Commentarii

Commentarii is the plural of the Latin word commentarius ( German recording, Greek Hypomnema ) and initially designated notes or records which were led by Roman officials, statesmen or private individuals in the form of a diary or journal.

The Commentaries in this original use were the oldest preliterary cooperatives in Latin. The liber commentarius was a private household book, the Romans introduced to manage their personal affairs. This was offset as the earliest public records in prose the Commentaries of various state offices and administrations (eg commentarii consulares, Commentaries censorii and the Commentaries of the governor ); these texts drafted as annual reports posted next to inputs and outputs, important events or incidents.

The Commentaries sacerdotum were the records of the Roman priestly colleges. Among them were the commentarii pontificum and Commentaries augurum. The Commentaries pontificum contained, for example, reports on religious activities, the condition of the temple, religious laws and the like more.

During the imperial period, there was the commentarii principum, which included, among other things, the decrees and edicts of the empire and also on criminal and civil cases that have been heard in person by the emperor contained. Among them were the commentarii beneficiorum, which registered the privileges granted by the Emperor. The officials responsible for the creation and management of records have been referred to as a commentariis.

For these private and official records out the commentarii later developed further also a literary Genos. Then represented a kind of autobiographies, which were considered an appropriate means of political self-expression. The best known example of this is Gaius Julius Caesar works on the Gallic War ( de bello Gallico Commentaries ) and the Civil War ( de bello civili Commentaries ).