Final exam prep... And next week!

• Latin final exams will be on Friday
• Remember: you are allowed the note-card passed out Friday
• Weren't here on Friday?  No problem, see me
• Special note for Latin 3--Remember to bring your books!!!
• Latin 1 and 2 final projects are due Friday as well
• Please make sure to get all extra credit, quiz corrections, etc in to me THIS WEEK
• Come Friday, I will have a list of who is passing (before the final), if you are, you will be invited to a field trip out to Mediterranean Deli in Chapel Hill next week
• Those who are not passing will have the chance to make up some points in class

The dull things I do and the cool stuff I find

So, I finally put down the grading this evening and picked up a library book, The Fourth Part of the World by Toby Lester; it's about the...  Well, not discovery of the New World, but rather how it was understood at the time.  It centers around the so-called 'America's Birth Certificate,' a 1507 map which delineated the New World as NOT a hitherto unknown part of Asia AND called them "America" after Vespucci.

But that's not the fun thing.  The fun thing I want to share is the quote from the back of the book by P.J. O'Rourke who is (I think) a darned good wit.  He blurbs, "What distinguishes civilized people from barbarians?  It's the map of the world they have in their minds.  A barbarian's map marks the spot of just a few things: herds of sheep to steal, convenience stores to rob, political opponents to condemn on talk radio or the internet.  A civilized person tries to see the world as whole."

Attention Latin 3!

Due to the fact that over half of you went rollerskating today (how DARE you... ;P), and I will be gone on Friday, we will adapt.  Tomorrow, the Mithridates group will finish and then we will settle in for an all-class discussion covering the rest of tomorrow and Thursday.

The Trojan War (part 1)

The reality

• In 1275 BCE a city named ‘Illium’ on the northwest coast of modern Turkey is attacked and destroyed by a group of Greeks
• In 850 BCE, a blind poet from the area named Homer composes the epic poem the Iliad
• We know that Homer knew the area and that ruins were still uncovered in his time because his descriptions in poem match the archeology and topography
• Through the poem and other works, the Trojan War, the heroes in it and their journeys home take on the significance as the end of the golden age of heroes
• By why?
• Two possibilities
• Iron trade through the Hellespont from the Caucasus Mountains
• The Greeks were allies of the Hittite Empire and were given the territory to conquer because Troy and some other cities had broken away

Births and beginnings

• It’s Jupiter’s fault (as usual)
• He rapes a woman named Leda…  Who happens to be the queen of Sparta
• Since Jupiter was in the form of a swan at the time, she… Lays eggs
• Helen
• Clytemnestra
• Castor
• Pollex

Side note: To the Romans, Castor and Pollex were considered to be patrons of Rome as they were believed to have aided the Romans drive off the exiled king Tarquin and his allies.  The Temple of Castor and Pollex was also one of the locations for Senate meetings and trials

• Helen is the most beautiful woman in the world and EVERYONE wants to marry her
• Theseus of Athens even goes so far as try kidnapping her!
• But he gets pushed off a cliff, so no big deal
• All the suitors gather, all the kings and/or princes of Greece and there are threats, etc until Odysseus, king of Ithaca (who doesn’t want to be there anyway) proposes an oath:
• All the suitors must swear to defend Helen’s marriage and abide by her choice
• In exchange, Odysseus gets off the hook to marry Penelope (king of Sparta’s niece) and Helen chooses the one suitor not there, Menelaus—The younger brother of Agamemnon, king of Mycenae
• Menelaus sent Agamemnon as his representative because Agamemnon was going to marry Helen’s sister Clytemnestra
• Menelaus swore to sacrifice 100 oxen to Venus…  He forgets… 

Eris and Paris

• Jupiter (again) has discovered the identity of the woman who will bear the son to overthrow him: the sea nymph Thetis
• He arranges a marriage to Peleus, a minor king and all the gods are invited to the wedding
• At the wedding, the goddess Eris (Roman name: Discordia) throws an apple into the crowd with “to the fairest” written on it—Venus, Juno and Minerva all claim it
• To solve the problem, Jupiter sends them to ask a mortal—Paris
• Paris is a prince of Troy who is living in exile (and unaware of his heritage) because of a prophecy he would destroy Troy
• Each of the three goddesses try to bribe Paris:
• Juno—Asia
• Minerva—Wisest of all men
• Venus—Make the most beautiful woman in the world fall in love with you

Not an acceptable excuse...

For the record, I have excused students' work for a variety of reasons, up to and including a Chevy Tahoe landing on a student's car (she brought the accident report to verify).  I've even granted an extension to a junior who missed several days of class on account of his arrest for participating in a robbery ring...  And yet...  Not sure I'd still accept this bozo's homework.

Latin... Punk?!

Heard the tail of a story on the radio; a Scots-Gallic punk band is planning a few songs in Latin on their next album.  Apparently, they're a little tired of criticism that Scots is an endangered, dead, near-dead (etc) language, so they're going to go whole hog...  Or, rather, porcus totus.

Due on Friday... Yikes, that'll be a lot to grade

Latin 1:

• Nature figure second draft
• Be prepared for a quiz focused on Jason AND the Jugurtha passage from the worksheet packet
• Aforementioned worksheet packet
• Composition book with Jason notes

Latin 2:

• Project progress--Remember, many of you have let this slide for the last few weeks...  It's starting to HURT!!!
• A quiz based on the grammar from page 263's translation
• Composition books

Latin 3:

• There will be a quiz

Notes some on The Immortals

• Very interesting visions of the Greek gods
• Zeus = very cleverly realized
• Athena = Seriously?!  She's a wuss!!!
• Ares = Cleverer than I'd expect...  
• Poseidon = Dude, what are you wearing on your head?
• Other gods and goddesses?  What other gods and goddesses?  I mean, they made Athena a sniveling wannabe ninja, kinda glad they didn't try that with Hera...
• Definitely holds up the ideal of the Achilles-esque hero (lead from the front, fight better; need no rabble to help you, only back you).
• Clever way to work the Theseus/Minotaur/Labyrinth myth into the overall gods/titans thing, but too quickly done with.
• The bow...  Wow.  Someone watched a little too much of this show when we were kids.

Just in case you missed it...

For all levels of Latin, please get your progress reports back in NOW (or have your parent/guardian email me).

Latin 1:
Nature figure rough draft peer-edit tomorrow; if you do not have it...  You will be writing it tomorrow and doing the peer-editing on your own time.  Finish pages 37 and 38 (first page, front and back) of the grammar worksheets if you did not in class.

Latin 2:
Translate the brief passage in the textbook...  And be ready to know it backwards and forwards grammatically.  Oh, and those final project thingys.

Latin 3:
Your final projects are only a week away.  Quiz corrections other than that.

Friday

Latin 1: Quiz, comp book, Nature figure rough draft
Latin 2: Quiz, packet and project progress report.
Latin 3: Y'all are off the hook for exercise 6; 1-5 only.  We will go over the packet tomorrow in lieu of a quiz.

Hercules notes, the latter labors

6.     Clean the Augean stables

§  King Augeas’ stables have never been cleaned and he has a herd of cows…

·        Must clean the stables in one day

§  Hercules re-routes a river and washes it all away

§  Just like the Hydra, Eurystheus says Hercules didn’t actually do it…

·        Last 6 labors of Hercules—Out of Greece

7.     Capture the Cretan Bull

                                                             i.      Review Theseus and the Minotaur

                                                           ii.      Releases to wander Marathon

8.     Steal the horses of Diomedes

a.     Diomedes is a giant (and son of Ares) w/ a herd of man-eating, fire-breathing horses

b.     Hercules waits until night, looses the horses and chases them up a hill

                                                             i.      Then digs a trench around it, lets a river flow in—Makes it an island

c.      When Diomedes shows up, Hercules fights him, kills him and then feeds him to the horses to calm them down

                                                             i.      Takes them back and dedicates them to Juno

9.     Get the belt of Hippolita

a.     Queen of the Amazons

                                                             i.      A belt from Ares given as a symbol of her queenship

b.     Hercules arrives, queen aggress, no prob

                                                             i.      But Juno disguises herself as an Amazon and starts a rumor that Hercules will kidnap the queen

c.      Amazons storm Hercules ship, he grabs the belt and runs

10.                        Steal the cattle of Geryon

a.     Geryon is a monster with one head, three bodies and two legs (number of arms in dispute)

b.     Kills Geryon’s two headed god and then Geryon himself with an arrow

c.      Starts the cows back

                                                             i.      Two happenings, Juno sends a fly and he meets a race of dragon women who try to take the cattle

11.                        Apples of the Hesperides

12.                        Cerberus

a.     Goes down, asks Hades

Must take Cerberus w/o weapons but it’s ok

Apologia maxima...

Apologies to Latin 2.  A simple mathematical error?  Really?  That's why I use grading software, so that computer tells me when I'm dooing stoopid thinks.  Alas.  But, I made the error and you will have progress reports tomorrow.

Latin 1s going on the end-of-year trip, remember: Nature myth now or later, makes no difference to me, but I want it Monday at the latest.

Latin 1-first-period's progress reports are out, as are Latin 3-fifth-period's.  Latin 1-fourth-period should get theirs tomorrow as will Latin 2.  Reminder to Latin 3s: keep your powder dry on the first couple quizzes since there were a lot of similar mistakes that we will go over together.

Latin 1 reminders

Latin 1, remember, we will be going down to the library tomorrow.  They will be EoG testing so we need to be respectful and quiet.

I am almost caught up on grades and I hope to have full progress reports out by tomorrow or Wednesday.

Rim shot

So, I guess that if I've tweeted it and facebooked it then I should blog it too.  My sister and brother-in-law are visiting and, well, we each have our own views on the world.  Mine is, of course, that EVERYONE wants to know about Latin… ‘n stuff.  The following from my sister's facebook: "I'm on the couch, listening to my brother talk about julius caesar. makes me want to stab someone in the back *ba dum bum ching*" (sigh)

Into the abyss...

I've started tweeting (ye cats...) @KHSLatin.

Brace yourselves...

Horse of a Different Color

An excellent essay by one of my favorite pundits.  I mean, I'm not much of a sports nut to be honest.  I enjoy watching and I enjoy coaching but...  Following, fandom?  Not for me.  Nevertheless, Deford is fun to listen to and read.  And he often drops allusions to the odd Greco-Roman tidbit.

That, and seems like every year, the Triple Crown generates something Latiny for this blog.  Last year it was that sleazy centaur.

Both of these serve as a good example of extra credit.  :)

Latin 2 and bad translations

Not you, state mottoes.  My brother-in-law decided to mess with my head last night and had me literally translating some ghastly neo-Latin what done made its way into and onto the great seals of many states...  Done in by me own home state of Oregon which I took to be "he/she/it flys by means of his/her/its own armpits."


Also, Latin 2 needs to be prepared to work on their projects tomorrow.  ;)