Roman Culture in Television Show

A couple of years ago, while watching television, I noticed a piece of Greek/Roman culture in one of the shows I was watching. In the show, there was a chihuahua named Zeus (Greek) or Jupiter (Roman). Jupiter is the king of the Greek/Roman gods and the god of the sky, weather, and law. I find the name for this dog quite ironic because one of the animals associated with Jupiter is the eagle, an animal known for having an appetite for smaller dogs like chihuahuas.

http://www.documentarytube.com/articles/15-facts-about-zeus-from-greek-mythology

Will Schnepf

USS Vestal

 The mooring dock I saw

 The USS Vestal

           

          While on the Rosette trip to Hawaii, we went to Pearl Harbor. Charlotte and I saw a concrete mooring area with the word Vestal on it. Upon more research, we actually found out that there was a ship called the USS Vestal. I recognized it as the Roman goddess of the hearth. The ship was named after the Vestal Virgins who tended to the Temple of Vesta. The Vestal Virgins were in charge of keeping the flame inside the temple going and officiated at Vestalia. The USS Vestal was a repair ship during WWII and was bombed during the attack on Pearl Harbor. Ironically, it did catch on fire. Fortunately, it was able to recover and repaired many of the ships that were hit much worse. On August 1946, it was decommissioned. I found it interesting that the ship was named after the Vestal Virgins, instead of Vesta herself. It's also interesting that they would use Vesta, instead of a more-well known goddess. 

Sophie Pong

http://www.usnavymuseums.org/the-bell-of-uss-vestal/

https://www.britannica.com/topic/Vestal-Virgins

Roman Culture now

Over Thanksgiving I went to a persons house and as I was looking around I noticed this. I saw this alter and I though it looked a lot like a Roman lararium. A Lararium was very custom in Roman households. These Larariums were shrines to the guardian spirits of the roman house hold. Roman families would perform day rituals at the lararium to guarantee that their house was protected. Now the lararium in this house isn't exactly being used as a shrine for gods, the person doesn't do rituals at the lararium either. They are using it as more of a symbol and for decoration. I don't really see this piece as relevant to the house because it is out of place, and it is not being used in the proper manner. 

Saturnalia

When Dr. Morgan annouced that we were going to a Saturnalia project, I was excited and nervous at the same time. For instance, I didn't know what Saturnalia was and I didn't know how to make a 3D model off the printer. So it was a great learning experience in both topics. I decided to make a chariot and do my presentation on chariot racing. I didn't realize how hard it would've been to design a chariot from scratch in Tinkercad-so I decided to use somebody else's model and make some adjustments to make sure the chariot was my own work. For instance, the hitch is a on a diagonal slant; showing where they attach the chariot to the horse. Another thing I chnaged was the wheel size. One the original design, the wheels were too small for the size of the chariot's body-so I enlarged them. Lastly, I added the cubby area in the back as a nice design and storage feature if you were actually going to use my chariot. And yes, the design den ran out of brown materials; explaining why my chariot was red. :-)

Roman Influence on Modern Architecture

The Roman Empire's greatest period of architectural development was during the Pax Romana, a period of peace for Rome that lasted from 27 B.C. to 180 C.E. The influence that this period of architectural advancement has had on Western World can still be seen to this day. Some of the best examples of this can be found in the capital of the US, Washington D.C. One location is particular that has a very strong Roman influence is the Jefferson Memorial. It features a Roman dome, Ionic columns, and is built from marble. It is built in the neo-classical style, and being able to tell that the memorial is in D.C. and not Rome itself is very difficult.

Roman Cucina: A Modified Roman Adventure

My family and I went to Roman Cucina for dinner once, a restaurant we had neither been to or ever heard of. When entering, I noticed pictures lined across the wall of famous Romans such as Marcus Aurelius, Caesar, Octavian, etc. Continuing on, I began to notice mottoes and such and one stood out: "Roma Invicta". Translated as "Unconquered Rome", this phrase represents the Roman Empire until 476 A.D, when the Western Roman Empire fell, marking the end of Rome. However, while Rome may have fallen, it never truly died as it continued on through the minds of scholars, seeking knowledge of the distant past. Professors, archeologists, architects, visionaries, and people continue to glean from the Romans to enhance their own works for the sake of learning about the peoples of the past. I may be seeing too much, but Roma Invite is correct even now, and Rome will be for a long time.

http://www.civicheraldry.co.uk/contents.html#list

- Arjun Kantamsetty

Christmas Jackson Harris

During the holiday season it is important to spread cheer around your house, your school, and your community. While scrolling on Instagram I saw a post that had said Merry Christmas is ever language. I was surprised to see that Latin was not on the post, I don't know why I was surprised because it is a dead language after all. I made me curious to see what Merry Christmas is in Latin. The translation according to google translate is: Felicem Natalem Christi. I don't know if this is right or not but it is important is spread holiday cheer in your Latin Class too. Happy Holidays!

Lorem Ipsum - December Latin Moment

     Lorem Ipsum is the strangest instance of Latin I have ever heard of. In a basic sense, Lorem Ipsum is dummy text that looks coherent enough to resemble a working sentence or paragraph, but is in fact very different. Here's the most used example:

"Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum."

     Now, I know this looks complicated, and it is. This is the first example of Lorem Ipsum used by typists, print makers, and web designers since the 1500's. The discovery of Lorem Ipsum is credited to a Latin scholar from Hampden-Sydney College, Richard McClintock. When reading a certain passage of this strange text holder, he was surprised and interested to see a word rarely used in Latin, consectetur. McClintock was able to make an bizarre, but clear connection between the mystery text and sections 1.10.32–33 of Cicero's De Finibus Bonorum et Malorum  (“On the Extremes of Good and Evil”). 

     So Lorem Ipsum is a legitimate thing with traceable routes, but why in the world would anyone need something so messy and strange? Well, from it's roots in the printing of the 1500's, designers of these documents have focused not only on the content of their works, but also on the presentation of this information. In presentation, website, and article design, the designers use Lorem Ipsum before putting their real content text in so that they can make their presentation, website, or article appealing to the eye.

     Now, oblivious to the world wide impact of Lorem Ipsum, I first heard about it during my Python coding class. Currently, we are working on programs that take text files as input, and can return specific information about the files such as their total word count, the amount characters they have, and the average word length. The actual file Mr. Montana (the teacher) gives us to use in our programs is two paragraphs of Lorem Ipsum. Because the words looked similar to Latin, I was interested and was told it was Lorem Ipsum.

     Lorem Ipsum is an unseen instance of ancient Latin at work in the media today. There is an irony that web journalism uses a dummy text derived from one of the greatest writers and orators, Cicero. Lorem Ipsum also works, and because Latin is structured similarly to English, it is an accurate way to prepare for where you text will go before you have it. Overall, this was  the strangest but neatest Latin moment I have had this year.

Sources:

lipsum.com (I believe this the official online way to generate lipsum)

loremipsum.io (Incredible source)

- Will Baschab

Fortune Telling by Frances Collins

An example of Roman culture I have encountered is fortune telling. I encountered this at homecoming last year where there was a woman reading tarot cards. I also experienced this at camp this year with my friend Emma who knows how to read palms and gave us all our fortunes. This is Roman culture because the Romans used methods to determine their fortunes. One of these methods was reading livers. The Romans sacrificed animals and used the livers to see if their prayers to the Gods would be answered. Another example of the Romans trying to determine their fortune is Augary where they look to the sky and certain birds, trees or wind patterns answer questions they may have.

Et Cetera

In the current book I am reading, (Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine) Eleanor, the main character and narrator is obsessed with classics. Throughout the book, there have been a couple instances of Latin and Roman culture. The main phrase that stood out to me was when she jokes "'Nails etcetera - to what extras did the Latin term refer?"  I remembered that the true latin phrase, "Et cetera" translates as "and other similar things" or in simpler terms, extras. I found the whole instance funny because the main character, Eleanor, is completely out of the loop from normal things. She had an abusive childhood, so she never got to experience things like going to get your nails, but she did go to school and loved it. Eleanor is trying new things throughout the book, but even still she remains true to who she is, a bit of a nerd. So, instead of seeing a nails salon, she sees latin.  I think this instance is an appropriate use of Latin.

An overview of the Goddess Artemis, a myth, and her hate for Zeus~

Artemis the Goddess of chastity, the moon, the hunt, children, childbirth, etc. is, from my research, one of the most protective of women out of all the Gods. From birth, Artemis has always been depicted as this motherly and feminine figure who protects all women and children she comes into contact under her wing. While scouring the internet, I read that not only did Artemis help with the birth of her own twin brother (two days after her own birth) but she also has a very strong sense of justice, so from the beginning of her life, Artemis has been tied to not only childbirth but the topic of children/family. Then with this in mind, it is fairly easy to understand why she is also depicted with chastity and virginity after I tell this quick myth.
Once upon a time, there was a woman named Kallisto. This women had sworn virginity under the Goddess Artemis and was never without the company of the Goddess, so she basically was always following her around, eating meals with her, etc. Until one day, Kallisto broke her oath of chastity when she was seduced by Zeus and became pregnant. Knowing this was wrong and feeling ashamed, Kallisto kept this a secret because she was scared of how Artemis would react. Then one day in the baths, Artemis found out and in rage, turned Kallisto into a bear.

Another couple interesting things about Artemis is that she is also associated with:

• heron
• cypress trees
• Stag/doe
• a doe drawn chariot

Finally, Artemis' family is pretty small and only consists of Leto (her mother), Apollo (her twin brother), and Zeus (her father). This is pretty interesting because Artemis is not in favor of Zeus but kind of sucks up to him anyway because he is the king of the Gods and also her father, but the situation is made even more interesting because Artemis had tried to kill/hurt Zeus in a good number of times in a variety of translated myths. It is in my opinion that one day we are going to find a huge temple somewhere dedicated to the Goddess and the only pictures on the walls are drawings of Artemis taking revenge on Zeus (that's how much she hates him).





Citations:
 http://www.theoi.com/Heroine/Kallisto.html
 http://www.theoi.com/Olympios/ArtemisWrath.html#Aktaion
https://www.greekmythology.com/Olympians/Artemis/artemis.html
   https://www.google.com/search?q=artemis+artwork&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjTw8a1y4nfAhUESa0KHR4OBRgQ_AUIDigB&biw=1440&bih=790#imgrc=fl_h_y7hXCPsYM:
 

The Odyssey

All the freshman are reading Homer's Odyssey in English class right now, and that book includes A TON of Greek and Roman history, but mostly Greek. The names in the book are based on the Greek spelling. For example, instead of Minerva, it says Athena, and instead of Ulysses, it says Odysseus. One of the main myths that recur is Orestes and Agamemnon. Long story short, Orestes killed his mom (Clytemnestra) and his mom's lover (Aegisthus) because they killed his dad (Agamenon). This myth can also be found depicted on many ancient vases. The actual story of Odysseus was written in 8th century BC by Homer, a Greek author. However the story was passed down through speech many ages before that. This is considered one of the oldest piece of literature. There was no printing press at the time, so it was all written and copied by hand. Due to this, there were mistakes, but the correct complete manuscript of the Odyssey was developed around 10th or 11th century CE. The Odyssey has lasted so long because it is a masterful book that can take one back to Ancient Greece.


https://study.com/academy/lesson/when-was-the-odyssey-written-homers-ancient-greece.html
And my English class

Post by Charlotte Eades