Classical Literacy I

1. Classical Literacy I Part 3

2. alias 1. An assumed name: The swindler worked under various aliases. From the Latin, alius, meaning other.

3. alibi Law. the defense by an accused person of having been elsewhere at the time an alleged offense was committed. 2. an excuse, especially to avoid blame. 3. a person used as one's excuse: My sick grandmother was my alibi for missing school. verb (used without object) 4. Informal. to give an excuse; offer a defense: to alibi for being late.

4. amphora is a type of container of a characteristic shape and size. Amphorae were used in vast numbers for the transport and storage of various products, both liquid and dry, but mostly for wine.

5. amphitheater large, circular or oval open-air venues with raised seating – built by the Ancient Romans. They were used for events such as gladiator combats, chariot races, venationes (animal slayings) and executions. The Colosseum is a specific amphiteather.

6. April 21, 753 BC Traditional date of the founding of Rome

7. Archimedes

8. Atlantis A legendary island in the Atlantic Ocean west of Gibraltar, said by Plato to have sunk beneath the sea during an earthquake.

9. bacchanalia wild, unrestrained revelry (noun)

10. bellicose Warlike (adj) from bellum meaning war

11. Bona fide In good faith

12. Campus Martius The name Campus Martiuscomes from the age of Roman Kings. It was dedicated to Mars, the god of war, and an altar to the god was erected at the site. In fact, the historian Livy relates that “Tarquin's field dedicated to Mars has been used for military practice and exercises since Rome's founding.” In the age of the Republic, the army continued to gather here. Because it was outside the Pomerium – the sacred boundary of the city – it came to be considered as a kind of “neutral ground.” This is where foreign ambassadors were received.

13. centaur a member of a composite race of creatures, part human and part horse.

14. Crete Crete was the center of the Minoan civilization. It is the site of the palace of Knossos – where King Minos supposedly reigned and had the labyrinth with the Minotaur.

15. Danaids were the fifty daughters of Danaus. They were to marry the fifty sons of Danaus's twin brother. In the most common version of the myth, all but one of them kill their husbands on their wedding night, and are condemned to spend eternity carrying water in a sieve or perforated device.

16. Daphne a Naiad—a female nymph associated with fountains, springs, streams… because of her beauty, Daphne attracted the attention and ardor of the god Apollo. Apollo pursued her and just before being overtaken, Daphne pleaded to her father Peneus to be rescued. Peneus, who was a minor river deity, turned her into a laurel tree.

17. etymology Study of the history of words, their origins, and how their meaning change over time

18. fortuitous Happening by good luck – It was fortuitous that a doctor was in the room when the man had a heart attack.

19. Gallia France

20. gregarious Fond of company, sociable – from grex, gregis = flock

21. Graces THE KHARITES (Charites) or Graces, were the three goddessesofgrace, beauty, adornment, mirth, festivity, dance and song.

22. Golden Age refers to the first Ages of Man. The "Golden Age" denotes a period of peaceand prosperity. Humans did not have to work to feed themselves, for the earth provided food in abundance. They lived to a very old age with a youthful appearance.

23. Harpy was one of the winged spirits best known for constantly stealing all food from Phineus. The term is often used to refer to a nasty or annoying woman.

24. Hecate ancient goddess, most often shown holding two torches or a key and in later periods depicted in triple form. She is variously associated with crossroads, entrance-ways, fire, light, the Moon, magic, witchcraft, knowledge of herbs and poisonous plants, necromancy, and sorcery.

25. Helvetia Modern day Switzerland

26. Hispania Modern day Spain

27. Horatius

28. horticulture is the science, technology, and business involved in intensive plant cultivation. hortus = garden

29. Indo-European Indo-European languages are a family of several hundred related languages and dialects. If you go WAY back, Spanish, English, Hindi, Bengali, Russian, German, French, Italian, Punjabi, and Urdu have a common ancestor.

30. Iris personification of the rainbow and messenger of the gods. The word iridescence is derived in part from the name of this goddess. "Arco iris" and "arco-íris" are the words for "rainbow" in Spanish and Portuguese, respectively, where "Arco" means "bow“. The iris of the eye is named after her to reflect the many colours of the eye.

31. ichor The fluid that is the blood of gods/immortals

32. Laws of the 12 Tables the ancient legislation that stood at the foundation of Roman law. The Law of the Twelve Tables formed the centerpiece of the constitution of the Roman Republic and the core of the mosmaiorum (custom of the ancestors).

33. Metamorphosis Written by Ovid. One of our best sources of myth from ancient times. It tells the stories of ‘changes’ – such as Daphne turning into a tree.

34. Metis First wife of Zeus. She was the personification of wisdom. Zeus swallowed her – and she became the cause of his headache from which Athena sprang.

35. Midas Mythological possessor of the "Midas touch", the power to transmute whatever he touched into gold.

36. Mycenae is an archaeological site in Greece, in the Peloponnese. Agamemnon was king – he led the Greek forces to Troy.

37. Niobe Niobehad fourteen children. She bragged about her seven sons and seven daughters to Leto, who only had two children, Apollo and Artemis. Apollo and Artemis slaughtered all of Niobe's children. Niobe is weeping even to this day. Carved on a rock cliff on Mt Sipylus is the fading image of a female that the Greeks claim is Niobe. Composed of porous limestone, the stone appears to weep as the water after a rain seeps through it.

38. nominal In name only (from nomen, name): My father is the nominal head of the household; everyone knows that my mother makes all the decisions.

39. Oceanus Titan god of the great earth-encircling river Okeanos, the font of all the earth's fresh-water: including rivers, wells, springs and rain-clouds.

40. Orion A giant who was a hunting companion of the goddess Artemis. The circumstances of his death are variously related. In one version he desired to marry the goddess but her brother Apollo tricked Artemis into shooting him with an arrow as he was swimming far out at sea. In another version, Artemis killed him deliberately after he raped her attendant Oupis. However the most common story was that Orion bragged he would hunt down all the beasts of the earth, and so Mother Earth sent up a giant scorpion to destroy him. Both the giant and scorpion were placed amongst the stars, one rising as the other set.

41. Ostia The port of Rome

42. P.O. / per os By mouth – a medical directive “Take this medication per os.

43. plebiscite comes from the plebiscita, which originally meant a decree of the ConciliumPlebis, the popular assembly of the Roman Republic. In the United States, a plebiscite is typically known as an initiative when originating in a petition of ordinary citizens; it can become a referendum.

44. Peloponnesus is a large peninsula, located in a region of southern Greece. Sparta was located here.

45. Pompey was a military and political leader of the late Roman Republic.

46. posthumous literally, "after the ground"; meaning after one has died and is buried

47. pulchritude Beauty (from pulcher)

48. Countries where Romance languages are official (dark orange) or national/secondary (light orange) Romance Languages ROMANce languages developed from Latin: French, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, and Romanian are the most commonly spoken. There are other Romance languages.

49. Rubicon "Crossing the Rubicon" means to pass a point of no return, and refers to Julius Caesar's army's crossing of the river in 49 BC, which was considered an act of insurrection – it meant that Caesar was marching his troops against Rome. Julius Caesar uttered the famous phrase "aleaiactaest" - the die is cast– as he crossed the river.

50. Silver Age The second age of Man. In the silver age Zeus reduced the spring, and reconstructed the year into four seasons, so that men for the first time sought the shelter of houses and had to labor to supply their food.