Ancient Roman Ball Game Posted by kunthra on Jun 16, 2010
Everyone by now has probably heard of the World Cup Games in South Africa. However, probably not everyone has heard of how the ancient Romans played ball. An ancient Roman game called Harpastum was a ball game where the object of the game was to keep the possession of the ball on your own side…
Adjectives Posted by kunthra on Jun 13, 2010
Here are two sentences with adjectives. Can you spot the difference in each sentence? 1) Porta est alta = The gate is high. (Porta = gate. Alta = high.) 2) Portae sunt altae = The gates are high. In the first sentence, porta and alta are in the singular, but in the second sentence, they…
The Genitive of the Second Declension Posted by kunthra on Jun 7, 2010
The genitive of the singular of the second declension ends in –ī. Scapha puerī in īnsulā est = The boy’s boat is on the island. The plural nominative of the second declension also ends in –ī, but since the way the plural nominative functions in the sentence is very different from the singular genitive of…
Ancient Roman Wine Posted by kunthra on Jun 4, 2010
Wine was a daily necessity in ancient Roman life. Clean water was not always accessible to the public, and wine was the safe alternative. Even children and slaves had access to wine. Ancient Roman meals tended to be bread based, and wine was a good accompaniment to eat with hard and dry bread. Wine had…
The Genitive of the First Declension Posted by kunthra on Jun 1, 2010
The genitive marks possession. In the first declension singular, the genitive will end in -ae. Terra agricolae = The farmer’s land. The object being possessed comes before the possessor. That means that the actual noun in the genitive (agricolae) will come second. The -ae ending is also the nominative plural of the first declension. This…
Ancient Roman Baths Posted by kunthra on May 28, 2010
In ancient Roman culture, bathing held a major significance in ancient Roman society. Bathing was a communal activity. Business deals, politics and even courtships between lovers were carried out in the public baths. The bathhouses even contained rooms for libraries, commercial stores like perfume shops, and theaters. There were also separate entrances for women, men and slaves…
In, On, Into Posted by kunthra on May 22, 2010
Let’s compare the two sentences below : 1) In scholā sunt = They are in the school 2) In īnsulā sunt = They are on the island In the first sentence “In” means “in” in English, but in the second sentence “In” means “on” in English. Also, the words that modified “In” like scholā and īnsulā…