villa villae f. country house, villa

On a recent trip to Los Angeles, I visited the Getty Villa, a museum built to house oil tycoon, J. Paul Getty's, collection of classical antiquities. The villa is everything I dream of creating one day. It is a recreation of an ancient Roman villa, the Villa dei Papyrii, on the slopes of Mount Vesuvius in Herculaneum.

The attention to detail in the complex is amazing, right down to the mosaic on the atrium floor and the fresco in the outdoor peristyle. Each feature of the house takes its inspiration from different houses in Pompeii and Herculaneum, such as the House of the Fountain.

Jupiter

impluvium in the atrium

Central courtyard

Outer peristyle

culter -tri m. knife

I recently spent two weeks in England and, once again, I endeavoured to factor museums and ruins into my trip. I visited the Great North Museum in Newcastle which boasted an eclectic display of everything from dinosaur fossils to a Newcastle United football shirt (?). It also included unique exhibitions of ancient Roman and Egyptian artefacts.

The Roman section was largely based around Hadrian’s Wall, and focused primarily on the structure of the wall, as well as artefacts buried on site. I was enchanted with this little bone carving of a boy soldier. On closer inspection it turned out to be a beautifully crafted switchblade! I never knew that the Romans had pocket knives, but in my book, this beats a Swiss Army Knife any day.

declamatio -onis f. practice in public speaking

On Saturday 30 January the ASD Declamation Contest was held. This is an inter-schools' competition in which contestants answer a culture quiz, declaim a poem, and (for the modern languages) perform a dialogue or impromptu speech. The languages are Spanish, French, German, Japanese and Latin.

I was asked to judge the Latin Poetry section, which was quite exciting. The syllabus was chosen by Glenn Wright and included the following poems:

First Year: Catullus 5, Horace, Odes III.13, and Vergil, Aeneid IV.621-629

Second Year: Catullus 101, Horace, Odes I.5, and Vergil, Aeneid I.1-11

Third Year: Catullus 3, Horace, Odes III.2, and Vergil, Aeneid II.270-282, 289

AP Latin: Catullus 35, Horace, Odes I.22, and Vergil, Aeneid VI.450-471

To be honest, the competition was a bit stale, as there were only six contestants, all from South High. Most contestants rattled off the poem parrot-style, and failed to understand the meaning behind it. Poor old Catullus at his brother's tomb was positively delirious with joy, while the Fountain of Brundisium was barely trickling through the gloom.

It was quite challenging to judge as some of the criteria were, in my opinion, unbalanced. 15 marks were allocated to memorization, while only 7 to capturing the meaning of the poem. A student could get 3 marks for speaking at the right volume and 5 for being confident, regardless of the quality of Latin. I would have preferred more marks for the actual Latin and fewer penalties for memory loss.

I have been asked back to judge the State Finals in February. As there are no other schools which offer Latin in Alaska, it'll be the same five contestants again (one of the second years pulled out after her first poem). I hope that in the next three weeks, they can learn the meaning behind their poems and deliver them a little less like nursery rhymes, and a little more like the great poems they are.

opus operis n. work

My first year Latin pupils completed a series of projects, the first of which was a Roman dinner party in the manner of ‘coquus –i’ below. The boys were introduced to Roman dining through a series of fun worksheets and, of course, through a sample of dishes made by yours truly. I prepared sweet wine cakes, cheese discs, honey biscuits, pates and grape juice, and rounded off the meal with dormice (aka marshmallow mice!).

In the middle term the boys studied some myths and legends and prepared posters and presentations on the Olympian gods and other deities. It was good for them to share their research with the class orally.

Finally, the boys finished off the year by becoming archaeologists. We watched a documentary on Pompeii during class, and the boys got the following project brief:

Discovery in Pompeii

As you and your team of archaeologists were digging through the ruins of Pompeii, you found a diary hidden in the rubble of the forum.

In groups of 2-3 choose five aspects of life in Pompeii and write one diary entry on each aspect. You must have at least five diary entries. Mention everyday events (e.g. family, friends, pets, food) and places in Pompeii.

Introduce where and how you found the diary, and whose diary it is. Write a conclusion to say how your diarist died.

Present your diary in an A4 book format. You must include pictures and a bibliography. It must be 6-10 pages long.

I wanted them to research the lost city and present their findings in a more interesting way than just information under headings. We visited the school museum which holds a collection of classical artefacts donated by the British Museum in London. We looked at how the lamps, terra cotta statues, fragments of amphora and potsherds could be used to work out what ancient life was like.

The project worked really well, and the boys threw themselves into the research, writing and presentation of their diaries.

My next goal will be to theme these projects more constructively with the grammar sections so that all aspects of the ancient world (language and culture) tie in.