readings


Thursday Resource: Dickinson College Commentaries

Untitled The Dickinson College Commentaries say that they offer “Latin and Greek texts with explanatory notes, vocabulary, and graphic, video and audio elements, for readers of Greek and Latin.” They have all that and more; there is a list of essential vocabulary, clear commentaries, useful notes, and more. This is what an interactive textbook should be.


Halloween Resources

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.