Catullus Posted by kunthra on May 19, 2010
Cataullus was an ancient Roman poet known for his shocking and emotional poetry. This video is great because the speaker reads the poem with the appropriate emotion. There’s also a copy of the text he’s reading right on the screen, with an English translation underneath : This video presents a poem that Catullus wrote for…
“But” Sentences Posted by kunthra on May 16, 2010
To express the word “but” in Latin, use the word “sed“. Remember that Latin is a flexible language in which word order is flexible. Technically, you can place words anywhere because nouns have their proper declension and verbs have their proper conjugations. Therefore, it’s not the placement of the nouns or verbs that matter, but…
Dative of the First Declension Posted by kunthra on May 13, 2010
The dative (indirect object) of the first declension has a singular form and a plural form. The dative singular of the first declension looks a lot like the nominative plural of the first declension : 1) Estis nautae = You all are sailors. 2) Nautae scapham dō = I am giving a boat to the…
Distinguished Women of Ancient Rome Posted by kunthra on May 10, 2010
Despite the fact that women were barred from holding public office and participating in other freedoms enjoyed by men, some ancient Roman women wielded considerable power. In honor of Mother’s Day, I thought I’d give tribute to some of the famous or should I say infamous mothers of ancient Rome. Valeria Messalina was the third…
The Indirect Object Posted by kunthra on May 7, 2010
The indirect object states who is receiving or benefiing from the action being performed by the subject. So whenever you do something “to” someone or “for” someone, that’s the indirect object. The indirect object is also called the dative. We will look at the dative of the second declension. 1) Virō fābulam narrō = I am telling…
The Ablative Plural Posted by kunthra on May 4, 2010
Can you tell the difference between these two sentences? (1) Ad īnsulam nāvigat cum scaphā (2) Ad īnsulam nāvigat cum scaphīs Everything is identical except for “scaphā” and “scaphīs”. As you know, “scaphā” means “boat”, but what does “scaphīs” mean? Scaphīs is the plural ablative, which means that instead of “boat”, it’ll be “boats”. The…
Worst Ancient Roman Emperors Posted by kunthra on May 1, 2010
Who are your picks for worst ancient Roman emperors? Here are mine : 4) Lucius Aurelius Commodus Antoninus. The number four spot goes to Commodus for : A) killing helpless and crippled people in gladitorial feats, while he was dressed as Hercules. B) being paranoid of being killed and killing senators like Condianus and Maximus and…