What is "faustus"

Faust \Faust\, Faustus \Faust"us\n. an alchemist of German legend who sold his soul to the devil in exchange for knowledge.

Syn: Faust.

Faust \Faust\, or Faustus \Faustus\ (f[^a]s"tus)., Doctor Johann Faust, a person born at Kundling (Knittlingen), W["u]rtemberg, or at Roda, near Weimar, and said to have died in 1588. He was a man of licentious character, a magician, astrologer, and soothsayer, who boasted of performing the miracles of Christ. It was believed that he was carried off at last by the devil, who had lived with him in the form of a black dog.

Note: The legends of Faust were gathered from the then recent traditions concerning him in a book which appeared at the book-fair at Frankfurt-on-the-Main in 1587. It was called "The History of Dr. Faustus, the Notorious Magician and Master of the Black Art, etc." Soon after its appearance it became known in England.

A metrical version of it into English was licensed by Aylmer, Bishop of London, before the end of the year. In 1588 there was a rimed version of it into German, also a translation into low German, and a new edition of the original with some slight changes. In 1689 there appeared a version of the first German Faust book into, French, by Victor Palma Cayet. The English prose version was made from the second edition of the original, that of 1588, and is undated, but probably was made at once. There was a revised edition of it in 1592. In 1592 there was a Dutch translation from the second German edition. This gives the time of the carrying off of Faustus by the devil as the night between the twenty-third and twenty-fourth of October, 1538. The English version also gives 1538 as the year, and it is a date, as we have seen, consistent with trustworthy references to his actual life. Marlowe's play (' The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus ') was probably written in 1588, soon after the original story had found its way to England. He treated the legend as a poet, bringing out with all his power its central thought -- man in the pride of knowledge turning from his God.
--(Morley, Eng. Writers, IX. 254.) This play was brought to Germany about the beginning of the 17th century, and, after passing through various developments on the stage, finally became a puppet-play, which is still in existence. Lessing wrote parts of two versions of the story. M["u]ller, the painter, published two fragments of his dramatized life of Faust in 1778. Goethe's tragedy (which see) was not published till 1808. Klinger published a romance "Faust's Leben, Thaten und H["o]llenfahrt" (1791: Borrow translated it in 1826). Klingemann published a tragedy on the subject (1815), Heine a ballet "Der Doctor Faust, ein Tanzpoem" (1851), and Lenau an epic "Faust" (1836). W. G. Wills adapted a play from Goethe's "Faust," which Henry Irving produced in 1885. Calderon's play "El Magico Prodigioso " strongly resembles Goethe's and Marlowe's plays, though founded on the legend of St. Cyprian.

Faustus is a fictional character who appeared in stories published by Charlton Comics. Faustus first appeared in Captain Atom Vol. 2, #89 (December 1967). The character was created by writer Dave Kaler and artist Steve Ditko.

Faustus is Faust, the protagonist of the German legend.

Faustus also may refer to:

Faustus ( or occasionally ) is a Latin praenomen, or personal name. It was never particularly common at Rome, but may have been used more frequently in the countryside. The feminine form is Fausta. The name was not usually abbreviated, but is occasionally found abbreviated F. During the period of the Roman Empire, it was widely used as a cognomen, or surname. As the Roman nomenclature system began to break down towards the end of the Western Empire in the 4th and 5th centuries, Faustus once again became a personal name, and it has survived into modern times.

The best-known examples of this praenomen are from the family of the dictator Lucius Cornelius Sulla, who in 81 B.C. named his twin children Faustus and Fausta. The name continued to be used regularly by his descendants over the next two centuries. Other gentes from which examples are known include the Antistii, Decimii, Lartii, Paccii, Veidii, and Vibii; and perhaps also the Julii, Servii, and Sestii. Varro described this praenomen as obsolete in the 1st century BC, implying that it had once been more common; but it seems that by reviving it in his own family, Sulla may have started a trend which continued for some centuries, and probably also contributed to the popularity of the name as a cognomen.

Faustus is a two act play by David Mamet that had its world premiere in San Francisco's Magic Theatre in March 2004, directed by Mamet. It is a contemporary version of the Faust legend.