FASTI, the plural of the Latin adjective fastus, but more commonly used as a substantive (derived from fas, meaning what is allowable by divine law). Fasti dies came to mean the days on which law business might be transacted without impiety, corre sponding to our own "lawful days." The word fasti itself then came to be used to denote lists or registers of various kinds, which may be divided into two great classes.
1. Fasti Diurni, divided into urbani and rustici, an official year book, with dates and directions for religious ceremonies, market days, etc. Until 304 B.C. the lore of the calendaria remained a monopoly of the priesthood; but Gnaeus Flavius then published the forum tables containing the requisite information. This list was the origin of the public Roman calendar. Ovid's Fasti is a poetical description of the Roman festivals of the first six months, written to illustrate the Fasti published by Julius Caesar after he remodelled the Roman year.
2. Fasti Magistrales, Annales or Historici, were concerned with everything relating to the gods, the emperors, etc., and the feasts and ceremonies established in their honour. They came to be de nominated magni, by way of distinction from the bare calendar, or fasti diu' ni. Of this class, the fasti consulares were a chroni cle of events in which the several years were denoted by the re spective consuls. The fasti triump/iales contained a list of persons who had obtained a triumph. The word fasti thus came to be used in the sense of "historical records." A famous specimen of this class is the fasti Capitolini, so called because deposited in the Capitol by Alexander Farnese, after their excavation from the Roman forum in A considerable number of fasti of the first class have been dis covered ; but none older than the time of Augustus. The Prae nestine calendar, arranged by the famous grammarian Verrius Flaccus, contains the months of January, March, April, and De cember, and a portion of February. The tablets give an account of festivals, as also of the triumphs of Augustus and Tiberius. Some kinds of fasti included under the second general head were, from the very beginning, written for publication. The Annales Ponti ficum—different from the calendaria properly so called— were annually exhibited in public on a white table, on which the memorable events of the year, with special mention of the prodigies, were set down in the briefest possible manner. In fact, all the state offices had their fasti corresponding in character to the consular fasti named above.
the best text and account of the fragments of the Fasti see Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum, i. (2nd ed.) ; on the subject generally, Teuffel-Schwabe, Hist. of Roman Literature, §§ 74, 75, and J. E. Sandys, Companion to Latin Studies (1921) .