The Emperors of Rome Crossword
DALL: Digital Age Latin Learning
Overview
This small pressbook is designed to give students a brief refresher on Latin Grammar, and exposes learners to a few salient aspects of life in ancient Rome: the time of day, the calendar, and hygiene practices.
Introductions and Parts of Speech
Salvete, Omnes (Greetings, everyone!)
This Pressbook is designed with two goals in mind. The first is to provide self-guided education and activities of a Classical Language. Through the journeys of the first goal we accomplish the second: understanding and appreciation for the daily life of Late Imperial Rome through the simulatd, imagined construction of a famous Roman relic, an Aqueduct! As you go throughout your day, you will assist in the planning, design, stone hewing, cement creation, irrigation, and construction of the Aqua Alexandrina.
The Roman World has plentiful aspects which have flowed down to today's age, but olne fohte most impactful legacists was to the language itself, all aspects of which survive today in our own tongue. These surviving linguistics are:
- Nouns: their declensions, forms, and genders.
- ALL Latin nouns are gendered, either MASCULINE (M), FEMININE, (F), OR NEUTER (N).
- We will discuss gendering of nouns as we move further along.
- Verbs: As the mitochondria is the powerhouse of the cell, the verb is the powerhouse of the Latin sentence. Verb formation, conjugation, and syntax will be broken up over teh course of this book, because of the variegated forms and rules verbs will play.
- Most verbs are "normal," in that they follow a genral set of rules for their construction and use.
- Some verbs are "irregular," in that their forms and construction do not follow the typical layout of other verbs. These verbs are unique and just must be memorized.
- Prepositions: These act out a very similar purpose as they do in English, serving to provide a little bit more infomation in the sentence and its parts
- Participles: We will discuss and elucidate the formation, application, and meanings of participles, or "verbal nouns"
- These are quite complex constructs, which will unfold new ways to read, understand, and appreciate the Latin language.
- Ubiquitous Aspects: Tenses--Moods--Voices
- These three aspects impact and affect every level of Latin translation and understanding. As old as it may sound, those three aspects work with the flow of time, that is, when did the action of verbs in different tenses, moods, and voices happen in relation to the action of the governing verb.
- Pronouns: Pronouns, just like in English, are crucuial identifiers for whom is doing what in a particular sentence. Pronouns vary in form and size through gender, number, and case.
- Gender, Number, and Case: All Latin nouns, evry single one, are gendered, meaning they are all either masculine, feminine, or neuter. English is special in being one of the only Latin legacy languages which uses no such gendering. The lack of gender can certainly be a challenge for the novitiate Latin learner, but this challenge is by no means insurmountable.
- Number: The number of Latin nouns is very simple, just like in English: singular or plural. The futher in you go, the easier it will become to distinguish between singular and plural nouns.
- Case: All Latin nouns have cases weith their own unique endings. The cases tell you what role the noun is playing in the sentence you're reading.
- Nominative: The "Subject" case. The subject of any Latin sentence will be in the Nominative case.
- Genitive: The "Possession" case. This case reaveals the relation of ownership among nouns.
- Dative: The "Indirect Object" case. Here, teha ction of the verb is imparted "to" or "for" something else. That "something else" noun will be in the Dative case.
- Accusative: The "Direct Object" case. Here this noun is fully receiving the action of the verb, and will thus be in the accusative case.
- Ablative: The ablative case is by far the largest adn most biazarre of the Noun Cases. It can be used to explain teh relation of one obect by with or from another noun. The Ablative case has many different uses which impact the nuances of translation, and we will discuss these in greater depths as we move along.
- Vocative: This final case is the smallest, and it is not seen "in the wild" too terribly often. The Vocative case is the case of Address. A Roman would use the Vocative case to formally address someone else, or how a Roman might begin a speech in the Forum. However, the Vocative case was not used when writing a letter to someone else. For that, the Romans used the Dative case.
Pre Education Activity: Identify Parts of Speech
As we discussed earlier, the parts of speech in Latin and the parts of speech in English are very similar, with some parts performing the same function. To get a more solid understanding, below you will identify the parts of speech for a number of sentences in English, to give you a foundation of the similary ways the parts of speech in English and Latin both play.
Below is the sentence. Its bits have been broken up on the left hand side, with the constituent parts of speech on the right. Connect the parts on the left with its matching aspect on the right.
THE GREEN BOY KICKED THE BLUE BALL AT THE PURPLE GIRL
| THE GREEN | NOUN |
| [THE] BOY | INDIRECT OBJECT |
| KICKED | PREPOSITION |
| THE BLUE BALL | DIRECT OBJECT |
| AT | VERB |
| THE PURRPLE GIRL | ADJECTIVE |
THE BRIGHT IMAGE OF THE BELOVED STILL BURNS (Grayling, 2011, p. 164)
| THE BRIGHT IMAGE | VERB |
| OF THE BELOVED | PREPOSITION |
| STILL | SUBJECT |
| BURNS | ADJECTIVE |
| DIRECT OBJECT |
BETWEEN 70 AND 135, CHRISTIANITY BECAME A RELIGION BASED VERY LARGELY ON THE GEOPGRAPHY AND ORGANIZATION OF THE HELLENISTIC SYNAGOGUE (Frend, 1984, p. 120)
| BETWEEN | ADJECTIVE |
| CHRISTIANITY | DIRECT OBJECT(S) |
| BECAME | PREPOSITION |
| VERY LARGELY | SUBJECT |
| GEOGRAPHY; ORGANIZATION | VERB |
| AND | CONJUNCTION |
| BASED | AJDECTIVE |
| HELLENISTIC SYNAGOGUE | VERB |
Pronunciation & Diphthong Review
Before we dive into the meat of our pressbook, it's important to understand how to physically speak the words as an ancient Roman would have. To accomplish that end, we will discuss the ever so famous accent mark, the macron.
A Macron looks like this: A lōng line ōver a vowel. What the macron told the Rōmans and tells us is to elongate a vowel when you're speaking a particūlar word. The guide belōw has been adapted from Wheelock's Latin (La Fleur, 2011, p. xxxvii). It works like so:
| LONG | SHORT |
| ā like "fAther" (dābo: I give) | a like "vAssal" (dat: he/she/it gives) |
| ē like "thEy" (sēdēs: the thones/seats) | e like "pEt" (et: and) |
| ī like "machIne" (sī: if) | i like "bIt" (fortūnātissimam: most fortunate) |
| ō like "clOver" (magnō: great) | o like "Off" (Ego: I) |
| ū like "dUde" (ūnum: one) | u like "pUt" (sum: I am) |
In addition to the accent mark macron to dictate a long syllable, the ancient Romans also used diphthongs, just like in English. And very much like English, the Latin diphthongs were two (2) vowels producing a single sound. They are explained in the table below, which has been adapted from Wheelock's Latin (La Fleur, 2011, p. xxxvii).
| DIPHTHONG | SOUNDS LIKE | IN THE WILD |
| AE | AI like AISLE | horae: the hours/of the hour |
| AU | OU like HOUSE | audite!: hear! |
| EI | EI like REIGN | dei: of a/the god |
| EU | E+U: smash these two together | seu: or if (this diph. is rare in Latin) |
| OE | OI like OIl | coepit: he/she/it begins |
Understand the Powerhouse: Parts of the Verb
Okay, so! We discussed earlier in this book how important the verb is in English and in Latin. We made the comparison that as the mitochondria is the cell's powerhouse, the verb is the sentence's powerhouse. Let's break it down:
Just like in English, Latin verbs have five characteristics (quinque proprīetates) (QUIN-QUAY PRO-PREE-AY-TAH-TEHS). These characteristics are: Person; Number; Tense; Mood; and Voice
- PERSON and Number: (persōna et numerus) (PAIR-SOWN-UH EHT NOO-MEH-RUS)
- Who is the subject? That is, who is doing the action of the verb, or receiving the action of the verb?
- Latin verbs can have three (3) points of view,
- and two (2) numbers, singular or plural
Really really similar to English, isn't it? Still with us? Optime! Let's continue with the next characteristic, Tenses.SINGULAR PLURAL I (1st person) We (1st plural) You (2nd person) You (You all/yall) (2nd plural) He/She/It (3rd person) They (3rd plural)
- TENSE: (tempus) (TEHM-PUSS)
- When did the action of the verb take place?
- Latin has six (6) tenses, each of which we will discuss in depth:
PRESENT
PERFECT IMPERFECT FUTURE PERFECT FUTURE PLUPERFECT
- MOOD (modus) (MOE-DUHS)
- By "the mood" of a verb, we mean indicating the manner or state of being for a verb. Like English, Latin has three (3) moods:
- Indicative: from the word "indicate," the indicative mood of a verb more or less "indicates facts;" it tells us important information about what's going on in the sentence.
- Imperative: the imperative mood is the commanding mood. Go home! Eat this now! The imperative mood verb commands somone to do something.
- Subjunctive: This is a funky mood. It is the mood of possibility and potentiality, what might or could happen. For right now, I want you to focus on the indicative and imperative moods.
- By "the mood" of a verb, we mean indicating the manner or state of being for a verb. Like English, Latin has three (3) moods:
- VOICE (vox) (try it out!)
- The voice of the verb tells us if the subject is actively doing the action of the verb, or if the subject is passively receiving the action of the verb. An example below:
- Johnny hit the blue ball.
- The blue ball was hit by Johnny.
- Notice how little the sentence is actually changing; Johnny is still hitting a blue ball; but the perspective shifted from Johnny's to the inanimate ball when we moved to the Passive Voice. Kinda funky, huh
- The voice of the verb tells us if the subject is actively doing the action of the verb, or if the subject is passively receiving the action of the verb. An example below:
Next, we will move on to conjugating the Latin verb! From there we will move on to Latin nouns. Once that foundation is established, we'll be able to take a brief early morning journey through Rome, circa 220 C.E. (Common Era).
Grammar Review: The Noun Declensions: I & II
In this and the next two sections we are going to review case endings for all five Latin Declensions. Declensions 1 & 2 will be on one page; Declension 3 gets its own section; Declensions 4 & 5 will also be on one page.
Steps for Declining Proper:
- Take a noun, with its nominative and genitive. We'll use incola, incolae (inhabitant(s)) for our purposes.
- Chop off the AE ending in the gentive. Whatever results is our stem. For us, it's incol...
- Attach your case endings, and watch the magic of translation unfold!
Declension I: incola, incolae, f.: inhabitant(s)
| CASE | ENDING S | ENDING P | IN ACTION |
| NOMINATIVE | -a | -ae | "the inhabitant(s)" |
| GENITIVE | -ae | -arum | "of the inhabitant(s)/the inhabitant(s)'" |
| DATIVE | -ae | -īs | "to/for the inhabitant(s)" |
| ACCUSATIVE | -am | -ās | "the inhabitant/the inhabitants" |
| ABLATIVE | -ā | -īs | "by/with/from the inhabitant(s)" |
Declension II: servus, servi, m.: slave(s)
| CASE | ENDING S | ENDING P | IN ACTION |
| NOMINATIVE | -us | -ī | servus, servi |
| GENITIVE | -ī | -orum | servi, servorum |
| DATIVE | -o | -īs | servo, servis |
| ACCUSATIVE | -um | -ōs | servum, servos |
| ABLATIVE | -o | -īs | servo, servis |
| VOCATIVE | -e | -i | serve, servī |
Declension II: periclum, periculi, n.: danger(s)
| CASE | ENDING S | ENDING P | IN ACTION |
| NOMINATIVE | -um | -a | servus, servi |
| GENITIVE | -ī | -orum | servi, servorum |
| DATIVE | -o | -īs | servo, servis |
| ACCUSATIVE | -um | -a | servum, servos |
| ABLATIVE | -o | -īs | servo, servis |
| VOCATIVE | -e | -a | serve, servī |
Notae Bene
- Declension II is the only one in which the Vocative case ending is different from the nominative.
- Some nouns ending in -er keep the e in their forms; other nouns drop it entirely.
- 1st and 2nd Declension adjectives follow the gender, number, and case of the nouns they modify.
Educational Activity I: Declensions I & II Review.
Below are fifteen (15) sentences covering first and second declension nouns and adjectives. Five (5) sentences will ask you write the Latin form for the word requested; five (5) sentences will ask you identify all possible case and number forms for a particular Latin word; and five (5) sentences will ask you to write the Latin noun and adjective for the English phrase. I will provide an example of in each section. Sentences are adapted from Sinkovich, (1989): pp. 20; 33.
I. Latin form for requested word:
- street, acc. pl: viās
- farmer, gen. pl:
- Italy, dat. si.:
- story, nom. pl.:
- land, acc. si.:
- letter, abl. pl.:
II. Identify all options:
- fābulās: acc. pl
- puellae:
- terram:
- Graecis:
- epistularum:
- agricola:
III. Translate English to Latin:
- many gods, acc pl.: multos deos
- good woman, nom si.:
- many roads, abl pl.:
- good friend, dat. si.:
- large house, gen. pl.:
Grammar Review: The Noun Declensions: III
The third declension is by far the largest and most complex declension in the language. As explained by Sinkovich (1989), the 3rd Declension is composed of four types of nouns:
- Those whose stems end in a consonant. That is, you look at the genitive form, say principis; we chop off its ending, its two terminal letters, and we have the stem, which as luck would have it, ends in a consonant. The consonant stems have declensions in masculine, feminine, and the neuter
- Nouns whose stems end in an -i. Masculine and feminine 3rd "I-Stem" nouns end in -is in the nominative. Neuter nouns end in -e, -al, or -ar
- 3rd declension nouns that have a consonant stem, but are declined like "I-stem" nouns. I'm sorry, I know it's funky.
- Nouns that are irregular in form, but follow the 3rd declension conventions.
Helpful Hints:
- You've got yourself a third declension noun if the noun ends in: -a, -e, -ī, -ō, -y, -c, -l, -n, -r, -s, -t, and
- There is no guranteed way to identify a 3rd declension noun with the ease we can identify 1st and 2nd.
- Fret not! There are etymological clues that can hint which gender of the 3rd declension we work with: To wit:
- Masculine nouns typically end in: -tor, -or, -er, -o, -es, -eps, -ex
- Feminine nouns typically end in: tās, -tus, -es, -go, -do, -rs, -io, -is
- Neuter nouns typically end in: -en, -us, -e -al, -ar, -ur, -or
- NOTICE: observe how close the -or neuter ending is to the masculine -tor ending. A keen eye is crucial with the 3rd declension.
I. Consonant Stems
| CASE | miles, militis, m. SI | lex, legis, f. SI | corpus, corporis SI | miles, militis, m. PL | lex, legis, f. PL | corpus, corporis, n. PL |
| NOM | miles | lex | corpus | milites | leges | corpora |
| GEN | milites | legis | corporis | militum | legum | corporum |
| DAT | militi | legi | corpori | militibus | legibus | corporibus |
| ACC | militem | legem | corporem | milites | leges | corpora |
| ABL | milite | lege | corpore | militibus | legibus | corproibus |
II. I-Stems
| CASE | hostis, hostis, m. SI | finis, finis, f., SI | animal, animalis, n., SI | hostis, hostis, m. SI PL | finis, finis, f., PL | animal, animalis, n., PL |
| NOM | hostis | finis | animal | hostes | fines | animalia |
| GEN | hostīs | finīs | animalis | hostium | finium | animalium |
| DAT | hostī | finī | animalī | hostibus | finibus | animalibus |
| ACC | hostem | fines | animales | hostes | fines | animalia |
| ABL | hoste | fine | animale | hostibus | finibus | animalia |
III. I-Stem Mixes
| CASE | urbs, urbis, f., SI | mons, montis, m., SI | urbs, urbis, f., PL | mons, montis, m., PL |
| NOM | urbs | mons | urbes | montes |
| GEN | urbis | montis | urbium | montium |
| DAT | urbiī | montī | urbibus | montibus |
| ACC | urbem | montem | urbes | montes |
| ABL | urbe | monte | urbibus | montibus |
For good, bad, or indifferent, the endings of the 3rd declension simply must be memorized with how they work with various consonants or vowels in the stem.
Grammar Review: The Noun Declensions: IV & V
The final two declensions of nouns are not quite as complex as the third declension, but employ a larger use of -u, -us, -e, and -es than the other declensions. The fourth and fifth declension decline both masculine and feminine nouns.
For the fourth declension, the terminal -s is cut off, leaving us with the stem to which we affix our case endings.
manus and lacus now become manu- and lacu- respectively. From here, we can add our endings.
I. The Fourth Declension
| CASE | manus, manus, f., SI | lacus, lacus, m., SI | manus, manus, f., PL | lacus, lacus, m., PL |
| NOM | manus | lacus | manus | lacua |
| GEN | manus | lacus | manuum | lacuum |
| DAT | manui | lacui | manibus | lacibus |
| ACC | manum | lacum | manus | lacua |
| ABL | manu | lacu | manibus | lacibus |
II. The Fifth Declension
| CASE | fides, fidei, f., SI | dies, diei, SI | fides, fidei, f., PL | dies, diei, m., PL |
| NOM | fides | dies | fides | dies |
| GEN | fidei | diei | fiderum | dierum |
| DAT | fidei | diei | fidebus | diebus |
| ACC | fides | diem | fides | dies |
| ABL | fide | die | fidebus | diebus |
Like with the 3rd declension, these u, uum, us, and e, erum endings are unique to the fourth and fifth declension and must be simply memorized.
Cultural Activity: Identify Domestic Parts
As we've discussed, in Roman times the open, spacious villas (villae, f. in Latin) were the homes of the moderately to monumentously wealthy. For the purposes of this PressBook, we are going to examine the Roman domus (lit: "house") that was quite common in ancient and imperial Rome.
The Roman domus possessed many features which are still present in residential architecture today: the doorway, the hallways, the bedroom, etc.
Below are two lists: Latin vocabulary detailing the parts of the domus, and their English translation or equivalent. Match em up!
| I. vestibulum | I. a hallway, or corridor, by which one accessed other parts domi |
| II. atrium | II. open rooms; think its legacy, alcove |
| III. impluvium | III. a servant's entrance and secondary secret entrance for the homeowners. |
| IV. compluvium | IV. a drained pool sitting beneath the open space above |
| V. fauces | V. open greeting area |
| VI. tablinum | VI. a slanted opening in the roof domi (of the house) |
| VII. triclinium | VII. the roman bedroom; sound out the word and think its legacy. |
| VIII. alae | VIII. main entrance hall |
| IX. cubiculum | IX. further in from the atrium, where the master of the house could greet his guests |
| X. culina | X. the dining room |
| XI. posticum | XI. the kitchen |
Once you're done, or have given your best guesses, check this resource, and this resource, both open access, to check your work! Hintedy-hint-hint: utilize the second resource to flesh out the first.
Cultural Activity: Design Your Domus
Now that you know the constituent parts of a Roman domus, it's time to design your own! Imagine your ideal Roman domus. Mementote (remember) you're in a neighborhood near the forks of major roads, so space is limited. In the space below, fill out your own domus, with the vocabulary provided. Draw the walls in solid lines, doorways with dashes. Numbering the domus with vocabulary as a key works too.
Cultural Education: Telling the Time and the Day
So by the time of the early 3rd century (the mid 220s area), the calendar as we know it today was more or less already in place. The solar calendar of ancient Rome was ten months, until Octavian Augustus added two new months with festivals into the solar year: one for his uncle Julius, celebrating the day of his birth, and another month for Augustus himself, also celebrating his birth.
Kristina Sessa states that by Late Antiquity, the calendar contained twelve months, three hundred sixty five days, a seven day week, and some months containing leap years. Sounds kinda familiar, huh? But here's where the Romans differed: the Kalends, Ides, and Nonnes
Romans identified and labeled any given day based on that day's relation to, that is, distance from, the Kalends, Ides, and Nonnes.
The Kalends always marked the first day of every month. Easy enough, right?
The Nonnes was the marker dictating a day was 8 days away from the Ides
The Ides, made famous through the Bard's eternal play (Act 1, Scene 2), marked the fifteenth day of March, May, July, and October, and the thirteenth day on all other months of the year.
Things to remember:
- Romans counted inclusively: meaning if on Monday I were to count how many days until Friday, I would include Monday in my count.
- The dates of the calendar were always in relation to this three marker days. Once the Ides passed, the remaining days were related to the Kalends of the next month. And once the Nonnes passed, the remaining days were coordinated for the remaining days until the Ides.
Below is a surviving artifact of an imperial Roman calendar.
Cultural Activity: Create Your Own Sundial
Here we will discuss how to make your own sundial!
Directions here:
Step I: Accquire a paper plate, a pair of scissors, a marker, and a pen or straw.
Step II:
Mark the four compass corners with 12, 3, 6, and 9. For accuracy, I chose to go with Roman numerals
Step III:
Fill in the rest of the numbers.
Step IV:
Take your pair of scissors, and make a hole in the center of the dial plate. It should look like so:
Step V: Once you make your hole, insert the straw, ensuring the hole is tight enough that the straw doesn't tip over and accidentally tell you it's 10:30 at night.
Once completed, the sundial should look something like this:
Congratulations! You have successfully made a modern replica of an ancient Roman artifact!
Cultural Activity: Create Your Own Xylospongium
Below will be a step-by-step direction on creating your own xylospongium, the ancestor of the modern-day toiletbrush!
Directions Here
Step I: Acquire a stick. Literally a wooden stick. Here I have two. The Romans most likely would have carved or smoothed out the shaft of the xylospongium, but for our purposes, au naturale will work for now.
Step II: Acquire a sponge. Either a circular sponge from a craft store, or a loofah will work. A kitchen sponge, with its disk type nature, might be an inadequate representation. A blob of sponge is all you'll need. The steps below are for using modern day bath loofahs. Here I have two loofahs:
Step III: Most loofahs come with a little cloth loop, like so:
Step IV: Cut these loops.
Step V: Find where your loofah is held together:
Step VI: Poke, slide, twist, screw, or jam, your wooden stick into this area
Step VII: Tie the cut loops around the stick for security.
Once completed, it might look something like below:
You have now created a modern representation of an ancient Roman artifact! Congratulations!
Below is an artistic representation of the function, purpose, and use of the xylospongium. If you haven't yet guessed, forewarned is forearmed.
Roman Emperor Crossword
Here you can use context clues and your vast knowledge of the Roman world to fill out this fun little Emperors of Rome crossword! Every answer is either the name of an emperor, or something else related to the imperium and ruling the empire of the late ancient world. The crossword is attached below. Have fun!
Latin and English Vocab Word Search
Attached below is a little word search! It includes English and Latin terminology. It includes 37 terms. Not too easy but not too difficult either :)
Closing thoughts for now
I hope you've enjoyed this little pressbook! For now the journey stops here. But I will share now ambitions of future updates:
There are ambitions of dedicating sections to the other integral part of this ancient language: the writing itself. We will explore resources and understandings of ancient Roman writing and literacy. As we stretch further and further away from the Empire and inch closer and close to the medieval period, this will provide an ample opportunity to explore how early medieval manuscripts were created. It will also provide ample options to explore the incredibly complex abbreviation system of medieval Latin literature: our common ideas of abbreviating words was born from the Romans: they were famous for it. There are even modern replicas of manuscripts using ancient techniques. Resources and videos will be uploaded upon discovery, which leads to the next ambition.
We have a goal of connecting this resource to other digital sources from around the world; explore artifacts; examine mosaics; analyze ancient handwriting, manuscripts, and graffiti.
Graffiti is not some modern fancy of the bored and privileged teenager. In Roman times graffiti was an effective if not impolite means of pulbic communication. In fact, some of the more vulgar words Romans used to describe one another found their homes in wall graffiti. Humans really haven't changed all that much in two thousand years, have we? Just like with manuscript and artifact collections, there are openly accessible resources imaging, detailing, and discussing ancient Roman graffiti. Those will soon be uploaded for perusal, education, and amusement.
Until next time,
Vale, unice