Because Halloween falls on a school day this year, we’re replacing the usual Tuesday piece with a collection of links that you can use if you want to observe the holiday in class. (In years I didn’t dress up, I told my students that I was dressed as ‘Latin teacher about to give a pop quiz.’ They agreed that that was the scariest costume, even when I didn’t give a pop quiz.)
Ghosts in Greece and Rome
Greek and Roman Ghost Stories, by Lacy Collison-Morley: http://levigilant.com/Bulfinch_Mythology/bulfinch.englishatheist.org/greece/Greek-Roman-Ghosts.htm
Pliny’s Haunted House:
A simplified version of the story in Latin with glosses: http://www.dl.ket.org/latin3/stories/halloween/athenodorus.htm
The full version in Latin: http://www.vroma.org/~hwalker/Pliny/Pliny07-27-L.html
The full Latin version on NoDictionaries.com: http://nodictionaries.com/pliny/epistulae-7/27
The full version in English: http://www.vroma.org/~hwalker/Pliny/Pliny07-27-E.html
Petronius’s werewolf:
Petronius’s werewolf story: http://www.thelatinlibrary.com/101/petroniustext.pdf
Translation of the story (embedded in the entire section, with some archaic language): http://www.sacred-texts.com/cla/petro/satyr/sat10.htm
Chrysippus’s Ghost Story
A version in A Latin Reader for the Lower Form in Schools: http://archive.org/stream/latinreaderforlo00hardrich#page/36/mode/2up
Lemuria/Lemuralia:
A description that includes the story of the beans: http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/secondary/SMIGRA*/Lemuralia.html
Matron of Ephesus:
This is a story that is terrifying in a different way (and may not be appropriate for some schools): http://www2.cnr.edu/home/araia/Matron_Ephesus.pdf (This has Ed DeHoratius’s notes.)
Miscellaneous:
Scary vocabulary and Latin sayings for Halloween cards: http://www.dl.ket.org/latin1/things/optional/holidays3.htm
A recipe for Ossa dei Morti (contains nuts) that connects it to the Lemuralia beans: http://www.poweredbyosteons.org/2010/10/halloween-and-lemuralia.html
The Golden Ass has the story of Socrates being attacked by witches, but this isn’t as popular online as the Petronius and Pliny ones.