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