Menologia rustica

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.

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.

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.

[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.

The Menologium Rusticum Colotianum (CIL VI 2305, EDR 143318) is a short four-sided marble pillar with a hole at the top, possibly for a sundial gnomon.

[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.

[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.