MBA Greek and Latin Scholars Excel

Dr. Gaffney’s students achieved terrific results in national language tests recently.

Results from the National Greek Exam have come back to the school and reveal that Brian Swenson and Will Overton earned High Honors. This distinction is the equivalent of a Maxima Cum Laude paper on the National Latin Exam. Wade Longmire and Matt Wieck earned Merit citations (the equivalent of Magna Cum Laude on the NLE). These students all took the intermediate-level, not the beginning-level, exam in only their first year of Greek, and their scores represent a high level of achievement in the language.

In the Classical Association of the Middle West and South’s translation competition, both Thompson Barr and Quinton Burks earned Book Awards and Pat Killian and Matt Bellet earned letters of commendation. All four of these students are in Dr. Gaffney’s Advanced Placement Latin Literature (Catullus/Horace) class.

Congratulations to all these classics scholars!

Must-hear for Latin Teachers... Or Anyone!

Michael Rosen's April 21st story for the BBC series "Word of Mouth" has it all: interviews with Latin teachers, commentary on kids' use of 'like' as a discourse particle, and much more.

More Birthday Celebrations in Rome

Wow! Wish I were there to see this giant birthday party for Rome!

Cleopatra's Tomb in the NYT

Today's New York Times has an interesting op-ed about Cleopatra by Stacy Schiff, in keeping with the excitement about the search for her tomb. I like this line: "Where facts are few, myth rushes in, the kudzu of history."

Opportunity for Latin Teachers

Bolchazy Carducci Publishers just announced their 2009 webinar offerings, many of which are this summer. Great for professional development! I e-mailed Andrew Reinhard at BC, and he says to sign up at least two weeks in advance of the webinar you want. There's also a free Latin for the New Millenium webinar on June 4.

How Are They Celebrating Rome's 2762nd Birthday in Rome?

With games, of course! Find out more at eternallycool.net. Happy birthday, Rome!

Roman & Greek authors had trouble getting published, too!

Terrific article in the New York Times about how Roman and Greek authors went about getting their works into the public marketplace. (Thanks to Wayne Christeson for forwarding this to me!)

The article opens:

“My book is thumbed by our soldiers posted overseas, and even in Britain people quote my words. What’s the point? I don’t make a penny from it.” This is not the complaint of some young American author who has suddenly discovered that his contract pays him nothing for foreign sales. These are the words of the Roman poet Martial, first-century satirist and defender of authors’ rights.

Read more at:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/19/books/review/Beard-t.html?_r=2&pagewanted=1&8bu&emc=bub1

More about Antony, Cleopatra, and Octavian

"One of the most important Roman discoveries of the last fifteen years is still little known. Unearthed in northern Greece, it is the monument erected to commemorate the naval battle of Actium in 31 BC, fought between Octavian (the future emperor Augustus) on the one side and Mark Antony, with his lover and financial backer, Queen Cleopatra VII of Egypt, on the other. ...The most spectacular discoveries were not, however, made until the 1990s. These were the fragments of the relief sculpture, in the finest Athenian marble, which once ran around the altar (originally extending for more than fifty yards)."

To read the complete review of a new book on Cleopatra which includes these recent discoveries, click here: http://www.powells.com/review/2009_02_09.html

MBA Latin Students Excel on National Exam

Congrats to all our discipuli for their terrific work on the NLE!

Bernice Fox Writing Competition

Dr. Seay's Latin III H students competed again this year in the national Bernice Fox Writing Competition sponsored by Monmouth College. Ten entries from the school were submitted to the contest, whose topic this year was: "If the twelve Olympian deities of Greece and Rome were worshipped today what would be their areas of interest, attributes, etc."

Tom Markham, an MBA sophomore, received one of the "Honorable Mention" awards in the contest. Tom's entry was chosen out of 184 entries across the nation from 19 states. Click the link below to read Tom's award-winning entry.

http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dc6jcvd4_22mxmpcnhb

Tomb of History's Most (In)Famous Lovers?

The BBC reports that next week archaeologists are set to dig near Alexandria at three sites near a Ptolemaic temple, and evidence suggests that the remains of history's infamous lovers, Antony and Cleopatra, may be close by. Read the whole article here.

Italy's Earthquake

Our thoughts are with the Italian people, after the 6.3 quake that rattled L'Aquila in Abruzzo on Monday. Rescue efforts are ongoing, and the BBC estimates that between 30,000 and 40,000 people have been displaced from their homes. Tremors were felt as far away as Rome, which is about 60 miles to the west. Apparently, even the Baths of Caracalla felt the impact.

Monty Python's Latin scene from "Life of Brian"

Need a good laugh today? Take a look at this scene!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IIAdHEwiAy8

BBC Article: Losing Language

Sad news about the rapid extinction of languages in this BBC article, especially among Native Americans. The loss of a language is as lamentable as the extinction of one of nature's species; neither will ever return.

“Those who know nothing of foreign languages know nothing of their own.” --Goethe