Album (Ancient Rome)

An album (Latin: albus, "white"), in ancient Rome, was a board chalked or painted white, on which decrees, edicts and other public notices were inscribed in black.^[1]

History[]

The Annales Maximi of the Pontifex Maximus, the annual edicts of the praetor, the lists of Roman and municipal senators (decuriones) and jurors (album indicum) were exhibited in this manner.^[1] The Acta Diurna, a sort of daily government gazette, containing an officially authorized narrative of noteworthy events in Rome was also published this way.^[2]

Legacy[]

The medieval and modern meaning of album, as a book of blank pages in which verses, autographs, sketches, photographs and the like are collected, derives from the Roman use.^[1] This in turn led to the modern meaning of an album as a collection of audio recordings issued as a single item on CD, record, audio tape or another medium.

Another deviation is also applied to the official list of matriculated students in a university, and to the roll in which a bishop inscribes the names of the diocese's clergy. In law, the word is the equivalent of , for rent paid in silver ("white") money.^[1]

Notes[]

References[]

• Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Album" . Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 1 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 513.
• Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Acta Diurna" . Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 1 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 159.

Attribution

•  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Album". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 1 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 513.

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