six. Years, Months, and Days II
The Grids of the Fasti
167TIME’S ARROW AND TIME’S CYCLE
In this final chapter we continue to explore the charts of the Roman Fasti, investi-
gating their role in placing the city and its empire in time, and analyzing in partic-
ular the revealing transformations the fasti underwent as they were revolutionized
along with the rest of Roman life by Julius Caesar and his heir. Although in the
previous chapter we discussed the fastiin the form of the calendar, the term fasti
embraces two principal kinds of time chart for us to consider. The word denotes
not only the annual calendar but also the list of eponymous chief magistrates, the
elected officials (usually consuls) who gave their names to the year and enabled
orientation in past time. We shall also briefly consider the so-called — and mis-
named — Fasti Triumphales, a list of those who had celebrated triumphs; these are
much the rarest of the three categories under discussion, with the only substantial
remains coming from the list put up by Augustus at a site in the east end of the
Forum to accompany the list of consuls he had already installed there.^1
The term Fasti Triumphales, together with Fasti Anni and Fasti Consulares to
describe the calendar and list of chief magistrates respectively, has been popular-
ized by Attilio Degrassi in his superb editions of the surviving inscriptions of the
various fasti.I shall make use of these terms, reluctantly, together with the equiv-
alent designations of “calendrical,” “consular,” or “triumphal” fasti,but it is im-
portant to bear in mind that all of these expressions are modern helpmates, which