commentarii

commentarii

▪ Roman history
(Latin: “commentaries”),singular  Commentarius,  

      in Roman history, memoranda and notes that were later used by historians as source materials. Originally, commentarii were simply informal personal notes written by people to assist their memory in regard to personal, household, or public business. The typical Roman household, for instance, kept a diary and account book, while men in public life kept notebooks for speeches, legal cases, and items of general business. The first official use of commentarii developed in the priestly colleges, which used such notes to list the details of religious ceremonies and rituals. Magistrates too had their regular notes on procedural aspects, which they would hand on to successors in order to maintain the routine of their offices. Provincial governors also kept commentarii, which they consulted when writing their reports to the Senate.

      Under the empire, the Commentarii Principis were a register of the administrative acts of the emperor and included constitutions, rescripts, epistles, and edicts, all set down with official authority. There were also commentarii diurni, a journal of daily events at the emperor's court, which later became a system of records known as ephemerides.

      Personal notes and memoranda could be turned into memoirs when public men of noble family drafted records of their achievements for their family archives. By the 2nd century BC Roman historians had begun consulting such memoirs in their research into earlier Roman history. Sulla and Cicero left their own memoirs as aids to historians, and, when Julius Caesar published his Commentarii for propagandistic purposes, his elegant Latin transformed them into a literary form in their own right.

* * *


Universalium. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Нужен реферат?

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Commentarii — ist der Plural des lateinischen Wortes commentarius (deutsch Kommentar(ien), griechisch Hypomnema) und bezeichnete zunächst Notizen oder Aufzeichnungen, die von römischen Beamten, Staatsmännern oder Privatleuten in Form eines Tagebuchs oder… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Commentarii — (Latin, Greek: hupomnemata) are notes to assist the memory, or memoranda. This original idea of the word gave rise to a variety of meanings: notes and abstracts of speeches for the assistance of orators; family memorials, the origin of many of… …   Wikipedia

  • Commentarii — Commentarĭi (lat.), s. Kommentar …   Kleines Konversations-Lexikon

  • Commentarii — (c. 1447 1448)    The Commentarii, written by Lorenzo Ghiberti, is the first Renaissance text to provide the autobiography of an artist and a survey of Florentine art. It also offers discussion on the works from antiquity, the Sienese masters of… …   Dictionary of Renaissance art

  • Commentarii de Bello Civili — (Commentaries on the Civil War)   Author(s) Julius Caesar …   Wikipedia

  • Commentarii de Bello Gallico — (Commentaries on the Gallic War)   …   Wikipedia

  • Commentarii Mathematici Helvetici —   Discipline Mathematics Language English …   Wikipedia

  • Commentarii de Bello Gallico — Buchausgabe von 1783 Als Commentarii de Bello Gallico wird ein Bericht des römischen Feldherrn Gaius Iulius Caesar über den Gallischen Krieg (58 bis 51/50 v. Chr.) bezeichnet. Das Werk stellt die Hauptquelle zu Caesars Feldzügen dar, ist… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Commentarii de bello Gallico — Buchausgabe von 1783 Als Commentarii de Bello Gallico wird ein Bericht des römischen Feldherrn Gaius Iulius Caesar über den Gallischen Krieg (58 bis 51/50 v. Chr.) bezeichnet. Das Werk stellt die Hauptquelle zu Caesars Feldzügen dar, ist… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • De historia stirpium commentarii insignes — Dibujo de Lilium bulbiferum en De historia stirpium commentarii insignes De historia stirpium commentarii insignes ( Comentarios notables acerca de la historia de las plantas ) es la obra maestra de Leonhart Fuchs (1501 1566), y uno de los… …   Wikipedia Español

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”