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New at Hexameter.co in 2017

Hexameter.co is my site devoted to helping scholars of the classics learn and practice how to scan ancient epic poetry. Lots of people have already signed up for this service, which is free and awesome. I have something new to announce. Watch this video to see how the site has grown in the past three years!

background culture

Ucalegon: From Minor Character to Modern English Word

Ucalegon is a small character in Vergil's Aeneid. He shows up once during the sack of Troy, simply because his house is on fire. And then that's it. Except that over the course of the last two thousand years, his name has become associated with his appearance in the Aeneid, and the term "Ucalegon" has come to mean someone who suffers the same fate: a neighbor whose house is on fire.

aeneid culture

Septentriones, the Seven Oxen of the North

The word septentriones is an interesting Latin word for "the north". Caesar often uses this word. It's origins are unclear, and we learn from Varro that it relates to the seven stars of the Big Dipper, which the Romans referred to as the Seven Oxen.

culture minutiae

The Urine Tax: Vespasian's Great Legacy

Urine was a very precious commodity for the ancient Romans. So precious, in fact, that several emperors, including Nero and Vespasian, placed a tax on urine. In this video, you will learn about the legacy of one of these emperors, who gave his name to public urinals in some parts of the modern world.

culture minutiae

Solstices: Summer and Winter Etymologies

Latin has different words for the summer and winter solstice, solstitium and bruma. Each of these words has interesting origins, and this video goes through the etymology of each word, and why solstice isn't necessarily the best word to describe December 21. At least for those of us in the northern hemisphere!

culture minutiae

The Roman Mile, a Thousand Paces

The English word mile comes from Latin. We think the mile is an arbitrary length that has nothing in common with a kilometer, but its decimal origins are clear when you know the etymology.

culture minutiae

Hannibal's Jest: Roman Plunder

Hannibal always remained an enemy of the Roman people, even after his defeat at Zama by Scipio Africanus. But when he offered his help to Antiochus III in Syria, he also brought with him his sly wit.

culture minutiae

Haruspex: The Watcher of Guts

The Romans had many different ways to find out the future. Perhaps the most disgusting involved looking at the entrails, or guts (like the liver), of a sacrificial animal. This was the job of the haruspex, and this practice came to the Romans via the Etruscans, even if the practice itself was widespread throughout the Mediterranean and Near East.

culture minutiae

Cervus, a Metaphor for Runaway Slaves

Runaway slaves, when captured, were branded with a FUG for fugitivus. But they were also referred to with the colorful term cervus, which means "deer". This brings with it a whole slew of connections, including that with the goddess Diana and the rex Nemorensis.

culture minutiae

Imperium: The Root of Empire

The emperor comes from imperator, which is a title of generals, magistrates, and others who wield imperium, the power to do their job. Imperium confers with it immunity from prosecution, but when it is taken away, like with Julius Caesar, disaster, or the Roman empire, can result.

culture minutiae

The Kalends, Nones, and Ides: Three Etymologies

The Roman calendar names its days based on three anchor dates: the kalends, the nones, and the ides. But what do these words actually mean and where did they come from? This video explores the etymologies of these words and the origins of our very own "calendar." Calendar by maria cordova from the Noun Project

culture minutiae

Abracadabra: the Magical Disappearing Act

Where does the magical word ABRACADABRA come from? Well, 2nd century AD Latin, perhaps, if not from an earlier and more eastern source. The magic of this word comes from dispelling fevers, with a clever disappearing act of its own. Abracadabra, hocus pocus, make this fever get away from us!

culture minutiae

Mappa, the Ancient Napkin

A mappa is a piece of linen used at dinner parties and chariot races alike. In the middle ages, maps were written on linen, hence the modern English derivative of this word.

culture minutiae

Two Sayings by Augustus on Vegetables

Augustus may have left the urbane city of Rome made of marble, but he had a very folksy way of speaking. This new minutiae explores two different sayings by Rome's first emperor on the theme of ... vegetables.

culture minutiae

The Augur and Auspex: Divining the Future With Birds

The Romans had many different ways to find out the future. Both the augurium and the auspicium divined the future by looking at the flights of birds. What do these words mean, and where do they come from?

culture minutiae

Coniunx, Spouse and Conjugation

The noun coniunx means spouse, and is used for both the male and female component of a marriage, although it’s more frequently used for wife than husband, and it’s perfectly acceptable to translate this as wife or husband, whichever one is best given the context. This video discusses the origin of the word.

culture minutiae

How Long Can the Name of a Roman Man Be?

You might know that the full name of a male Roman citizen was typically three words long, the praenomen, nomen, and cognomen. Every so often, we might get a fourth, or even a fifth name added. But how long is the longest name of a Roman man ever recorded? The answer might surprise you.

culture minutiae

Publicani, the Ancient Roman Tax Collectors

Ancient Rome didn't have a part of its government devoted to collecting taxes. In fact, Rome didn't have much of a government at all under the Caesars. So how could the public be exploited through taxes? Enter the publicani, equestrians with tax collecting contracts.

culture minutiae

The Multiple Meanings of secundus

The Latin word secundus means "second" (obviously), but it also has meanings that go more in hand with "favorable" or "willing". How did these disparate meanings come about?

culture minutiae

The October Horse: animal sacrifice to Mars

Every year on the Ides of October, the 15th, the Romans performed a very strange religious ritual. Chariot races, sacrifice, Mars, neighborhood competitions - it's very weird and not very well understood. Could there be connections to Troy?

culture minutiae

The Sibylline Books, Hardball Negotiation

With the future of Rome in her hands, the Sibyl approached Tarquinius Superbus (the Proud) with the opportunity of a lifetime. But what would she do if he felt the price was too high?

culture minutiae

Barbarians, Those Who Say Blah

The word barbarian was coined by the Greeks to cover all people who didn't speak Greek, even though you may think it refers to cities, laws, or even a particular preference for drink. The thing is, the Greeks even felt that the Latin speaking Romans were barbarians. That is, until they were conquered by them.

culture minutiae

Vergil with an e or Virgil with an i?

Spelling the name of the poet of the Aeneid can be a little challenging at first. Is his name spelled with an e or an i? Or maybe both? And why would there be two different versions of his name? In this video, I touch on the reasons why Vergil's name became spelled with an i in place of the e.

culture minutiae

Legio, the Roman Fighting Force

A Roman legion consisted of around 5,000 soldiers at full strength, and it was one of the basic organizational units of the Roman army. This video discusses the origin of the word itself and how the legion developed over time.

culture minutiae

Suovetaurilia, Sacrifice with a Pig, a Sheep, and a Bull

The suovetaurilia is traditional triple sacrifice to the god Mars and done to purify land, where a pig, sheep, and bull were sacrificed. This video discusses its origin and role in Roman culture. Edit: Corrected long marks.

culture minutiae

Pontifex Maximus, the Chief Priest in Rome

Julius Caesar is perhaps the most famous pontifex maximus in the history of Rome, although the emperors starting with Augustus also held the position. This title derives its name from the Latin words pons and facere. Literally, the pontifex built both actual bridges in Rome and metaphorical bridges between mankind and the gods.

culture minutiae

Too Late: The Famous Last Words of Nero

The Roman emperor Nero was famous for many depraved deeds, and he also had a high opinion of himself. So naturally, the final words of his own life reflected his narcissistic and dramatic nature.

culture minutiae

Caligula, Little Boots

Caligula, the great-grandson of Augustus, was the third emperor of Rome. His name actually was Gaius, with Caligula being a nickname he hated later in life. In fact, hate was a common theme of his rule (37-41 AD).

culture minutiae

Teachers in Ancient Rome

How much did teachers make in the ancient world? Since the Romans valued education, it had to have been more than the ancient sports figures, right?

culture minutiae

Decimation, Not the Best Motivational Tactic

In order to punish or motivate poorly performing units (legions, cohorts), the Romans sometimes practiced decimation, which effectively wiped out 10% of their troops. But today, the root word behind decimation, decimus, tenth, is largely lost on English speakers.

culture minutiae

What did the Romans have to do with Halloween?

The ancient Romans didn't create Halloween, but their festival of Lemuria could in some way be connected to our frightful holiday. The Lemuria was the festival where the dead spirits of the household, the lemures, were cleansed by the paterfamilias. And the connections to Halloween don't stop there.

culture minutiae

Populus, the Roman People

The Romans might not have Etruscan origins, but their word for people, populus, may. This public and published (for the common people) video explores the etymology of this word to its fullest extent.

culture minutiae

Scipio, the Lightning Bolt of War

Publius Cornelius Scipio Africanus was the Roman hero of the Second Punic War, defeating Hannibal Barca at the battle of Zama in 202 BC. The Romans connected the name Scipio with words referring to lightning and ruling, since the Scipios were born rulers.

culture minutiae

Boustrophedon, Writing Like the Plow Turns

We might take it for granted that writing should go from left to right. Some languages like Hebrew or Arabic go right to left. But what about a combination of the two? That's where the boustrophedon comes in, something the Greeks and Romans experimented with in the beginning of their written languages.

culture minutiae

What is Classics?

Classics is the study of the language, literature, arts, history, culture, et cetera, of ancient Greece and Rome. In this video, I look at the origins of the word "classics" and how something that relates to ships came to refer to a field of study.

culture minutiae

Introducing Aeneid.co

The Aeneid is one of my favorite things to teach. Vergil is an amazing author, even if he is hard to read in the original Latin. But it's so worth reading in Latin. So I created a tool to help students and scholars of Latin read the Aeneid and learn about its amazing ideas and themes. Check it out at Aeneid.co, register an account, and start poking around. There's a 10 day trial, after which all you need to do is buy me a cup of coffee each month to keep using the site. Please consider registering and explore the Aeneid and the founding of the Roman people.

background culture

Chiasmus (Figures of Speech)

Chiasmus is the A-B-B-A order of words or phrases. Often in Latin this is represented with different bits of grammar, like the placement of verbs and nouns. Latin also uses chiasmus with adjective-noun combinations. With chiasmus, what's fair is foul and foul is fair.

culture figures of speech

Damnatio Memoriae, or How to Erase Someone from History

How do you remove the memory of a particularly bad emperor from the history books? Or what if your brother is just so annoying that you can't stand the sight of him anymore, and don't want to share power? You perform a damnatio memoriae, erase all inscriptions, destroy all public images, and pretend as if he never existed.

culture minutiae

Simile (Figures of Speech)

The simile is a comparison between two things which is introduced by the words "like" or "as", or in Latin, qualis, ut, velut, or tamquam. The word "simile" itself comes from the Latin word similis, which means similar. This video discusses what similes are and provides examples from Latin literature.

culture figures of speech

Jupiter, King of the Gods

The god Jupiter is the chief sky god of Rome, the father of gods and men. He's often connected to his Greek counterpart Zeus, not just because of his job description but also because of the origins of his name. There's a whole lot of father Zeus in Jupiter.

culture minutiae

The Longest Word in Latin, Subductisupercilicarptor

What is the longest word in classical Latin? It's from Aulus Gellius' Attic Nights, an means "an ultra critical person", but with more letters!

culture minutiae

The Famous Last Words of Vespasian

Vespasian's last words reflect the idea of both emperor worship and the act of making emperors gods after their death. But is there also a sly comment on the famous last words of his predecessor Claudius?

culture minutiae

Castra, the Roman Army Camp

The Latin word for army camp is castra, castrorum, which itself is only found in the plural. In English, this word comes down to us in the endings of certain towns, like Winchester and Lancaster, which originally began as Roman military camps.

culture minutiae

Roman Dates

The Ides of March, the Kalends of February, the Nones of November. All of these dates are Roman style, and mysterious if you don't know how the Romans reckoned their dates. We owe a lot of our calendar to the Romans. This video covers the strange, traditional methods of the Romans in marking their dates.

background culture

Insulae, Ancient Slums

In ancient Rome, insulae were shoddy apartment buildings built for the urban poor, often with 6 or 7 units inside each three story structure. What were they made of, and how many were there in Rome?

culture minutiae

Roman Names

The Romans gave themselves three names, although their names are a bit different from our typical three names. This video covers the basics of the praenomen, nomen, and cognomen.

background culture

The SATOR ROTAS Magic Square

Found buried in the ruins of Pompeii is a bit of graffiti with some magic to it. In this square, you can read forwards, backwards, up, or down, and still get the same message. But along with that is a hidden message of Christianity.

culture

The Origin of Roman Numerals

Where did Roman numerals come from? This video investigates this question and gives the current accepted theory. Hint: it's all Etruscan, baby.

background culture

Numbers in Latin

Numbers in Latin are as easy as one-two-three, except that the numbers one, two, and three are declined to match the same case, number, and gender as the noun they are describing. This video covers Latin cardinal numbers, the numbers we use to count.

adjectives culture feminine masculine neuter

Latin and Its Indo-European Language Family

Latin is dead? No way! Latin is just the ancient form of Spanish, French, and Italian. And what's more, Latin wasn't what it once was, since it is also derived from another more ancient (and lost) language. But we can trace the history of Latin and its related languages like a family genealogy. N.B., not all languages are represented here (e.g., Romanian, itself a Latin tongue) only because of space limitations in the video.

background culture

Roman Numerals

We see Roman numerals everywhere, from Super Bowls to popes. This video is a short introduction to Roman numerals, including how to add and even multiply with them.

background culture

  • LatinTutorial
  • Latin doesn't have to be hard, and with the help of online descriptions of complicated grammatical topics, I hope it isn't. If you're a teacher, feel free to use these videos in your class, either to flip the learning, or for review. If you're a student, learn as much as you can. Check out the about page for more information.