Download NLE Culture

NLE Culture
(Note: Items in italics are more likely to appear on the Latin 2 (next year’s) NLE, so keep this handout.)
Geography: Alps, Apennines, Pyrenees, Gallia, Helvetia, Tiber, Ostia, Magna Graecia, Carthage, Sicily, Mt.
Etna, Mt. Vesuvius, Pompeii , Herculaneum, Via Appia to Brundisium, Mare Nostrum (Mediterranean
Sea), Britannia, Pillars of Hercules, Tiber River, Adriatic Sea, Aegean Sea.
Aspects of Roman life (see past handouts and readings):
the Roman house
clothing
education (stylus, tabella/tabula, paedagogus, papyrus)
Dining customs: ientaculum (breakfast), prandium (lunch), cena (dinner), gustatio, secunda mensa
Entertainment:
Circus Maximus for chariot races (spina, meta, laps marked with eggs and dolphins)
Colosseum (a.k.a. Flavian Amphitheater)
Thermae/ Balneae (public baths)
City of Rome:
7 hills (Capitoline, Palatine, Quirinal, Viminal, Esquiline, Caelian, Aventine)
Pantheon (temple to all the gods)
aqueducts
bridges (Pons Sublicius)
columns (from the Greek: Doric, Ionic, Corinthian)
Forum (place for socializing, conducting business, and shopping): Curia, Basilica, templum Vestae, Ara
Vulcani, etc. Via Sacra ran through it.
Mythology:
Trojan War (Greeks vs. Trojans, Achilles, Agamemnon, Odysseus, Hector, Paris, Helen, Aeneas)
Famous monsters: Cerberus, Pegasus, Medusa, Tres Parcae, Novem Musae)
Heroes: Jason and the Argonauts (Golden Fleece, helped by Medea), Odysseus (faced Cyclops et al.,
returned to Penelope), Perseus (killed Medusa, got Andromeda), Theseus (killed Minotaur on Crete,
helped by Ariadne whom he later abandoned, Hercules (XII Labores)
Gods and goddesses (refer to earlier notes on Greek and Roman names and major attributes, spouses,
lovers)
A few well known myths:
Apple of Discord (thrown into wedding party by Eris; claimed by Hera/Juno, Athena/Minerva, and
Aphrodite/Venus)
Judgment of Paris
Daphne and Apollo
Orpheus and Eurydice
Midas (given Golden Touch by Dionysus/Bacchus)
Arachne and Minerva
Narcissus
Atlas
Delphic Oracle
Philemon and Baucis
Pandora’s Box
Pluto and Proserpina
Overview of history:
Monarchy (753-509 B.C.)
Romulus 1st king; brother of Remus; son of Mars
Tarquinius Superbus last king, overthrown after his son Sextus raped Lucretia
Republic (509 B.C.-27 B.C.)
fasces—symbol of power (Fascism)
S.P.Q.R.—senatus populusque Romanus
Led by 2 consuls elected each year
dictators in emergencies could rule for 6 months
Early heroes: Horatius Cocles, Mucius Scaevola, Cloelia, Cincinnatus
3 Punic Wars—Rome vs. Carthage
Hannibal—Carthaginian leader in Second Punic War, defeated by Scipio Africanus at the Battle of Zama
Spartacus—slave who led rebellion in 73 B.C.
Julius Caesar, known for victories in Gaul and Germany; tried to invade Britain but retreated
“Veni, vidi, vici,” “alea iacta est,” “et tu, Brute” (καὶ σὺ, τέκνον)
First triumvirate: Caesar, Pompey, Crassus
Julian Calendar
Empire (27 B.C.-476 A.D.)
Augustus—first emperor, patron of Vergil and Horace among others
Nero—last of the Julio-Claudian Emperors
Trajan—Empire reached its greatest extent under him
Constantine—first Christian emperor, moved capital from Rome to Constantinople
A few conversational phrases:
Salve/Salvete: hello
Vale/Valete: goodbye
Gratias (tibi/vobis) ago: thank you
Quid agis? How are you? Possible answers: Bene, Satis Bene, Male, Pessime
Quaenam est tempestas hodie? What’s today’s weather? Possible answers: Sol lucet, Nebulosum est,
Pluit, Ningit, Frigidum est, Callidum est.
Me paenitet: I’m sorry
Adsum (I am present)