National Latin Exam - Quia
National Latin Exam
History
The decemviri were in charge of the Twelve Tables, tablets which contained codified laws.
Pliny the Younger wrote letters to the historian Tacitus describing the eruption of Vesuvius in 79 A.D.; his uncle Pliny the Elder, a famous natural historian and admiral, took boats across the bay to rescue people, and dropped dead.
Julius Caesar wrote memoirs of his campaigns, the de bello gallico, and the de bello civili. The Gauls had sacked Rome in 390 B.C., and were always in the Roman conscience as a threat. They were finally defeated in their homeland by Caesar in 52 B.C. Caesar is famous for his conquest of Gaul, and for breaking Roman law by crossing the Rubicon river into Italy with his army, and thus starting the civil war. He defeated Pompey at Pharsalia in 48 B.C., but was later assassinated by conspirators lead by Brutus and Cassius. He died in front of Pompey's statue in Pompey's theater on the ides of March (March 15), 44, B.C. Cicero's letters provide an eyewitness account of the Civil War between Caesar and Pompey.
Pompey was called Magnus (the Great); he held the military ascendancy prior to the rise of Caesar. He had been married to Caesar's daughter Julia, who died in childbirth. He was part of the First Triumvirate; he rid the Mediterranean Sea of pirates and defeated Mithradates.
The battle of Philippi in 42 B.C. marked the victory of Octavian and Antony over the assassins of Caesar.
Hadrian's wall was designed to keep the barbarians out of Roman Britain. Hadrian also built a mausoleun in Rome.
Augustus, Nero and Trajan were all emperors who ruled in the Empire period of Roman history. Tiberius was the successor of Augustus. He was paranoid and abandoned Rome to rule from the island of Capri.
Hannibal invaded Italy, crushed 3 Roman armies in one year, tried to bring Rome's allies over to his side in order to crush Rome. Rome's arch-enemy was Carthage. The wars Rome fought against Carthage are known as the Punic Wars. Delenda est Carthago is a famous passive periphrastic phrase uttered by the Censor Cato. During the first two Punic wars, the island of Sicily was claimed by both Rome and Carthage.
Carthage was Rome's arch-enemy; and they fought 3 Punic Wars against each other. The battles of Trasimene, Cannae and Zama are all battles Rome fought against Carthage. The Punic Wars were fought for control of the Western Mediterranean.
Actium, in western Greece, was the site of Antony's camp in 31 B.C.. It gave its name to the naval battle in which Antony and Cleopatra were defeated by Ocatavian. Antony defeated the Parthians and helped Cleopatra rebuild Egypt's power but lost to Octavian at the Battle of Actium in 31 B.C. Octavian became known as Augustus and was later deified by the Roman Senate. Of Augustus' many titles, that of imperator signified control of the army. Augustus was the first Roman emperor and his rule began the Pax Romana.
Romulus is to the Monarchy what Augustus is to the Empire. Romulus was the first king of Rome; Augustus was the first emperor. The Senate granted Octavian Caesar the title Augustus in 27 B.C. Just before he died, Augustus is said to have uttered, "Acta est fabula" = "The drama is finished."
The great library of Alexandria was burned when Caesar was besieged there in 47 B.C.
Crassus, nicknamed Dives (Richman), was a member of the first triumvirate and was killed fighting the Parthians in the East.
The First Triumvirate = Julius Caesar, Pompey, Crassus. Pompeius Magnus (Pompey the Great) was defeated at Pharsalia; he escaped to Egypt, but was assassinated (beheaded) there, and subsequently Caesar acquired uncontested control of Rome.
The Second Triumvirate = Antony, Octavian, Lepidus
Octavian became the emperor Augustus.
Cannae, Pharsalus and Actium are all famous battles.
The emperor Commodus wore a lion's skin and carried a club in an attempt to imitate Hercules.
Horatius Cocles, Mucius Scaevola and Cincinnatus were all early Roman patriots. Horatius held the Etruscans off at the bridge, Scaevola burnt off his right hand, and Cincinnatus left his plow to become dictator. After leading the Romans to victory, Cincinnatus resigned his dictatorship and returned to his plow.
Numa Pompilius, Tullus Hostilius and Tarquinius Superbus were all kings of early Rome. They belong to the Monarchy phase of Roman history.
Romulus, Cincinnatus, Augustus and Nero are in proper chronological order.
Monarchy, Republic, empire, and fall of Rome are in chronological order.
The office of Tribune was established to protect the rights of the plebeians with the power of veto.
The Rubicon was a river which marked the boundary between Italy and Gaul. When Caesar crossed it in 49, he broke Roman law by bringing his army into Italy and he precipitated a civil war. His declaration as he crossed the Rubicon, iacta alea est (the die has been cast) reflects the fact that this decision was an irrevocable ( could not be recalled or taken back) one.
Cleopatra had affairs with both Julius Caesar and Antony. She was the last royal ruler of the Egyptians; Augustus took control of Egypt following Actium.
The Greek king who defeated the Romans but suffered such great losses that he is supposed to have said, "One more such victory and I am done for!" was Pyrrhus. Thus the phrase, Pyrrhic victory.
Land reform and distribution was always an issue. One of the reasons that Tiberius and Gaius Gracchus, social reformers during the Republic, were killed was that they attempted to redistribute land and give grain to the poor.
The emperor Constantine, after having a vision, fought under the signs of the cross and the words In hoc signo vinces. He defeated Maxentius at the Mulvian Bridge in 312 B.C. Constantine was the first emperor to accept Christianity. The Mulvian Bridge carries the via Flaminia across the Tiber north of Rome.
The ff are in chronological order: the arrival of Aeneas in Italy, the Punic Wars, the assassination of Julius Caesar, the battle of Actium.
During the monarchy, the equites, (equestrian order, horsemen) was an ordo established originally as cavalry support for the legions, but later evolved into the commercial and financial class. Cicero was an equestrian, as opposed to patrician, someone from one of the old noble families.
Brutus is the legendary Roman patriot who helped depose the last king of Rome and who was elected first consul of the Roman Republic. His kinswoman, Lucretia, had been raped by the king's son. She killed herseld, after telling her husband, father and family what had happened. The last king of Rome was Tarquinius Superbus, and he was kicked out by Brutus and Collatinus in 510 B.C.
Spartacus, an escaped Thracian slave and gladiator led an army of slaves which defeated five Roman armies. Crassus defeated this slave army, and crucified the captured slaves along the Via Appia .
The emperor Nero was driven to suicide for his misrule and possible burning of Rome. His final words are said to have been, "How great an artist dies!" Nero is also famous for building a lavish palace called the Domus Aurea (Golden Home).
Tribunus plebis (tribune of the plebs) was an office created to defend the rights of the common people.
Literature
Caesar's famous message, Veni, Vidi, Vici, is notable for its use of alliteration and asyndeton
Cicero's In Catilinam, Pro Roscio, and In Verrem are speeches or orations. Cicero delivered the first speech against Catiline, In Catilinam I on Oct. 21, 63, B.C. ( a.d.XII Kal.Nov.) Cicero was consul this year. Cicero was a novus homo, which means he was the first person in his family to achieve the rank of consul. During the Republic, the consuls were the chief executives. The consuls presided over the Senate and commanded the armies in war. Cicero established his reputation among the Romans as an accomplished orator. He defended and prosecuted many cases in the courts. A speech in defense of someone was a speech pro + person's name in ablative; a speech against someone was in + accusative of person's name ( Pro Milone, In Verrem). The same Roman senate which awarded him the title, Pater Patriae, Father of the Country, for his handling of the Catilinarian conspiracy, later sent him into exile for the same thing. This exile was micro-managed by Cicero's enemy, Clodius. Clodius caused the exile of Cicero in 58 B.B., and had an infamous sister, Clodia, who is thought to be the "Lesbia" of Catullus' poetry. In addition to his orations, Cicero wrote letters which are a valuable resource for historians of the late Republic. He also wrote philosophical works, de amicitia, on friendship, de senectute, on old age, de natura deorum, on the nature of the gods, de republica, on the state. The de republica was familiar to and useful to the Founding Fathers as they planned the government of the United States. Cicero also wrote many letters. Ad familiares are 16 books of his letters which give a clear picture of Roman life in the late Republic. Cicero lost his life because of the enmity Antony and he had for each other. Cicero had delivered a series of speeches against Antony called the Philippics after the speeches of the same name which Demonsthenes had delivered against Philip of Maceodon.
Cicero, Caesar, Pompey, Catiline are all figures of the 1st century B.C., and the end of the Republic.
Horace is the Roman poet during the reign of Augustus who wrote the Odes, Epodes, Satires, and Ars Poetica (Art of Poetry). Horace served as military tribune under Brutus, was a friend of Vergil, and was a member of the literary circle of Maecenas. Maecenas was his patron. Maecenas was a close friend of Augustus. As a patron of literature, Maecenas supported Augustus' wish to bring about a renaissance in literature. Horace advised his readers to carpe diem, quam minimum credula postero.
Cui dono novum libellum? "To whom do I give this new little book?" This line from Catullus' first poem contains a diminutive, libellum, instead of the conventional librum.
In his poetry, Catullus gave his lover Clodia the name Lesbia, in honor of the the Greek lyric poetess, Sappho, who came from the island Lesbos.
An ellipsis is an omission of a word of words. In Dux femina, the word est is left out.
The "Circle of Maecenas" was a group of Augustan writers.
Cum tacent clamant ("When they are silent, they shout" = "Their silence screams.") exhibits the literary/rhetorical device oxymoron. It also uses alliteration.( c & t)
Propter carmen et errorem, Augusto iubente, mihi necesse erat in longum exilium abire. = "On account of a poem and a mistake, since Augustas was ordering it, it was necessary for me to go away into a long exile."
These are the words of the poet Ovid, explaining why the emperor Augustus banished him from Rome to Tomis, on the Black Sea. The carmen is assumed to be the Ars Amatoria, the errorem is thought to be Ovid's role in the escapades of Julia, Augustus' daughter or grand-daughter. But it is a mystery. Ovid hated being away from Rome; although he wrote letters and poems begging Augustus to forgive him, the emperor never did, and Ovid died in exile. Ovid wrote the Tristia and the Epistulae ex Ponto at Tomis on the Black Sea when he was banished from Rome. Ovid also wrote the Metamorphoses, poems about changes. It is a sourcebook for mythology. He also wrote the Heroides, poems which are letters from women to their husbands and lovers.
Per mare, per terras, per tertia numina iuro (" I swear by the sea, by the lands, by the three-fold divine powers.") contains the rhetorical device, anaphora, the repetition of the same word or phrase at the beginning of successive clauses or phrases. It also contains alliteration.
portae patent, porficiscere contains alliteration.
The words sicut and velut are likely to introduce the rhetorical device known as simile.
Plautus and Terence wrote comedies (plays), Ovid wrote poetry.
Multum in parvo is an example of the literary device, oxymoron, which makes use of seemingly contradictory words in the same phrase.
Books which start halfway through the story and use flashbacks to tell what has already happened are said to begin in medias res (in the middle of things). This is a characteristic of epics, like the Iliad, Odyssey and the Aeneid.
Cicero and Pliny the Younger left a valuable resource for historians by writing letters. They expounded upon the ideas and events of their day in their letters.
Pliny the Younger's uncle, Pliny the Elder was a lawyer, admiral and natural scientist who perished during the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius in 79 A.D. He did not die from the volcano, but rather dropped dead of a stroke or heart attack while on a mission to rescue people. Pliny the Younger wrote famous letters describing the eruption of Vesuvius in 79 A.D. to his friend, the historian Tacitus.
Patria nostra nos magna voce vocat is an example of personification. It also contains alliteration.
Livy's description of Hannibal as a man who had nihil veri, nihil sancti, nullus metus, nullum ius iurandum, nulla religio is an example of anaphora.
Homer's Iliad, Vergil's Aeneid, Ovid's Metamorphoses, Lucretius' De Rerum Natura are all written in dactylic hexameter, also known as heroic meter. Dactylic hexameter is the meter of classical epic.
Sallust's description of Catiline as having satis eloquentiae, sapientiae parum (enough of eloquence, too little of wisdom) shows an ABBA word order known as chiasmus. Cicero's fragile corpus animus sempiternus (fragile body eternal mind) is another example of chiasmus, ABBA word order.
When the poet Juvenal talked about panem et circenses, he was referring to entertaining the common people. It was a way of controlling them.
The Greek poet Homer exerted the most influence on Vergil's Aeneid.
The Greek lyric poets Callimachus and Sappho exerted the most influence on Catullus ( and also on the other Roman lyric poets). Sappho was the Greek lyric poetess from the island of Lesbos, famous for her love lyrics. She is sometimes called the "Tenth Muse."
Satire is a literary genre that aims to expose human weakness by ridicule. It was perfected by the Roman poets Horace, Juvenal and Martial.
The line from Vergil, qualis equos Threissa fatigat Harpalyce contains a simile. Similes are often introduced by ut or qualis.
The historian Livy is famous for his history, Ab Urbe Condita, which contain stories about the foundation and early history of Rome.
Plautus was a Roman playwright who wrote the comedies, Aulularia, Mostellaria and Miles Gloriosus. The musical "A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum" is based on the plays of Pautus.
Terence was another Roman playwright who wrote comedies.
munusculum (little gift), libellus (little book), ocelle (little eye) are all diminutives. They are characteristic of Latin lyric poetry, particularly the poetry of Catullus.
The words imber (rain), nebula (cloud), nives (snow) and tonitrus (thunder) are words often seen in poetry. They have to do with weather.
The poets Martial and Juvenal wrote epigrams which were often funny and satirical.
Culture & Stuff
The Kalends of every month is the first day.
The nones fall on the 5th and the ides on the 13th, except for the MOMS MUNCH JUJUBES ONLY months (March, May, July and October), when the nones fall on the 7th and the ides on the 15th.
In order to discern the will of the gods, a Roman priest might examine the liver and entrails of an animal, or watch the flight of birds.
Romans would go to Athens to study philosophy and round out their cultural education. One of the things a young Roman would do in Athens is study philosophy, including Stoicism and Epicureanism.
A Roman would go to the thermae in order to exercise and bathe. Apodyterium, frigidarium amd palaestra are all parts of the thermae or balnea.
A peculium was an allowance given to Roman slaves; a peculiolum, a diminutive as the suffix indicates, was a small savings account.
A magister bibendi was in charge of the drinking at a banquet. He decided how much water to dilute the wine with.
The Curia was the senate meeting-house.
The censor was the Roman magistrate who had the power to count citizens and oversee public morals. During the Republic he had the right to remove members from the senate and control public morality. The censor could revise the roster of the Senate.
Ver (spring), hiems (winter) and aestas (summer) are all seasons.
The terms legio (legion), castra (camp), and centurio (centurion) all pertain to the military.
The Curia, the Rostra, and basilicae were located in the Roman Forum.
The established succession of offices which a Roman like Cicero held on his way to becoming consul was the cursus honorum.
During the Republic, senators held their power ad vitam aut ad culpam = until they died or were found guilty of wrongdoing.
Dictator was an extraordinary magistrate authorized by the senate to command in times of military and domestic crises. Cincinnatus is an example of a dictator.
Metae, ludi circenses ,spina, albati, quadriga, circus are words which pertain to chariot races.
Myrmillones, Retiarii and Samnites were different types of gladiators. Gladiatorial fights would take place in the Colosseum.
Sacerdotes, augures and pontifices are titles associated with Roman religious institutions. The Pontifex Maximus was in charge of religion; his home was the Regia. As pontifex maximus, Julius Caesar was responsible for a badly needed revision of the calendar in 46 B.C.
Flamines and Salii were different types of Roman priests.
In Roman times, chariot racing took place in the Circus Maximus.
The Lares and Penates are household gods.
Atramentum, stylus and cera were used by Romans for writing.
The rostra was the speaker's platform located on the south side of the Comitium which was at the foot of the Capitoline hill. It got its name from the fact that in 338 it was decorated with the prows (rostra) of ships captured from Antium. An orator addressing the Roman people (Quirites) would speak from the rostra.
The Forum Romanum is the area at the foot of the Palatine Hill. It is the site of the Rostra, the Curia, the Basilica Julia and the Temple of Castor.
An anphora is a large jar used for storing wine or oil.
Dependents who relied on patrons for support in exchange for their personal services were known as clientes. They would come to their patrons' houses very early in the morning just before daybreak to pay homage, ask favors.( Think of the scene in Vito Corleone's study at his daughter's wedding in the Godfather).
Romance languages are languages derived from Latin. French, Spanish, Italian and Romanian are all Romance languages. English and German are not.
Horace's expression Ab ovo usque ad mala ( from egg to apples) refers to an elegant dinner.
Prima luce (at first light) refers to daybreak.
Prima hora was at daybreak, c. 6:00 a.m.
a.u.c. (ab urbe condita, from the city having been founded) refers to a system of numbering years. Ab Urbe Condita is also the title of the Augustan age historian Livy's history of Rome.
In the phrase Augustus anno DCCLXVII A.U.C. mortuus est , A.U.C. refers to the 767th year from the foundation of Rome.
A praetor is a judge and works in a basilica; a senator works in the Curia. Praetor is an office on the cursus honorum; a praetor judged civil and criminal cases.
A Roman running for office was called a candidatus because he wore the toga candida, a gleaming white toga.
The terms Doric, Ionic, and Corinthian refer to types of columns.
The fasces, symbols of Roman imperium (power), were carried by lictors.
Stoic is to duty as Epicurean is to pleasure.
The Lupercalia, Saturnalia and Matronalia refer to Roman festivals.
In times of war the doors of the temple of Janus were opened; in times of peace, they were closed. Janus is the god with two faces; January is named after him: January looks back at the old year and forward to the new year.
Mythology
Chiron was Achilles's tutor; he was a centaur, half-man and half-horse. He had the body of a horse and the head of a man. Achilles is a Greek hero, the leader of the Myrmidons. He is the son of Peleus and Thetis. He killed Hector, the Trojan prince, and then was killed by an arrow in the ankle from the bow of Paris, the brother of Hector. Paris stole Helen from Menelaos, the king of Sparta. Thus began the Trojan war. Homer's epic the Iliad, immortalized the anger Achilles felt toward Agamemnon, the brother of Menelaos. Agamemnon was king of Mycenae, and the leader of the Greek forces at Troy. Catullus wrote an epyllion (little epic) about the marriage of Peleus and Thetis. This epyllion contains a famous ecphrasis (diversion describing an architectural or artistic work) in which the desertion of Ariadne by Theseus is described.
Theseus is the Greek hero who fought the Minotaur in Crete. He is the son of Aegeus, the king of Athens. He used the help of Ariadne, the daughter of Minos, to defeat the minotaur, ran off with her, then dumped her on a desert island. Minos was king of Crete; he had Daedalus design and build the Labyrinth to house the Minotaur. The Minotaur was the offspring of his wife Pasiphae and a bull she fell in love with. Daedalus is also famous for constructing wings out of feathers and wax to escape Crete. He and his son Icarus flew away from Crete on these wings, but Icarus got too excited, flew too close to the sun, the wax melted, and he fell into the sea and drowned.
Jason also made use of a King of Colchis' daughter, Medea, in his quest for the golden fleece. He didn't dump her until they had been married for years and had two sons. When he pushed her aside for a younger woman, she killed her sons. When the Argonauts came to the island of the blind king Phineus, they found him tormented by huge bird-woman creatures called Harpies. Jason's story includes a blind prophet, clashing rocks, Medea and the golden ram. Jason was ordered to retreive the golden fleece by Pelias.
The Fates were portrayed as women with a thread and scissors. They spin, measure and cut the tread of life. They are known as the Parcae, and they control the thread of human destiny.
The Danae, Medusa and Andromeda all are associated with the hero Perseus.
Cerberus is the 3-headed watchdog of Hades. Hercules had to go to Hades to fetch this dog as one of his labors.
Thetis is the mom of Achilles; Venus is the mother of Aeneas, and Penelope is the mother of Telemachus.
Clytemnestra is the wife of Agamemnon. She killed him when he came home from Troy, to avenge his sacrifice of their daughter Iphigeneia.
Penelope is the faithful wife of Odysseus/Ulysses.
Psyche was married to Cupid. She broke a promise to never look at her husband, and subsequently had to perform several tasks for her mother-in-law, Venus, in order to win Cupid back.
Erato, the muse of lyric poetry, served as inspiration to Catullus and Horace.
Charon is the ferryman in Hades.
Proserpina (Persephone) is the daughter of Ceres, and the wife of Pluto(Hades)
Sisyphus is a guy in Hades condemned to roll a rock up a hill only to have it roll back down and he has to start over again.
Styx is the river of gloom in Hades. The Acheron and Phlegethon are also rivers in Hades. Elysium are the golden fields where heroes spend their afterlife.
Paris judged the 3 goddesses, Juno, Venus and Minerva. A golden apple was tossed into the wedding banquet of Peleus and Thetis, with the inscription " For the fairest." The male gods were too smart to try to settle the argument for the apple that broke out among Juno, Minerva and Venus. Zeus had Paris make the choice. He chose Venus and gave her the golden apple; his reward for choosing Venus was the most beautiful woman in the world. That was Helen. Then comes the Trojan War. Paris' choice of Venus earned the Trojans the enmity of Juno and Minerva, both of whom backed the Greeks in the seige of Troy. The Aeneid recounts how Juno's hatred of the Trojans was so great that she hounded Aeneas on his quest to reach Italy. On his way to Italy, Aeneas gets side-tracked to Africa, falls in love with Dido, queen of Carthage, and then abandons her on the orders of Jupiter. Dido kills herself and curses the Romans, thus giving a mythical reason for the enmity between Rome and Carthage. Carthage was a city sacred to Juno; in the Aeneid, when Juno predicts that Rome would come excidio Libyae (as a destruction for Libya, this is a double dative) she is referring to the destruction of Carthage by Rome.
Castor and Pollux are the brothers of Helen and Clytemnestra. They became the constellation, Gemini, known to the Romans as the Dioscuri.
The god Mercury invented the lyre which he presented as a gift to his brother Apollo. Mercury was the messenger of the gods who carried the caduceus, had winged sandals and cap and escorted souls to Hades.
Charon is the ferryman who carries souls across the river Styx into the Underworld.
Perseus slew the gorgon Medusa (gorgon,snaky-haired lady; looking at her turned you into stone) and gave her head to Minerva/Athena to wear on her breastplate or shield (aegis).
The Graeae were the sisters of the Gorgons. They were born old, and had only one eye and one tooth between them, which they must use in turn. Perseus stole the eye from them when it was being handed from one to the other, and then forced them to disclose to him the next stage of his quest.
The Greek hero Perseus is associated with Medusa, Atlas and Andromeda.
The Gorgons were snaky-haired sisters, Stheno, Euryale, and Medusa.
Pyramus and Thisbe were two young Babylonian lovers whose daddies and mommies didn't approve of their relationship. They communicated to each other through a crack in the garden wall. They are the basis for the Romeo and Juliet story.
Achilles is a Greek hero of the Trojan war; Hector was a Trojan hero, the eldest son of Priam and Hecuba, king and queen of Troy. Troy is often called Pergamum in literature.
The story of Agamemnon's sacrifice of his daughter Iphigenia is a prelude to the Trojan War. The Greek fleet was stuck at Aulis; the wind wouldn't blow because the Greeks had offended the goddess Artemis/Diana. The seer said that Diana needed to be appeased with the sacrifice of Iphigenia. So Agamemnon sent a message home to Mycenae that Iphigenia should come and wed Achilles. She came and
Agamemnon sacrificed her to Diana instead. Clytemnestra, his wife, never forgave him, and killed him when he came back from Troy with Cassandra.
The Muses were instrumental as beings who inspired artists and poets. There were nine Muses. The words music and museum derive from their name. The home of the Muses is Mt. Parnassus. Parnassus is also the home of Delphi, and oracle of Apollo. Parnassus is said to have been the first land to appear after the great flood.
Prometheus suffered the wrath of Juppiter/Zeus for stealing fire and giving it to Man. Prometheus is the Titan who made man out of clay. His brother is Atlas.
King Midas foolishly wished for the Golden Touch.
Theseus killed the Minotaur; Hercules killed the Nemean lion.
Ulysses on his way home to Ithaca from the war at Troy, faced the challenges of Svylla, Circe, and Polyphemus ( the Cyclops). The Cyclops were one-eyed giants, and Polyphemus, one of these Cyclops, was the son of Neptune. Ulysses/Odysseus was absent from his home in Ithaca for 20 years. His wife Penelope is a paradigm of marital fidelity. She wove the cloth and unraveled it at night to put off her suitors.
Venus, the goddess of love and beauty, was born from the foam of the sea off Cyprus or Cythera, and was attended by the Three Graces. She is an Olympian deity, the wife of Vulcan, lover of Mars, mother of Cupid and Aeneas, and frequent visitor to Cythera and Cyprus. The poets often call her the Cytherian. Venus' son, Cupid, fell in love with the mortal girl Psyche. She took a peak at him while he was sleeping.
When Pandora opened that box she gave evils to the human race.
As a reward for their generosity and hospitality toward Jupiter and Mercury, Baucis and Philemon were allowed to die together and become intertwined trees.
The nymph Daphne also turned into a tree - a laurel tree. Apollo became enamoured of her; she didn't want to have anything to do with him. He chased her. She prayed to her father, a river god, and he turned her into a laurel tree to save her from being raped by Apollo. The laurel tree then became sacred to Apollo. That is why he is depicted wearing a laurel wreath crown.
Sisyphus, Tantalus, Pirithous and Ixion are all being punished in Hades.
Jupiter often had a wandering eye. His sister/wife was so jealous that she ordered the monster Argus to guard the nymph Io.
Boreas, Notus, Zephyrus and Eurus are winds. Aeolus was king of the winds.
Parnassus, Helicon and Aetna are all mountains prominent in mythology.
The animal associated with Neptune and bellerophon is the horse.
The gods lived on Mount Olympus. Mount Olympus is in northern Greece.
Hercules was given a bow and arrow by Apollo, a bronze club by Vulcan. He performed 12 labors successfully.
The titan Atlas was assigned the task of holding up the sky because of his attempt to overthrow the gods. He is the brother of Prometheus and the father of Mercury's mother. Mt. Atlas and the Atlas mountains are in north-western Africa.
Nymphs were spirits of nature, represented by beautiful young women, who inhabited and pretected rivers, fountains, mountains and woods. Some types of nymphs are Naiads, Dryads and Oreads.
Lucifer is the descriptive name used by the ancient Romans to refer to the Morning Star.
The musician Orpheus went down to Hades to retrieve his wife Eurydice. In the Aeneid, Aeneas cites him as an example of the feasibility of going to Hades and getting back again.
Echo was a nymph who wasted away in grief and Narcissus was a young man who fell in love with his image in a pool. Ovid wrote about them in the Metamorphoses.
Etymology
Perspicacious means to see right through to the heart of the matter.
Acclamation is shouted approval.
Soliloquy, loquacity and circumlocution all derive from the Latin verb, loquor, loqui, locutus sum, to speak.
cursory (curro, currere, to run) = quick
Mottoes
Aut viam inveniam aut faciam = I will find a road or I will make one, an expression of determination.
in perpetuum ave atque vale = Hail and farewell into eternity, an appropriate sentiment for a tombstone.
De mortuis nihil nisi bonum = Concerning the dead (say) nothing but good
Verbum sapienti sat est = A word to the wise is enough.
ad infinitum = into infinity, without end
Quae cum ita sint = Since these things are so
et seq. = and the following
sine qua non = "without which not," a necessity
Esse quam videri " To be rather than to seem," the state motto of North Carolina, is close in meaning to Facta non verba "Deed not words". "Don't just say it, do it
quid pro quo = serva me, servabo te.
ignose mihi = "forgive me" or "pardon me." N.B. ignosco takes the dative.
ipse dixit = "he himself has spoken" can be used to indicate an assertion made on authority, but not necessarily proved.
Fata volentem ducunt, nolentem trahunt = "The Fates lead the willing and drag the unwilling"
Caveat emptor = "Let the buyer beware."
modus operandi = a criminal's pattern of behavior
Geography
A Roman ship sailing from the port of Ostia to Sicily would head south.
Catullus spent a year on the staff of the governor of Bithynia, a country in Asia Minor.
Hannibal had to cross the Pyrenees mountains in order to go to Gaul (France) from Spain.
When Theseus left Athens to go to Crete to kill the Minotaur he sailed south.
To found Carthage, the Phoenicians sailed in the general direction west of Tyre and Sidon.
The Aegean (Mare Aegeum), Adriatic (Mare Adriaticum) and Tyrrhenian (Mare Turrhenum) are all bodies of water in the Mediterranean.
The Via Appia was a famous road left Rome and headed south. It was the route to the port of Brundisium.
A Roman would travel south from Rome to Brundisium via the Via Appia, and then cross the Adriatic Sea in order to reach Greece. Brundisium, an important seaport, was located on the southeastern heel of Italy on the Adriatic Sea.
Crete, Delos and Rhodes are islands in the Mediterranean. Crete is famous for Minos, the Minotaur and the labyrinth forms the southern boundary of the Aegean Sea; Delos is sacred to Apollo, and Rhodes was famous for its schools of rhetoric. Specifically, Delos is in the Aegean Sea.
Alexandria is a city on the Egyptian coast of the Mediterranean. It was founded in 332 B.C. by Alexander the Great. It became the second largest city of the Roman Empire and the main port of the eastern Mediterranean. It was famous for its lighthouse and for its library. This library was destroyed when Caesar had to defend himself against an attack while he was in Alexandria. He came there in pursuit of Pompey following Pharsalia; but Ptolemy had killed and beheaded Pompey. Alexandria was the Cleopatra's capital, it and the Nile river are in Egypt.
Carthage is also a city on the north coast of Africa. It was founded by Dido, whom Aeneas loved and left. Carthage was to become the arch-enemy of Rome.
The Tiber, Po and Rubicon are all Italian rivers. The Rubicon was the boundary between Italy and Gaul. Northern Italy was considered part of Gaul. It was called Gallia Cisalpina (Gaul on this side of the Alps) and Gallia Transpadana (Gaul across the Po).
The Rhine (Rhenus) river was a boundary between the Germani and Gaul. German invaders crossed the Rhine river and attacked Gallic tribes which were allied to Rome.
Delphi, Delos, Dodona and Cumae are all places famous for their oracles. These oracles were inspired by the god of prophecy, Apollo. Delphi was considered the center of the universe.
Troy was in Asia Minor, in Turkey. Sailing eastward from Athens across the Aegean Sea you reach Turkey.
Olympia, Mycenae and Sparta are all cities in Greece.
In his search for the Golden Fleece, Jason sailed through the Aegean Sea and the Hellespont to Colchis on the eastern shore of the Black Sea.
One would travel east from Sicily to the provinces of Mesopotamia, Syria and Phoenicia.
The Hellespont is also known as the Bosporus or Dardanelles. Constantinople is the city founded by the emperor Constantine on the Hellespont; it was called Byzantium by the Greeks and today is known as Istanbul.
The Campus Martius was originally set aside for military training and mass voting.
Colchis is located on the coast of the Black Sea. This was the home of Medea and the Golden Fleece.
Asia was a province at the eastern end of the Mediterranean Sea which fell under the domination of the Persian Empire before being conquered by the Greeks and later was added to the Roman Empire.
Actium, where Octavian defeated Antony and Cleopatra in a naval battle, is located on the Ionian Sea on the west coast of Greece.
Mt. Parnassus is the home of the Muses and the location of Delphi, an oracle of Apollo.
When Zeus, in the form of a bull, swam with Europa on his back from Phoenicia to Crete he was heading west.
Caesar had to travel north to get to Gaul from Rome.
The Pyrenees separated Hispania (Spain) from Gaul (France).
The Alps separated Gaul from Italy.
Mount Olympus is in northern Greece.
The island Crete marks the southern boundary of the Aegean Sea.
Southern Italy was an area of Greek colonization; it was called Magna Graecia.
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