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KEYSTONE Official Publication of The Pennsylvania Junior Classical League Spring 2018
Spring Forth Toward Convention!
Preparing for Convention: A Sculptor’s Tale
2
X Reasons Why Taking Latin Was the Best Decision I Ever Made
4
Hercules 6
Latin Quote Puzzle 7
Six Obscure Places to See in Rome
8
Roman Technology 10
Ova Sfongia Ex Lacte 11
CWJCL and the 2018 Mini-THON
12
To Kill, or to Kill 13
From The Editor’s Desk 15
Inside this issue:
The Ides John Lima, Baldwin
LXVII Penn State University· 5.25.18
PAJCL STATE CONVENTION
Page 2
Preparing for Convention: A Sculptor’s Tale Sarah Burry, Baldwin
With the JCL convention approaching, I have de-cided to express my cre-ativity by sculpting a Ro-man emperor to submit for my high school. When tasked with having to create a bust in Studio Art, I decided it would be unique to create someone with great his-torical effect. I choose Marcus Aurelius, who reigned from AD 161 to AD 180 and was the last of the “Five Good Em-perors”. He’s well
known for practicing Stoicism, defeating the Parthian empire, and be-ing the last emperor be-fore the Pax Romana ended. Building the bust will take approximately 10 weeks in which I will mold and shape the clay to match his features, then give a coat of glaze to give it a historic look. This is my first year at-tending the JCL conven-tion, so I wanted to con-tribute something mean-ingful and informational
for my school. Studio Art has not only given me the opportunity to showcase my abilities in art, but to also tap into a different way of exem-plifying history. Antici-pating the project, I re-searched Marcus Aureli-us’s empirical period, and was able to attain new information, deeper than my previous knowledge on the sub-ject. Roman rule is fasci-nating to me because it is one of the earliest at-
tempts at civilization, and stands as a basis for modern times. I think it is crucial to recognize the efforts of the Roman people, and to continue to remark on their legacy in an interesting way. Sculpt-ing Marcus Aurelius has taught me both art and history, and has allowed me to share my knowledge with my peers.
The Junior Classical League Julia Fancher, North Allegheny
Looking forward to Tuesdays,
That special time,
When we are together,
To laugh and to smile,
To be make memories,
To uphold the culture
Of the past.
We belt out the creed,
Shout out the song,
For we are as proud as can be
To be a part of this, all year long.
This place of fun and games,
Of old friends and new,
Of drawings and jokes,
Of trivia and togas.
The air is full of laughter,
And smiles grace every face
For we love to be here.
Never have purple and gold
Looked so good together,
Because this place,
This wonderful, fantastic,
Joyous place,
Is where we all belong.
We will always hold dear
This purple and gold,
This Junior Classical League.
Page 3
This is one of our teams competing during Certamen at Princeton.
A Day at Princeton Certamen Alice Zehner and Sophie Boulware, Harriton
This past February, we participated in our first Certamen competition at Princeton University as freshmen at Harriton High School. We woke up early for the drive to New Jersey, and the bus ride there was silent ex-cept for the flipping of flashcards and typing on keyboards. When we ar-rived, we were jittery both with nerves and ex-citement. The first thing we noticed is that the Princeton campus is beautiful! The old build-ing made us feel like were royals in a castle, and the competition itself was held in what resem-bled castle "wings".
To kick off the events of the day, Dan-el Padilla Peralta, an assistant pro-fessor at Princeton gave a fascinating presenta-tion on the importance of applying what one learns from the ancient Classi-cal world to the modern-day. After the opening presentation, we parted ways and made our way down narrow, twisting corridors to competition rooms branching off to the side. One of us com-peted in Novice, the oth-er in Intermediate. On both levels, we found the judges and other compet-itors super nice─we even joked around before the rounds started. During the preliminary rounds, all our teams were ex-
tremely successful, we all made it to semifi-nals!!!
The break between the preliminary and semifi-nal rounds was a good opportunity to take in the scenery and town. De-spite the rain, the old campus was still ex-tremely pretty. When wandering about the small town, we found a nice burger place for lunch and a cosy book store. After browsing for some time, we headed back toward the competi-tion corridors to prepare for the semifinals.
Funnily enough, both our teams were scheduled to compete with the other team from our school, so
walking in, we saw quite a few familiar faces. Un-fortunately this round did not go as well for us, and neither our teams made it to finals. None-theless, we walked out with high heads, know-ing we had done well that day.
We thoroughly enjoyed our experience at Princeton Certamen. We found it to be a fun way to bond with Latin friends and possibly meet new ones. As a first Certamen experi-ence, it was a success in both competition and a great day. We can’t wait for the next Certamen trip!
Page 4
X Reasons Why Taking Latin Was the Best Decision I Ever Made Kyra Lisse, Upper Dublin
tive*), it becomes a fac-tory for inside jokes. Everyone knows each other’s strengths, weak-nesses, quirks, and Latin names like the back of their hand. At state con-ventions, the family ex-pands, and you have the privilege of seeing the same zeal for the classics in hundreds of others. So it’s unfair to call Latin a mere area of study; in reality, it’s a diehard community.
IV. It makes the mid-dle school/high school experience a thousand times better.
There’s no sugar-coating it - adolescence is rough. But having your Latin family around makes it so much more tolerable, boosting your self-confidence and giv-ing you something to look forward to each day.
V. There ain’t no teacher like a Latin teacher.
Trust me; I’ve had three. Each one is unique in his/her own way, each with a hearty level of enthusiasm and spunk. Over the past five years, I’ve brought home end-less stories of their out-bursts, silly jokes, and eccentricities. I’ve devel-oped close relationships with them, all for differ-ent reasons. I’ve never hurt as much as I did
Nearing the end of my sixth grade year, and having explored all the languages my school had to offer, I was forced to make a choice: Spanish or Latin? Well, Spanish would be practical, and it would thrill my grandfa-ther, who is self-taught in the language, and I would inevitably have many friends in the class. With this rationale, the decision seemed rather obvious. But I’ve never been one to listen to log-ic, and the Latin lan-guage had a kind of charm that I couldn’t ig-nore. Between my love for words, my amuse-ment with the teacher, and my desire to appear a wise nonconformist, I knew which box needed to be checked.
I, like many, often experience buyer’s re-morse, making me the largely indecisive person I am today. But this is one case in which I have none, and here are the ten - not thirteen - rea-sons why.
I. It is challenging - in a good way.
All my life, I’ve dreaded math on the ba-sis that it is “hard.” I’ve found myself so frustrat-ed with my numerical inadequacy that I’ve fos-tered a disdain for it. Latin, however difficult it initially was, had the
opposite effect. I was intrigued, driven, even excited by the challenge. I wanted more conjuga-tions, more declensions, more translations. I was bursting at the seams to master the ablative case. When I did, I felt a rush of accomplishment that I had never felt before. If learning is brain food, then Latin has the high-est nutritional value.
II. Work hard, play hard.
I can’t even begin to describe how much ef-fort goes into under-standing Latin, or any foreign language, for that matter. But with that re-sponsibility comes great fun. Toga shows. Guaca-mole contests. Declen-sion songs. Founding of Rome parties. State-wide conventions. Episodes of the most delightful and strange characters known to man (I’m looking at you, Asterix.). The list is Sisyphean. In Latin class, I’ve had some of the best laughs I’ve ever had.
III. It’s not just a class; it’s a family.
When studying a field as obscure as Latin, you’re bound to develop a close bond with your classmates, because it’s the only class in which you’ll all be together for the next six years. As a result (*insert subjunc-
when one passed away. It’s a money-back guar-antee that your magister or magistra will be your favorite, most memora-ble teacher of all time.
VI. Latin Club. Where else can one
eat cheese and drink the blood of members past?
VII. What happens in Latin, stays in Latin.
See above. VIII. You know a
million more words and rhetorical devices than your Latin-deprived counterparts.
From zeugma, to anaphora, to vituperate and etymology (not to be confused with entomolo-gy - we’re not into that), you will absolutely crush the SATs.
IX. People think you’re super smart (colleges, too!).
Even if you have lit-tle to no mathematical, athletic, or spatial intelli-gence (see: me), because you take Latin, everyone automatically thinks you’re Einstein. It’s hi-larious. Plus, a thing like Latin doesn’t look too shabby on a college re-sume.
X. Most importantly, it gave me my best friend.
And it might just give you yours, too.
Page 5 Spring 2018
Inspired by the Roman Arch of Titus, the Arc de Triomphe in Paris, France shows just
how wide reaching Rome’s influence was and still is.
Irrational Fears Matching Puzzle Megan O’Brien, Conrad Weiser
The irrational fears often have Latin or Greek root words to them. Match the 20 fears to the correct definition of the word. Nothing is
used twice. Bona Fortuna!!
Answer key on page 6
Arc de Triomphe Ella Kessler, Tredyffrin Easttown
Page 6 Spring 2018
Recently, due to an ad-mittedly nonacademic whim, my Honors Latin 2 class watched a film that contained more mythological inaccura-cies than the Percy Jack-son movies. As I am sure all of you Disney lovers know, I am talking about the movie, Hercules. An-yone one who has not seen this movie should first watch it (because the soundtrack is awe-some) and then grieve in the many faults pertain-ing to the myth of Her-cules.
One of the first and most obvious mistakes is Her-cules' parentage. He is the son of Zeus and Alc-mene, who was a mortal woman. In the movie he is born as a god, the glowing son of Hera and Zeus. In the real myth, while he is a son of Zeus, he is about as far from being a son of Hera
as one can get. As usual, Zeus' unfaithfulness made Hera become Her-cules personal polter-geist, giving him an even more difficult life than he already had being half-god. While Hera is a spiteful queen in Greek and Roman mythology, she is portrayed as a lov-ing mother in the Disney film!
A second error on behalf of the Disney filmmakers is Hercules' trials. As many of you probably know, Hercules had to complete ten (and even-tually twelve) labors af-ter killing his wife and children. Each labor was a different task that regu-lar mortals would find impossible to complete. Even Hercules had trou-ble with them, having to get help to take care of a few. However, this is completely lost in the Disney movie. First off,
in the movie he has no wife or children, he is simply attracted to a girl named Meg(ara) who is working for Hades. Sec-ond, he does not techni-cally complete these labors in the movie, and they are not assigned to him by a king. He com-pletes only some of them, working to pro-tect the city of Thebes, in turn earning him he-roic status in Ancient Greece.
Third, the portrayal of some of the gods and goddesses is completely off. As I mentioned be-fore, Hera is portrayed as a much more agree-ing person than she tru-ly was. Furthermore, Hades is the antagonist of the film. While he was an imposing figure, he was far from being the evil villain that he is shown as. In the movie he is plotting against
Zeus, planning to over-throw him with the power of the titans. In reality the Ancient Greeks and Ro-mans respected the Lord of the Underworld, un-derstanding and appreci-ating his role is their lives.
The list of inaccuracies goes on, but, as a Disney lover myself, I cannot talk badly about the mov-ie for too long. They do portray Hercules as hav-ing more muscle than brain power, a fact that is unfortunately accurate about our great hero. He also receives godly status in the movie, something that happened in the real myth. So, while there are multiple inaccuracies in the movie compared to the real myth, it is defi-nitely a movie that this writer would recommend seeing.
Hercules Katie Monahan, Seneca Valley
Irrational Fears Matching Puzzle Answer Key
Page 7
A statue of Juno, the queen of the gods, is pic-tured here in this pencil sketch drawing, which is
based off of an image of the goddesses’ stone figure. Juno is known for her great power and influence, especially in marriage and woman-
hood. She is often portrayed as the jealous wife of her husband, Zeus (the king of the gods), who involves himself in love affairs with other god-
desses, nymphs, and humans. Although this quality might not be an attribute, Juno’s jealousy motivates her to display her emotions, allowing her to exhibit the full magnitude of her abilities.
Latin Quote Puzzle Nicole Bauer, Bedford
Answer key on page 9
Juno Taylor Kang, Upper Dublin
Page 8
B.C.E. It was built for a wealthy Roman who loved everything Egyp-tian. The tomb was ran-sacked a long time ago, but restorations occurred in the 1600s, 1999, and 2015.
4. Via Appia The Via Appia
was built in 312 B.C.E., making it 2,300 years old. This road is 560 kil-ometers, all the way from Rome to Brindisi. It was named after Appius Claudius Caecus, who was extremely wealthy and politically powerful. Many wealthy Romans were buried alongside the Via Appia.
5. Santa Maria della Concezione dei Cappuccini
This place of worship was established in 1576 to provide a “proper burial” for aban-
This list is com-piled of attractions in Rome that are not as well-known as places like the Colosseum or the Vati-can Museums, but are still interesting and full of rich history that has been passed down and told for centuries.
1. The Mithraeum at the Circus Maximus
Although you have probably heard of the Circus Maximus, the Mithraeum is a lesser-known sanctuary of an underground cult. It dates back to the 2nd century C.E., and has five paral-lel, separate chambers with a central sanctuary that contains two niches for statues of Caute and Cautopates, and a “place of honor” which would have held a statue of Mithras. It is accessible
only if you make an ap-pointment.
2. Street Art of Trastevere
Trastevere is a small Italian neighbor-hood along the Tiber River in Rome, and is famous for their street art. As you walk along the streets, you will no-tice wonderful art lining the streets. As well, Trastevere is famous for its food and nightlife.
3. Pyramid of Cestius
The Pyramid of Cestius used to be locat-ed well outside of the city of Rome, but is now at the edge of an inter-section and a major train stop. Not much is known about this pyramid and the man who was once buried here, but it is esti-mated to have been built between 18 and 12
doned bodies. To get inside, visitors must make a small donation before a nun unlocks the crypt. Down the stairs, the nun will leave you alone inside where skel-etons are set in the wall, bones made into a cross, chandeliers made of hu-man vertebrate, and more. It used to contain chambers with over 8,000 bodies, but most of these were destroyed during construction in 1886.
6. Cloaca Maxi-ma
Named the “Greatest Sewer,” the Cloaca Maxima was opened during the reign of Tarquinius Priscus. It was used for centuries, and today a small amount of water flows through the great tun-nels of this sewer.
Six Obscure Places to See in Rome Sam DeFusco, Owen J. Roberts
The photo depicts the site where Caesar was assassinated.
Remains of the Portico at the
Theater of Pompey Owen J. Roberts
Page 9
How to Be a 21st Century Maenad Paige Williams, Butler
Followers of Dionysus in ancient times were referred to as maenads, which trans-lates to “raving ones” or “wild women”. These women were wild and free spirited. Every day, they would have to stay home and take care of their house and their children, but at night they were able to es-cape, by running away into the woods and around the slopes of mountains, chant-ing, dancing, and partying. Leopard skins and snakes were worn to channel their own internal spirit animals. This escape from everyday life is exactly what we need as high school students. In current times, we are forced
to wake up daily, attend school, play sports, at-tend clubs, complete homework, and work jobs all in a twenty-four hour period. This all adds up to an immense amount of unneeded stress into our worlds. Everyone needs an es-cape in their lives. In-stead of following our everyday working pat-terns, we must create time to live as the mae-nads did, and transform ourselves into wild women and men and create memories as high school students. At con-vention this year, I urge all members to work to
make new friends. Ven-ture out and talk to new students from not only your own club, but also other schools. Stand up and sing karaoke, dance at the party, don’t worry about others opinions, and have fun. We are all there together to have a great time as one big Latin family. As Latin Club members, it is a given that we all are extremely busy and in high stress situations, but we must look past that and work to be-come more enlightened and free spirited. Chan-nel your inner maenad and be free from re-
straints holding you back. Find a balance to stress less and live more, while still maintaining a life-style that fits your desires and needs. Live freely.
Latin Quote Puzzle Answer Key
Page 10
Language Emily Forsyth, Downingtown West
Who are you? You with your lips stitched shut
By the threads of ignorance, yet to have them
Blown open by the breath of Aeolus, filled with
The life of language. Watch the enlightened air
Fill your lungs, pump comprehension through your
Veins, making connections within the deep folds of
Your mind. Let it polish, crystalize your eyes and
You’ll see the future through the past. Let the
Ancient seeds of words take root in your mind and
Grow, the guiding earthy palms of Persephone
Plunged into the soil of your thoughts, let them
Grow, into webbed branches on which the wide-eyed
Emblems of Athena can nest, hatch their young, new
Beginnings. Feel the keen-eyed arrows, sprung from
Artemis’s quivering bow, thud into the wrinkles of
The bark, extend the family tree, through the fingers
Of Cronus, bending through time.
Roman Technology Avery Parr, Harriton
In the 1930s, inventors discovered a way to in-sulate windows. They had discovered a way of making glass panes re-markably nonconductive. Their technique, called double glazing, involved placing two thinner panes of glass together, separated by a thin chamber filled with insu-lating gas. This revolu-tionized house design, and is an essential part of all windows today. But in reality, double glazing had already been invent-ed close to two thousand years before. Lost with
Rome in 476 AD, it took nearly 1,500 years to be "discovered" again. As it turned out, this was far from an un-common occurrence. Ro-mans produced (or used from the Greeks) hun-dreds of innovations, and when Rome ceased to exist, so did the technol-ogy. One of the more well-known instances of this is in the Roman us-age of aqueducts and piping. The Romans built eleven total large aqueducts, with a com-bined length of 220
miles. Roman cities reg-ularly had proper sewers, and occasionally even running water. This kept them (relatively) healthy, with the exception of a small amount of lead poisoning due to the composition of their pipes. It also allowed for proper disposal of human waste. This, in particular, was one of the single most important factors contributing to the health crises of the Middle Ag-es in Europe. Had Ro-man technology not been lost, the Middle Ages could have been an era
marked by technological progress. Instead, it had the rather ugly legacy of death, disease, and end-less conflict. These two exam-ples are just the begin-ning. Roman technology was far ahead of its time, and it was what allowed them to be as powerful as they were. Had these pieces of technology not been lost, we may be liv-ing in a very different (and likely more ad-vanced) civilization.
Ova Sfongia Ex Lacte Kat Yellin, Seneca Valley
Page 11 Spring 2018
Roman breakfast wheat pancake: • 4 eggs • 2 ½ cups of whole milk • 1/3 cup of olive oil • A pinch of salt • 2 cups of whole wheat flour (for some reason
organic seems to work better) • Honey, chopped dates, and black pepper for
garnish
In a bowl beat the eggs, milk, and olive oil together until well combined. In another bowl sift the flour and the salt together. Gradually add the flour mixture into the egg/milk/oil mixture making sure to mix well between additions. The batter should be runnier than a usual pancake batter, around the consistency of a crepe batter. If needed add more flour. Heat a pan up to medium/high heat and add a splash of olive oil to prevent sticking. Cook until golden brown on both sides. Top with chopped dates and honey, or honey and black pepper for more authenticity.
The Old World is dying The war hunts them down
Hunger and plague and pain Silver wishes traded in for tar-
nished defeat From tattered Roman togas
To crumbling Egyptian stone The music has stopped, the paint-
brush unmoving The glory, the glory
One thousand years of glory Worth one single moment of
death? War, a coward’s war
In the streets, in the hearts of the men
The Old World is dying, but not quite dead yet
Brother turns on brother
A shattered crown torn in two Blades clash under stony skies Soldiers invade and blood is
spilled Enemies rise once again
Invaders, invaders Stars shine above, but for them no
longer
Empty prayers go to Mars, Jupiter, Minerva,
but the Gods are not so kind Rome falls, turns to ashes, its gran-
deur washed out and forgotten.
In sandy pastures, all is not well Azure waters spill over onto
sprawling fields, Green crops drown and suddenly, there is not enough food for the
sun-soaked people Hasty prayers go to paper-thin
gods, but the Eye of Horus can’t help
them now, The sundial has cracked and splin-
tered. Away at the temple, deception is in
the air and just like glass, like a mirror,
the empire slips and shatters, splin-ters,
and suddenly Egypt has fallen, and it is in too many pieces to
count.
Next to wine-dark seas,
Civil war taunts a rainless land. You would think such a golden age
would last so forever, but that is hardly the case.
Olive branches turn frail with death, The people burn sacrifices, cry to Mount Olympus, beg for mercy, but just like the Olive Branch,
Greece breaks and burns, and its temples crumble.
Atlas has lost his grip on the sky, and it has fallen.
The Old World is dying The ruins whitewashed,
Graves undone, treasures tarnished Words written so carefully, forever
lost Their rainbows forever washed
away by time Merciless, cruel, unforgiving time
Buried by pain, our legends push up forgotten dai-
sies The Old World is dying, The Old World is dead.
The Old World Zoe Niebauer, Butler
Page 12
patrick told me her thoughts on the THON, “I really enjoyed the breakfast.” Junior Niki Edmondson commented, “I enjoyed staying up all night for the kids.” There were many female students who volun-teered to have their hair cut and donated to the organization which makes wigs for cancer victims. Three JCL’ers who had their hair cut were Julia Madsen, Ami-ty Sell, and Olivia Malone.
In the weeks preceding the Mini-Thon clubs were invited to decorate their doors us-ing a Dr. Seuss theme. Doors had to include the words (from the Lorax), “Unless someone like you cares a whole awful
The JCL of Conrad Weiser High School has made yet an-other memorable appear-ance in this year’s Mini-THON, a charity/fundraiser that benefits the American Pediatric Cancer research organi-zation working to find a cure for childhood can-cers. The JCL sponsored by high school Latin teacher Ms. Rurode, hosted a dodgeball tour-nament at this year’s Mini-Thon. There were several clubs and other teams who participated with a team from the jun-ior class coming out as dodgeball champions. In addition to dodgeball, students played basket-ball, ping pong, and Four Square. They danced to the music of a DJ and also learned a hip-hop
routine. Karaoke was also fun to do and helped the students stay awake! The students and faculty members all continued to enjoy the event as the night dragged on. The sleep-deprived students still danced endlessly, still socialized, and kept going. The school facul-ty came together to make sure they had plenty of food for the teenagers as they went on through the night.
The goal for this year’s Mini-Thon was to raise $40,000 and even though the goal was missed by several hun-dred dollars, students felt that they had raised a great amount of money that will be used for an amazing purpose. One student I interviewed, sophomore Megan Fitz-
lot, nothing is going to get better, it’s not!” Of course JCL’ers designed a door picturing the Lo-rax and translated the saying into Latin. Our door won 2nd place and members who had worked on it were able to attend a special VIP room during the Mini-Thon. This was another amazing year in support of a great cause. Mini-THON 2018 FOR THE KIDS!
Spring 2018
CWJCL and the 2018 Mini-THON Raymond La, Conrad Weiser
Conrad Weiser JCL's door decoration placed 2nd in the Mini-Thon competition!
Page 13
To Kill, or to Kill Laura Schwendeman , North Allegheny
to describe killing. If you
just want to say you
killed someone, no con-
notations attached, just
like interficere, you can
use the word letare
(think lethal), but if you
want to be more specific,
there are plenty of differ-
ent words to use. For
strangling or choking
someone to death, there
are the words strangulare
and suffocate. If you
want to be a little more
vague, you can say that
you “deprived someone
of air” by using ex-
animare. If you killed by
piercing someone
through, there are the
words peragere and per-
cutere. Then, Latin being
the language of an em-
pirical people constantly
on the warpath (or kill-
ing their emperors), there
are many words that ap-
ply to killing with weap-
ons or beating someone
to death. Some choice
words are concidere
which means to cut up to
pieces, and obtruncare,
which means to kill by
lopping something off
So, you want to
describe how you killed
someone in a single
word. Well then, Latin is
the language for you.
Every Latin stu-
dent knows of at least a
few ways to say “to kill”
in Latin (necare, inter-
ficere, etc), and of course
there are a host of other
words describing death
(mors, mortuus) and
sickness (morbus) that
students face early in
their Latin careers.
While the Spanish kids
are learning about Juan
and Pablo getting ice
cream together, Latin
kids are learning about
the death of thousands in
the eruption of Mt. Vesu-
vius and Salvius killing
all of his slaves. Yes,
Latin has a variety of
words to choose from to
describe killing, and
each one has a specific
implication to describe
just how the killing hap-
pened.
The most
general “to kill verb”
that kids learn early on
(at least in the Cam-
bridge Latin series) is
interficere, which is used
for your run of the mill
murdering of slaying
(and sometimes means to
pierce through). There
are of course some other
“to kill” verbs that many
people are acquainted
with. The first to kill
verb that many people
learn, due to it being in
the 1st conjugation, is
necare, and it means to
kill cruelly or put some-
one to death—just what
a bunch of 7th/8th grad-
ers need to know how to
say. Then there is cae-
dere, which means to kill
by striking someone/
something or by cutting
it to pieces with a weap-
on. One last common
(again, at least for Cam-
bridge) “to kill” verb is
occidere, which also
means to kill with a
weapon, specifically by
smashing or beating the
victim to death.
However,
those four words are just
the tip of the iceberg,
there are so many more
ways for a Latin student
(most often a head).
Then, there’s iungulare
for cutting someone’s
throat, and sauciare, for
dealing mortal wounds,
and we’re are not even
done yet. It’s also im-
portant to remember how
the Romans loved their
sacrifices. Mactare and
ferire both are used to
describe the killing of
sacrifices.
That
brings our total to 15 “to
kill” verbs already, and
there are of course so
many more, many of
which have more poetic
meanings for to kill. So,
if you find yourself
struggling to describe the
act of killing, try some
Latin. There most defi-
nitely will be the perfect
word for you.
Page 14 Spring 2018
This May, millions of Americans will be participating in the prima-ries for the midterm elections this year. Voting today can be as easy as checking off a box or it can even be done in the comfort of your own home through the mail. It wasn’t always like that though. Going back about 2,000 years, Roman elections were well, to put it kindly, an absolute mess. Although there isn’t much evi-dence about how Romans voted, we do have some semblance of how Romans cast their votes. Be-fore 140 BC, there was no secret ballot. Instead, eligible citizens would pile up into a room and
votes would be counted by the number of hands raised for each candidate. However after the se-cret ballot was implemented, vot-ers would scratch the initials of the candidate your voting for on a shard of pottery into an urn. Like in modern society, there were also many other limitations to voting in Rome. Although all Ro-man citizens, excluding women and slaves, were allowed to vote, voting could only take place in designated spots in Rome. Be-cause travel to Rome was so ex-pensive for people living outside it and there was no incentive for people to vote, a measly ten per-
cent of eligible citizens actually participated. Also due to the lack of polling places, Cicero wrote in 45 BCE that it took 5 hours to vote for just one consul. Many of these issues may seem familiar to our current voting system, I mean our government is partially based off Rome’s Republic, but I’d say our own election issues are a far cry from the rampant corruption and voter disparity Romans faced. So in May and November when you or a family member votes, be glad you don’t have to make the trek to Rome.
Music’s Existence in Rome Emera Gregor, Bedford
Roman Voting Ella Kessler, Tredyffrin Easttown
In our time, music is everywhere. It can be found in our homes, streets, schools, and modes of transportation. Wherever we look, music can be found. Similarly to us, the Romans understood the val-ue of music and incorporated it into their way of life. They used it in many activities, religious cere-monies, and even had contests much like we do today. In Ancient Rome, music was unoriginal. It was simple and not creative due to the lack of harmonious music and the fact that some instruments only had the ability to produce a single note. Despite this lack of originali-ty, music was vastly enjoyed and was cultivated into a sign of educa-tion. In fact, the Emperor Nero had
once traveled to Greece to perform in a music competition. There were five types of instruments: wind, string, organs, “brass”, and percus-sion. The Greek’s aulos (Latinized as tibia) was a double-reeded, wind instrument. It was generally played with a mouth-band to hold the pipes steady in the instrumentalists mouth. A brass instrument we of-ten hear about is the tuba. It was actually a bronze trumpet in a long, straight shape with a detacha-ble, conical mouthpiece similar to that of a modern French horn. They were about 1.3 meters long without valves, only able to pro-duce a single overtone series. A percussion instrument often used in rituals was the sistrum. The sis-trum was a rattle stringing rings
across the bars of a metal frame. The Roman culture was influenced from many sources and their music is no different. They took many instrument ideas and thoughts on music from the Greeks. For exam-ple, the Greeks thought music to reflect the orderliness of the cos-mos and associated it with mathe-matics and knowledge. This relates back to the Roman Thoughts sec-tion of the article. The influence on Roman music was not solely Greek, however. In fact, the Etrus-cans had instruments like the lyre and tympanum/timpani that the Romans also used.
2017-2018 Executive Board Amanda Yang, President: [email protected]
Leah Wang, Vice-President of Membership:
Nicole Bauer, Vice President of Public Relations:
Helen Luffy, Parliamentarian: [email protected]
Ashlee Shields, Secretary: [email protected]
Allison Chang, Editor: [email protected]
Patricia Hay, Chairperson:
Brooke McLane-Higginson, Executive Board Co-Chair:
Karin Suzadail, Constitutional Advisor Co-Chair:
School Convention Total Fall Winter Spring
Baldwin 0 0 250 125 125
Bedford 125 500 125 125 125
Butler 125 500 125 125 125
Conrad Weiser 125 500 125 125 125
Downingtown West 125 500 125 125 125
The Ellis School 125 375 125 125 0
Harriton 125 500 125 125 125
North Allegheny 125 500 125 125 125
Owen J. Roberts 125 125 500 125 125
Seneca Valley 125 125 500 125 125
Tredyffrin-Easttown 125 125 500 125 125
Upper Dublin 125 125 500 125 125
Page 15 Spring 2018
Salvete omnes! Well, that wraps up the last Keystone issue before Con-vention! Thank you all for your submissions-- it is al-ways great to hear about each chapter’s activities. Hopefully you all are begin-ning to get excited for Con-vention-- it is never too early
to start working on projects or studying up for tests! In addition, please make sure to hold on to your receipts from each issue’s submission, since they are required at Convention as proof to obtain point credits for your chapter. Lastly, don’t forget the deadline for the Convention is-sue of the Keystone on Friday, June 8th. See you at Convention! Ex animo, Allison Chang [email protected] PAJCL Editor
Keystone Points!
From the Editor’s Desk
KEYSTONE
Mercury Owen Villano, Downingtown West
