annālis, e, adj. [annus].
I Continuing a year , annual : tempus, cursus, Varr. R. R. 1, 27, 1; so Dig. 14, 2, 1; 38, 17, 6.—
II. A. Relating to the year or the age : Lex Villia Annalis, the law passed B. C. 180 by L. Villius, which determined the age necessary for election to an office of state (for the quaestorship, 31; for the office of aedile, 37; for the praetorship, 40; and for the consulship, 43 years): legibus annalibus grandiorem aetatem ad consulatum constituebant, Cic. Phil. 5, 17; cf.: eo anno (573 A. U. C.) rogatio primum lata est ab L. Villio tribuno plebis, quot annos nati quemque magistratum peterent caperentque. Inde cognomen familiae inditum, ut annales appellarentur, Liv. 40, 44; cf. also Cic. de Or. 2, 65.—
B annālis , is (abl. reg. annali, Cic. Brut. 15, 58; Nep. Hann. 13, 1; but annalei, Varr. ap. Charis. 1, 17, p. 97: annale, Ascon. ad Cic. Pis. 22, 52; v. Neue, Formenl. I. p. 224), subst. m. (sc. liber), most freq. in plur.: an-nāles , ium (sc. libri), an historical work , in which the occurrences of the year are chronologically recorded , chronicles , annals (diff. from historia , a philosophical narration. following the internal relation of events, Ver. Fl. ap. Gell. 5, 18; cf. Cic. Or. 20).
1 Spec., from the most ancient per. down to the time of the Gracchi, when a literature had been formed, each pontifex maximus wrote down the occurrences of his year on tablets, which were hung up in his dwelling for the information of the public. Such tablets, accordingly, received the name of Annales Maximi (not to be confounded with the Libri Pontificales sive Pontificii , which contained instructions and liturgies for the holy rites). See the class. passages, Cic. de Or. 2, 12, 51; id. Rep. 1, 16; Fest. s. v. maximi, and cf. Creuz. ad Cic. N. D. 1, 30; id. Leg. 1, 2; Niebuhr, Rom. Hist. 1, 277 sq. From these sources the Rom. histt. drew, and hence called their works, in gen., Annales. The most renowned among the annalists of the ancient period are Q. Fabius Pictor, M. Porcius Cato, and L. Calpurnius Piso (cf. Cic. de Or. 2, 12, 51); in the time of the emperors, Tacitus named one of his hist. works Annales, since in it the history of Rome, from the death of Aug. until the time of Nero, was given acc. to the annual succession of events; cf. Bähr, Lit. Gesch. p. 255 sq.; 301 sq.; 313 sq.; Teuffel, Rom. Lit. § 333, 1.—Annalis in sing., Cic. Att. 12, 23; id. Brut. 15; Nep. Hann. 13, 1; Plin. 7, 28, 29, § 101.—Adj., with liber , Ver. Fl. in the above-cited passage, and Quint. 6, 3, 68.—
2 In gen., records , archives , history : carminibus antiquis, quod unum apud illos memoriae et annalium genus est, Tac. G. 2: annalibus traditum (est) coram rege, Vulg. Esth. 2, 23: annales priorum temporum, ib. ib. 6, 1.—
C annālia , ium, n., a festival observed at the beginning of the year , Inscr. Grut. 116, 2.