almanacs (in Latin, ''menologia rustica'') are a type of Roman calendar providing month-by-month information on conditions and activities pertaining to agriculture. They were displayed as public inscriptions. Examples that survived to the modern era are the ''Menologium Rusticum Colotianum'' and the ''Menologium Rusticum Vallense'', both dating to the period 19–65 AD〔Michele Renee Salzman, ''On Roman Time: The Codex Calendar of 354 and the Rhythms of Urban Life in Late Antiquity'' (University of California Press, 1990), p. 170.〕 or 36–39 to the end of the 1st century AD.〔Joseph Patrich, ''Studies in the Archaeology and History of Caesarea Maritima'' (Brill, 2011), p. 84, note 53.〕 Both were discovered in the 16th century, but the ''Menologium Valense'' has been lost.〔John Edwin Sandys, ''Latin Epigraphy: An Introduction to the Study of Latin Inscriptions'' (Cambridge University Press, 1919), p. 174.〕 ==Description== The ''Menologium Rusticum Colotianum'' was discovered by Angelo Colocci, and is held by the Naples Museum.〔Sandys, ''Latin Epigraphy,'' p. 174.〕 It appears on a four-sided marble altar base, inscribed in twelve columns. Each column contains: * a zodiac sign * month name * number of days in the month * date of the Nones * number of daylight and nighttime hours * astrological house through which the sun passed * tutelary deity of the month * agricultural tasks * religious holidays that a farmer was expected to observe.〔James Chidester Egbert, ''Introduction to the Study of Latin Inscriptions'' (New York, 1896), p. 368.〕 Villas on working estates often displayed mosaics and wall painting depicting seasonal or monthly agricultural activities, in some sense illustrations of the ''menologia rustica''.〔Annalisa Marzano, ''Roman Villas in Central Italy: A Social and Economic History'' (Columbia University Press, 2007), p. 297.〕 Van L. Johnson conjectured that the four-sided form of the ''menologia'' preserved an original four-month Roman "year" or festival cycle.〔Van L. Johnson, "''Natalis Urbis'' and ''Principium anni''," ''Transactions and Proceedings of the American Philological Association'' 91 (1960), p. 110.〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Menologia rustica」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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