| Horarium et Agenda | 2-4 | |
| Opening Ceremonies/Responses | 2 | |
| Canticum novum: CAESAR'S TRIUMPH | 3 | |
| Texts and Summaries for Skits, Probatio and Certamen; | Greek Tragedy in the Roman Perspective | 4-13 |
| Suggestions for Skits and Individual Displays | 13 | |
| Probatio, Certamen, and Mini-Probatio Particulars and Sample Questions | 14-16 | |
| Scoring Information 16 | 16-17 | |
| Latin Day Registration Form | 18 | |
| List of Displays and Presentations Form | 19 | |
| Music and Text for Gaudeamus Igitur | 20 | |
| Map | 21 |
Phaedra Minois filia Thesei uxor Hippolytum privignum suum amavit, quem cum non potuisset perducere ad suam voluntatem, tabellas scriptas ad suum virum Theseum misit, se ab Hippolyto compressam esse. Se autem suspendio necavit. Theseus, litteris lectis, filium suum moenibus excedere iussit et optavit a Neptuno patre exitium filio suo. Itaque cum Hippolytus equis iunctis veheretur, repente e mari taurus apparuit, cuius mugitu equi paventes Hippolytum distraxerunt vitaque privaverunt.
Minois: genitive of Minos, king of Crete.
Thesei: genitive of Theseus, king of Athens
privignum: accusative of privignus 'step-son'
perducere: infinitive, 'seduce'
tabellas scriptatas: = litteras = epistulam
virum 'husband'
compressam: < comprimo, comprimere, compressi, compressus/a/um 'embrace'
suspendio: ablative of means or instrument, 'hanging'
moenibus: ablative of place from which or separation, < moenia, moenium
'fortifications,' here = ex urbe
filio suo: dative
equis iunctis: ablative absolute
veheretur: deponent verb, < vehor.
repente: advert = subito
mugitu: ablative of means, < mugitus, mugitus 'bellowing'
equi: nominative
paventes: present participle, nominative, < paveo
vita: ablative of separation with privaverunt.
Laius, Labdaci filius, ab Apollinis oraculo audivit filium suum se necaturum esse. Itaque Iocasta, Menoecei filia, uxor eius, cum peperisset, iussit infantem exponi. Infans expositus est, sed tamen, a pastoribus servatus, Polybo regi Corinthium mandatus est. Polybus nominavit eum Oedipum quod pedes transiectos haberet et educavit eum pro filio suo. Oraculum dixit Oedipum patrem suum necaturum. Itaque Oedipus iit ad Delphos ut de parentibus suis sciret. In trivio obviam veniens patri vero Laio, regi Thebano, Oedipus eum occidit et inscius Iocasten matrem suam accepit uxorem, ex qua procreavit Eteoclen et Polyneicen, Antigonam et Ismenen. Interim Oedipus conatus est liberare urbem pestilentia Thebis incidente. Tiresias interrogatus qua de causa Thebae ita vexarentur dixit necesse esse ex urbe expellare eum qui Laium necavit. Veritate cognita, Iocaste se morti dedit. Oedipus autem sibi oculos eripuit. Postea Oedipus in exilium ex urbe expulsus est.
Medea, Aeëtae et Idyiae filia, cum ex Iasone iam filios Mermerum et Pheretem procreasset summaque concordia viverent, obiciebatur Iasoni hominem tam fortem ac formosum ac nobilem uxorem advenam atque veneficam habere. Huic Creon Menoecii filius rex Corinthius filiam suam minorem Glaucen dedit uxorem. Medea cum vidit se erga Iasonem bene merentem tanta contumelia esse affectam, coronam ex venenis fecit auream eamque muneri filios suos iussit novercae dare. Munere accepto, Glauce et eam bracchiis amplectans pater ipse combusti sunt. Interim Medea necavit filiolos suos et in curru avi sui Solis fugit Athenas, rege Aegeo exspectante.
Schools should email their selection on a first-come-first-served basis to Jeanne.Valley@uvm.edu. All summaries should be read by the students to help them better enjoy the show.
Theaters are found throughout the Greek and Roman world. They were used as assembly places and courts in addition to the performance of tragedies, satyr plays, comedies, and mimes. Their excellent acoustics allowed for relatively large audiences. The Athenians were especially important in the development of Greek tragedy. There is a tradition that the first tragic performance in Athens in the theater-sanctuary of Dionysus was by Thespis in 534 B.C. In 5th-century B.C. Athens, there were eventually four important festivals of Dionysus. The two most important for tragedy was the Lenaean Festival in the month of Gamelion (our January) and the Greater or City Dionysia in the month of Elaphebolion (our March/April). At these festivals three tragic poets would compete, each with three tragedies (sometimes in the form of a trilogy) and one satyr play. A jury of citizens, one from each of the ten tribes, seated in the front row on either side of the Priest of Dionysus, judged the victor of the competition. In the first month of the Athenian year, Hecatombaion (our July), a tragic poet would go to the Eponymous Archon and "request a chorus." Preparation for the poet's play would be paid for by an important politician (the choregos). With that support, the poet could have costumes and masks prepared and rehearse the chorus of 12 citizens (24 for comedy) during the months preceding the actual performance. The subject matter of most tragedies was based upon traditional Greek myths, especially (but not only) those found in Homer. But sometimes the subject matter was drawn from history: In 472, for example, Aeschylus produced the Persians, with the rising young politician Pericles as his choregos, a play that celebrated the defeat of Xerxes' Persians at the battle of Salamis in 480 through the astute policies of Themistocles. These historical plays are called in Latin fabulae praetextae. But even the themes and topics of the purely mythical plays reflected not only philosophical and ethical ideas, but also, if indirectly, political and social aspects of Athenian life. So, for example, many plays concluded with the appearance of a god or goddess hoisted by a crane above the scene setting or simply standing on the roof of the scene building. Such a theophany or deus or dea ex machina would tie the story (myth) of the play to some Athenian religious, cultural or political institution. Thus, the conclusion of Aeschylus' Oresteia trilogy (produced in 458 B.C.) gives the aetiology of the establishment of the Athenian Areopagus, the oldest Athenian council, that in 462 had been stripped of its purely political powers and reduced in scope to a jury for trials of homicide. Aeschylus' trial of Orestes provided the aition (cause) of the establishment of the Areopagus, and may or may not have been intended as support for reducing the political influence of this conservative body. That we cannot certainly answer this question is instructive: myth allowed the poets to speak to the people of Athens in the oblique manner that lies at the heart of poetry. Poetry in Athens was public, not private. The Theater of Dionysus, with seating for nearly 20,000 people, was the largest assembly place in all of Athens, and brought together not only men, but on occasion women, children, foreigners, and slaves. The Theater was in effect the School of Greece.
Particularly important in Greek tragic plots were recognition scenes, debates, murder (usually offstage, but vividly reported by a Messenger), and lyric song and dance by the chorus.
In 240 B.C. at the Ludi Romani Livius Andronicus produced a tragedy and comedy in the Greek style in the Latin language. Others in the 3rd and 2nd centuries B.C. produced Latin tragedies based upon Greek myth. Best known were Ennius, Accius, and Pacuvius. Many Roman comedies (20 of Plautus and six of Terence) survive that were based on Greek themes, fabulae palliatae (so called because the characters wore the Greek pallium, not the Roman toga), we have no complete tragedies of Roman authors from the Republican period. We do have, however, a number of plays of Lucius Annaeus Seneca the Younger (Seneca, 4 B.C.-1 A.D. -65 A.D.), the Stoic philosopher who was also tutor to the infamous emperor Nero. It is not known whether the plays of Seneca were actually produced or merely recited. But the vivid violence of his plays may reflect something of the mood of the Neronian period and of their author, whose forced suicide, somewhat modeled on that of Socrates, is described in detail by Tacitus, Annales 16. 2-4. His Hercules Furens, Hippolytus or Phaedra, Medea and Trojan Women are similar to Euripidean models; his Oedipus follows Sophocles' play. His Thyestes, which represents Thyestes onstage at the table prepared for him by his brother Atreus and unwittingly eating his own children (before the eyes of the audience, if there was an audience), contains the kind of spectacular gore that made Seneca something of a model for Shakespeare. His Agamemnon differs from the Aeschylean model in several ways. Two plays in the Senecan corpus, the Hercules Oetaeus and the Octavia, may not be by Seneca. In the Octavia Seneca himself appears as a character. Its action deals with Poppaea's machinations to have Nero's wife Claudia Octavia falsely accused, banished, and killed. Seneca seems to have worked directly with the Greek originals, not simply through the now lost Roman adaptations in the Roman Republic.
The first stone theater of the Romans was the theater of Pompey the Great, constructed in 55 B.C. It was in this theater that the Roman Senate was meeting on that fateful day, the Ides of March, 44 B.C., when Julius Caesar was assassinated. The heart of tragedy lay in the representation of strife within the family. When Brutus thrust his sword into Caesar, Shakespeare has Caesar say, et tu, Brute? But Plutarch says that Caesar's said in Greek kai su, teknon "And you too,, my child?" It was thought that Caesar may have been the biological father of Brutus. If so, Caesar's last act was to turn his death into Greek tragedy.
Thyestes: Scene: Palace at Argos. Atreus and Thyestes, the sons of Pelops, the son of Tantalus, had been banished by their father for slaying their half-brother Chrysippus. Pelops also laid a curse upon them that their children would die at each other's hand. When Pelops died, Atreus assumed his throne, but Thyestes seduced Atreus' wife Aërope, who helped him steal a gold-fleeced ram, the possessor of which would have the right to claim the throne. When this was discovered, Atreus banished him. But Atreus wanted to avenge himself more completely upon his brother. The play opens with a review of this background by the ghost of Tantalus and a Fury. Atreus makes his plans. When Thyestes enters with his three sons (one of whom is named Tantalus), he is hesitant about trusting his brother. But Atreus implores his forgiveness and offers to share the throne with him. After reports by messengers of many evil portents, Thyestes eventually comes to the banquet of reconciliation. After Thyestes has had his fill of food and drink, Atreus brings in a platter containing the heads of his three sons. Quid liberi meruere? asks Thyestes (What did my children do to deserve this?); Quod fuerant tui, replies Atreus (That they were yours!).
Note: Thyestes has already been spoken for by the Riverside School.
Agamemnon (First play of the Oresteia trilogy, 458 B.C.): Scene: Argos, the palace. Queen Clytemestra invites King Agamemnon into the palace at Mycenae. He has just returned from defeated Troy with Cassandra as part of his spoils of war. Clytemestra welcomes him and persuades him to walk upon a red carpet laid especially for him into the palace. The chorus hear cries of pain from the palace, but are too indecisive to offer help. Clytemestra appears, drenched in blood and exultant that she has taken vengeance for the sacrifice of her daughter Iphigenia. She describes how she cast a net over her husband in his bathtub and struck him three times with a double-axe, as a sacrificial libation to the dead. She then has Cassandra slain. Aegisthus, son of Thyestes, enters with a show of force to prevent the revolt threatened by the chorus. Clytemestra declares that what she has done was justified and that the curse upon the House of Atreus has been brought to fulfillment.
Libation Bearers (Choephoroi, 2nd play of the Oresteia trilogy, 458 B.C.): Scene: Tomb of Agamemnon. Orestes, son of Agamemnon, returns from exile in secret and places offerings of hair and libations at his father's tomb. Later Electra and the chorus enter, having been commissioned by Clytemestra to appease her murdered husband's spirit with libations (offerings of wine, milk, or honey) at his tomb after having been terrified in a dream in which she saw herself nursing a serpent that bit her breast. Electra enters and sees Orestes' offerings, and thinking the hair similar to her own, wonders if Orestes has returned. Finally, she sees a bit of weaving, an image of a wild beast, which she herself had woven for the infant Orestes when he was sent into exile by her mother. When Orestes enters, brother and sister finally recognize each other and conspire to bring to pass what Apollo has commanded Orestes to do: to kill his mother. Orestes works his way into the palace, kills Aegisthus first, and then confronts his mother. She bares her breast to him and begs to be spared. Orestes hesitates, asking his companion Pylades what he should do. Pylades' response: "What would become of Apollo's oracles if you do not kill her?" When Clytemestra sees that she will not dissuade him, she calls for a man-slaying axe. Orestes takes his mother into the palace and kills her. But after the victory, Orestes seems to be maddened, hounded by the Avenging Spirits (the Furies or Erinyes) of his mother, and leaves again in exile.
Eumenides (3rd play of the Oresteia trilogy, 458 B.C.): Scene: first at the Temple of Apollo at Delphi, later at Athens. Orestes has gone to Delphi to be purified by Apollo. Robed in black and wearing snakes in their hair, the Erinyes (Avenging Spirits) are sleeping on the steps of Apollo's temple. The ghost of Clytemestra appears, and rouses the Erinyes to pursue Orestes. He takes refuge in Athens. There, Athena establishes a jury of citizens to hear this case of matricide. The prosecutors are the Erinyes, the defense attorney is Apollo. The jury's decision is split. Athena breaks the tie by adding her vote in favor of Orestes. To appease the Erinyes, she establishes a shrine in their honor near the Acropolis and creates the Court of the Areopagus. This play ends in an aetiological myth, explaining two features of Athenian culture: the cult of the Eumenides (the "Kindly Ones"), patrons of Athenian family and fields, the former Erinyes, now clad in robes of white.
Prometheus Bound (date uncertain, 457 or 456?): Scene: Scythian mountains. For having stolen fire from the Olympian gods, Prometheus, son of the Titan Iapetos, is nailed to a rocky crag in the Caucasus Mountains of Scythia by Power (Kratos) and Might (Bia) under the supervision of Hephaestus. A chorus of Oceanids (Daughters of the Titan Oceanus or Ocean) enter to hear the complaints of Prometheus. Io, in cow form and being harried by a gadfly, enters and learns from Prometheus that her wanderings will end in Egypt, where, after Zeus touches her, she will give birth to Epaphus, from whom a descendant will eventually be born (Heracles = Hercules) who will free Prometheus. Hermes arrives, demanding that Prometheus reveal his secret: that if Zeus mates with a certain goddess, he will have a son who will displace him as ruler of Olympus. When Prometheus refuses to reveal the secret, he is sent to the Underworld where his sufferings (having his liver consumed daily by Zeus' eagle) would continue for 30,000 years. In the lost plays of the trilogy, Prometheus must have revealed the secret and been rescued by Heracles. [The woman Zeus should not marry is the sea-goddess Thetis. When that secret is eventually revealed, Thetis is wed to Peleus and becomes the mother of Achilles.]
Ajax (probably sometime before 442 B.C.): Scene: Encampment before Troy. The arms of Achilles having been awarded to Oedipus, Ajax, son of Telamon, vows to avenge himself both upon Oedipus and the Greeks. Maddened by Athena, Ajax slays a herd of sheep, which he mistakes for Greeks. When Ajax regains his senses and realizes what he has done, he wants to kill himself. He bids farewell to his wife, Tecmessa, his young child Eurysaces, and his brother Teucer. Using ambiguous language, he says that he his going to purify himself in the water of the sea and goes to the beach, where in fact he plants his sword in the sand and falls upon it. Tecmessa herself discovers his corpse transfixed by the sword. Menelaus and Agamemnon try to prevent Ajax from being buried, but Odysseus persuades them to relent. The Salaminians then give Ajax, their countryman, a hero's burial.
Antigone (c. 442/441 B.C.): Scene: Thebes, the palace. Eteocles and Polyneices, the sons of Oedipus, had agreed to share, each in alternate years, the rule of Thebes. When Eteocles refused to yield the throne to Polyneices, the latter persuaded the Argives to attack the seven gates of Thebes. Eteocles and Polyneices fight in a duel to the death. Creon, the new king, decrees that Eteocles will have a state funeral and that Polyneices, for having attacked the city, will lie unburied. His sister Antigone is determined to bury Polyneices as an act of piety required by the unwritten laws of justice. Unable to persuade her sister Ismene to help her, she decides to make the attempt alone. When guards reveal that someone has attempted to bury the body of Polyneices, Creon decrees the death penalty against the perpetrator. The guards seize her in her second attempt to bury the body and bring her before Creon, who sends her away to be buried alive. Haemon, Creon's son and betrothed to wed Antigone, arrives and opposes Creon's action. The seer Tiresias persuades Creon to change his mind. But too late: a messenger reports to Eurydice, the wife of Creon, that when the cave was opened, Antigone was found hanging in a noose and that Haemon, having tried to kill his father, turned his sword against himself. Eurydice, in grief, commits suicide. Creon repents and blames himself for the death of his son and wife.
Note: Antigone has already been spoken for by Mt. Mansfield Union.
Oidipous Tyrannos = Oedipus Rex (date uncertain; Scene, Thebes, before the palace; see the Latin summary above). The Oedipus of Seneca is based upon Sophocles' play.
Note: Oedipus Rex has already been spoken for by Whitcomb High School.
Philoctetes (409 B.C.): Scene: Coast of the island of Lemnos. For having lit his funeral pyre, the dying Heracles gave to Philoctetes his bow and arrows, tipped in the venom of the Hydra. (See Seneca's Hercules on Oeta.) But on the way to the Trojan War, Philoctetes had violated the island deity Chryse and been bitten by a serpent that left a very painful suppurating wound in his foot. The Greeks, urged on by Odysseus, thought that Philoctetes' cries of pain would bring ill fortune to their expedition and left him on the uninhabited island of Lemnos. After ten fruitless years of fighting, the Greeks learn that Troy can only be taken if they have Philoctetes and his weapons. As the play opens, Odysseus, disguised as a merchant, arrives in Lemnos with Achilles' son Neoptolemus for the purpose of bringing Philoctetes to Troy. Odysseus knows that Philoctetes hates him for having left him exiled on the island, so he employs Neoptolemus to induce Philoctetes to leave. During the course of the confrontation of the ailing man and young Neoptolemus, Philoctetes falls into paroxysms of pain from his wound. The two men bond like a father and son, even as Philoctetes expresses his undying hatred for the deceitful Odysseus and his admiration for Achilles. He is pleased that Achilles' son has come. When two sailors come with the warning that Odysseus will soon arrive to take Philoctetes by force, Philoctetes brings out his weapons. As a sign of trust, he lets Neoptolemus hold them and the two go into the cave where Philoctetes dwells. After another fit of pain, Philoctetes falls asleep. When he awakes, Neoptolemus confesses that he has been involved in a ruse to retrieve Philoctetes and his weapons for the Greeks. Philoctetes is outraged. Odysseus arrives and threatens to take Philoctetes by force. Philoctetes threatens suicide. Odysseus replies that he will simply take the weapons for someone else to use. Neoptolemus, meanwhile, is overcome with scruples and, still in possession of the weapons, hands them back to Philoctetes and refuses to leave with Odysseus. When they are alone, Neoptolemus reveals that Philoctetes will only be healed if he goes to Troy. Philoctetes, still suspicious, refuses to help those he hates, and persuades Neoptolemus to agree to take him back to his homeland and to his father Poeas. At this moment Heracles appears as a deus ex machina, commands Philoctetes to go to Troy and promises that Asclepius will heal him.
Alcestis (438 B.C.): Because Apollo had killed the Cyclopes for having fashioned the thunderbolts with which Zeus had slain Apollo's son Asclepius, Zeus sentenced him to a year's servitude in the house of Admetus. In return for Admetus' hospitality, Apollo granted him the favor of extending the span of his life if he could find someone to die in his place. When Admetus failed to persuade his mother and father to make this sacrifice, his wife Alcestis agreed to die for him. The play opens on the day that Death (Thanatos) arrives to take Alcestis to the underworld. In the long farewell to her children and husband, Alcestis makes Admetus promise never to remarry and never to inflict a stepmother upon their children. (This is the first extant play in which small children have a speaking part.). Admetus blames his father Pheres for not dying in his place; Pheres blames his son for having caused Alcestis' death. Meanwhile, Heracles (Hercules) has arrived. With characteristic hospitality, Admetus makes sure that Heracles is entertained royally. When a servant's patience is tried by Heracles' drunken reveling in a house in mourning, he reveals the truth to Heracles. Heracles goes out to wrestle Alcestis away from Death and brings back a veiled woman (probably Alcestis herself) to the palace and coaxes Admetus to receive the woman into the house. The ending of the pro-satyric play is ambiguous. Has Admetus reneged on his promise not to remarry? [Christoph Willibald Gluck turned this play into an opera in the late 18th century.]
Bacchae (Bacchant Women, posthumous, 405 B.C.): Scene: Thebes, the palace of King Pentheus, son of Agave and Echion and grandson of Cadmus and Harmonia. Dionysus (= Bacchus), disguised as a priest of his own religion, has come to Thebes with a band of Lydian worshipers (who form the chorus of the play). Because the sisters of his mother Semele deny that Zeus was the father of her son, Dionysus has driven them in Bacchic frenzy out upon the mountains around Thebes. Pentheus tries to suppress the new religion, but when he puts the disguised Dionysus in chains, the chains fall away and the palace even seems to collapse. Finally Dionysus suggests that perhaps Pentheus might like to see for himself what his mother and aunts are doing on Mt. Cithaeron. Pentheus allows himself to be re-costumed so that disguised as a woman he might join the Bacchant women. But when he finds them, they are not behaving lewdly but rather sleeping peacefully, the voice of Dionysus rouses them with the warning that he is bringing to them for punishment one who mocks their rits. Mistaking Pentheus for a lion, Agave wrenches off her son's head and impales it upon her thyrsus while her sisters tear off his limbs. They return in triumph to Thebes, until Cadmus helps his daughter recognize her son, whose name Pentheus means "Grief." "You will see the greatest grief there is," Cadmus says to Agave.
Cyclops (Satyr play; date uncertain, 409? B.C.): Scene: Coast of Sicily near Mt. Etna (Aetna). Odysseus and his men have come to shores of Sicily and the cave of the Cyclops Polyphemus near Mt. Etna and find there the satyrs and their tutor the fat Papa-Silenus in servitude to the one-eyed giant shepherd. The play opens with a prologue by Papa-Silenus, in which he recounts how he and his family of satyrs have long sought Dionysus (Bacchus), since he fled his nurses as an infant. In return for provisions from Polyphemus' cave, Odysseus offers Papa-Silenus a self-replenishing wineskin (which actually contains Dionysus, as the god of wine, in disguise). When Polyphemus arrives, he is annoyed to see his provisions being given away. Odysseus tells him that his name is Nemo (No-one). Polyphemus takes Odysseus and his men into his cave, where he roasts two of them and forces Odysseus to serve them up for him to eat. Odysseus devises a plan whereby he first intoxicates Polyphemus with the wineskin and then drives a hot stake into his one eye. When Polyphemus is being blinded, he calls to his brother Cyclopes for help. He says, "No-one is blinding me!" They reply, "So what's the problem?" After Odysseus, his surviving men, and the satyrs and Papa-Silenus, set sail, Odysseus taunts the enraged and blinded giant and reveals his true name. Knowing the name, Polyphemus remembers an ancient oracle according to which Odysseus would blind him on his return from Troy and be forced to wander a long time before his return home.
Hecuba (date uncertain, c. 425? B.C.): Scene: Coast of Thrace. The ghost of Polydorus, youngest son of Hecuba and Priam, speaks the prologue, explaining that his parents had entrusted him to Polymestor, king of Thrace, for safekeeping during the war. When Troy fell, Polymestor killed the boy and kept the gold that had been sent with him. He also reports that the Greek fleet has been detained by calm winds in the port of Thrace and that Achilles' ghost is demanding that Polyxena, the daughter of Hecuba be sacrificed to him as his bride in the underworld. After Hecuba fails in her attempt to persuade the Greeks not to sacrifice Polyxena, she goes to the sea to get lustral waters with which to bathe her daughter's body and, to her horror finds the body of Polydorus washed up upon the shore. With the help of the other captive Trojan women, she lures Polymestor into her tent; they kill Polymestor's own two sons, and rip out his eyes. Polymestor emerges on all fours from the tent and predicts that Hecuba will be changed into a bitch and drown and that Clytemnestra will kill both Agamemnon and Cassandra. Agamemnon orders Polymestor to be marooned on a desert island.
Note: Hecuba has already been spoken for by Harwood Union.
Helen (412 B.C.): Scene: Before the palace of Theoclymenus, king of Egypt, at the tomb of Proteus, his father. Helen, having taken refuge on the tomb of Proteus, reveals that Hera had sent her to Egypt and had sent only an airy phantom of Helen with Paris to Troy. She is now trying to avoid marriage with Theoclymenus. Troy having fallen seven years ago, Menelaus' ship is driven off course by a storm and arrives in Egypt. One of the men on his ship, Teucer, the brother of Ajax, enters, amazed to see Helen there, since he thought that Helen had been dragged away from Troy by Menelaus and had been on board with them all the while. He reports that in the meantime Helen's mother and brothers have killed themselves in shame for Helen's behavior. Helen warns Teucer to leave Egypt because Theoclymenus kills all Greeks who come there. When Menelaus arrives, a servant at the palace warns him away, saying that Theoclymenus has hated all Greeks since Helen came there. Helen enters and explains the truth to her husband. Menelaus is incredulous until one of his men arrives to say that the Helen he thought he had left in a cave by the shore had declared her destiny fulfilled and vanished into the sky. Helen and Menelaus seek the advice of the prophetess Theonoë. Theonoë agrees not to reveal their secret. Helen then tells Theoclymenus that Menelaus has drowned at sea and asks to be allowed to carry out the Greek custom of sailing out to sea to make offerings to those who have drowned. Theoclymenus agrees to furnish a ship and crew. Later one of this crew returns to say that as they were setting sail some Greeks castaways came aboard and that when they were a good distance from shore these Greeks attacked the Egyptian crew and threw them into the sea. The messenger was the only survivor. When Theoclymenus decides to pursue the Greeks and kill Helen and Menelaus, Helen's brother Castor and Pollux appear ex machina and command the king to yield to fate; they also reveal that Helen will eventually become a goddess. Husband and wife, thus reunited, sail home to Sparta.
Hippolytus (428 B.C.) Scene: Troezen, before the palace of Theseus, of Athens. See Latin summary above. Seneca's Phaedra has a similar plot.
Iphigenia at Aulis (posthumous, 405 B.C.): Scene: Aulis, where Artemis has calmed the winds and put in great peril the army gathered to sail to Troy. Calchas, the seer, declares that to appease Artemis' wrath, Agamemnon must sacrifice his daughter. A letter is sent to Clytemnestra in Argos that she should bring her daughter Iphigenia to Aulis to be wed to Achilles. But when Iphigenia arrives, both Agamemnon and Menelaus regret their decision to sacrifice her, but Agamemnon fears that the army will force him to go ahead with the sacrifice. Achilles, unaware that he has been used as a ruse to bring Iphigenia to Aulis, reveals to Clytemnestra that Iphigenia is to be sacrificed. She appeals to him for protection, which he promises. Clytemnestra begs her husband to spare her daughter, but Agamemnon fears that the army will rise up. The army even threatens to stone Achilles when he resists their will. In the end, Iphigenia volunteers to have herself sacrificed for the common good. She implores her mother not to hate her father. A messenger reports that as Agamemnon was striking the fatal blow, a doe was seen on the altar and Iphigenia had vanished. (See below, the Iphigenia among the Taurians.)
Iphigenia among the Taurians (ca. 414 B.C.): Scene: The Crimean Peninsula, land of the Taurians. We learn from Iphigenia that as the Greeks prepared to sacrifice her on the altar at Aulis, Artemis (Diana) had substituted an animal and whisked her away to the Taurians, where she has been serving as priestess to the goddess. The Taurians had the custom of sacrificing to Artemis any foreigner who comes to their shores. Still pursued by the Furies of his mother, Orestes is commissioned by Apollo to bring back the statute of Tauric Artemis to the Athenians. Orestes and Pylades arrive and are captured. Iphigenia must prepare one of them to be sacrificed. Orestes and Pylades each vie to die in the other's place. Eventually Iphigenia recognizes her brother. They conspire to escape from Thoas, the king of the Taurians and return to Orestes' and Pylades' ship. When Thoas pursues them, Athena appears ex machina and reveals to him that Orestes must bring the statue of Artemis to the Athenians and to erect a temple and establish a cult in which the priest will draw only a single drop of blood to commemorate the human sacrifice of the Taurians.
Medea (431 B.C.) Scene: Corinth, before the house of Medea. See Latin summary above. Seneca's Medea has a somewhat similar plot.
1) Remember that it is impossible to do a whole play in four minutes: choose a central or defining moment in the play for your skit. And feel free to choose a plot not summarized above or to modify the plot or even to make up your own plot for your skit.
2) Remember that in addition to the main characters, there was always a chorus. Singing or chanting lyrics together might add to your skit (see note 4, below)
3) Remember that Greek drama was a spectacle. Therefore costumes are especially important. Greek drama was always performed with masks. You might consider making masks for your characters and chorus (just a suggestion, not a requirement!). The Athenian actors were males. Since they wore masks, they played more than one role and, of course, the female roles. With masks your female and male actors could play roles of either or both genders.
4) Remember that the chorus danced as they sang to musical accompaniment by the pipe (aulos). (Just a thought, not a requirement for your skit!)
5) And do not forget that you must limit the skit to four minutes onstage, and no more than one minute for getting on and off stage and setting up the scenery.
The formal Probatio Juniorum et Certamen Seniorum will take place in the Gymnastics Room in a written format. Some questions will be based on the Latin readings (the plot of Sophocles' Oedipus Rex for the Juniores and the Medea and Hippolytus as well as for the Seniores). While the Competitores (Teams) are hard at work in the Gymnastics Room, the Spectatores (Audience) and the Magistri will have a Mini-Probatio with similar questions.
This year as last, with a view to imposing some order onto chaos, the Mini-Probatio will be run as follows. Instead of receiving answers by spontaneous acclamation from the crowd of Spectatores, the Magister will ask a series of questions. 15 seconds per question will be allotted for schools to "huddle" together and write down the answer on an answer sheet. (These sheets will be provided to each school in the Teacher's packet.) After all the questions have been asked, and answers have been committed to paper, the Magister will summon to the stage a Praeco, or herald, previously appointed by his or her school, who will be prepared to give the school's answer when called upon by the Magister. Though every school will be given the opportunity to answer a question, it will not know in advance which of the questions it will be called upon to answer. To determine this, the Magister or his assistant will randomly draw the name of a school from a hat, and the Praeco for the school that is selected will come to the microphone and declare his/her school's response. If the answer is correct, loud cheers, horns, whistles will be sounded as sportulae of chocolate kisses (chocolata oscula) are showered upon the successful contingent. If incorrect, the Magister will solicit the audience for the correct answer and proceed immediately to the next question, drawing a new school name out of the hat. This procedure will continue until all the questions have been answered.
Only 15 minutes is allotted to the entire Mini-Probatio, so orderly cooperation is the key. Also note that this new format requires each school to appoint a Praeco from its ranks in advance of Latin Day. Please indicate the name of your Praeco on the registration sheet. Final Bonus: The Praecones who report a correct answer will be given a special prize to bring back to their delegation!
This year teachers, situated at the top of the stands, left, right, and center and at the lower part of the stands, left and right, would be given red flags to wave if the question from the Magister is inaudible; further: the Magister will spell out any Latin words and make every effort to make the question both audible and clear.
The teams of the Probatio and will compete at the same time, each assigned to a special place in the Gymnastics Room.
Probatio questions will be appropriate to the level of Latin studied (Juniores: 1 to 2 years of Latin; Seniores: 3 to 4 years of Latin). Teams will receive 20 questions worth two points each, falling into three categories: 5 on culture (Greek and Latin literature, especially Greek drama, history, myth, art and architecture), 10 on Grammar (forms) and Syntax (usage) and 5 on interpretation, translation and composition based upon the Latin texts included with this packet. The team of up to 6 members (Competitores) will compete for ribbons, the Blue (30-40 points), the Red (20-29 points) and the Yellow (0-19 points). Each Team member will receive a sheet containing the 20 questions, but the Team Captain is responsible for submitting one sheet with the answers decided upon by the Team. Starting and Ending times will be clearly announced. A Marshal will stand by each team to provide logistical assistance and to collect the completed papers. The results of these contests are published in the Vermont Classical Languages Association (VCLA) newsletter and are reported by letter to each school's principal.
Apollinis: genitive of Apollo.
se: accusative, reflexive pronoun in indirect statement, subject of the future active infinitive
necaturum esse.
necaturum: future active participle < neco, necare, necavi, necaturus/a/um, accusative with esse
in indirect statement
peperisset: pluperfect subjunctive < pario, parere, peperi, partus/a/um 'give birth to"
iussit: < iubeo, iubere, iussi, iussus/a/um 'order' + infinitive with subject accusative.
exponi: present passive infinitive < expono, exponere, exposui, expositus/a/um
Corinthium: genitive plural 'of the Corinthians'
mandatus est: < mando, mandare, mandavi, mandatus/a/um 'deliver into the hands of,' 'entrust,' 'hand over'
transiectos: < transicio, transicere, transieci, transiectum 'pierce'
necaturum: understand esse (necaturum esse = future active infinitive)
ut ... scirit: purpose clause with imperfect subjunctive
trivio: ablative of place with preposition in; < trivium 'crossroads'
obviam veniens: < obviam venire + dative 'to meet someone in the dative'
Eteoclen/ Polyneicen: Greek accusative form of Etelocles and Polyneices.
conatus est:
incidente: ablative, modifying pestilentia, + dative
Thebis: dative 'the Thebans,' 'Thebes'
qua de causa: = cur, introducing indirect question
vexarentur: subjunctive in indirect question
Veritate cognita: ablative absolute
morti: dative < mors, mortis
eripuit: < ex + rapio = eripio, eripere, eripui, ereptus/a/um
Medea (Euripidis, paulo elaborata a Hygino, ab Ambrosio mutata)
Aeëtae: genitive of Aeëta, -ae = Aeëtes, Aeëtis; Aeëtes is the father of Medea.
Mermerum et Pheretem: the names of the two boys are not found in Euripides' play.
summa concordia: ablative of manner, requiring no cum when the noun is modified by an adjective.
obieciebatur Iasoni: "It was cast in Jason's face," i. e., "Jason was criticized for" + infinitive (habere).
hominem tam fortem ac formosum ac nobilem: describing Jason.
veneficam: 'poisoner/witch'
Huic: i.e., to Jason
erga: preposition 'with respect to'
merentem: modifying se, reflexive pronoun referring to Medea, the subject
contumelia: ablative of means
muneri: dative, "as a gift"
novercae: dative, in a double dative construction with muneri: "to the step-mother as a gift"
Glauce: nominative
eam: referring to Glauce
amplectans: modifying pater
combusti: < comburo, comburere, combussi, combustum
filiolos: diminutive of filios.
avi: gentive of avus.
Athenas: accusative of place to which with the name of a city, hence without preposition.
rege Aegeo exspectante: ablative absolute
Note: Medea has already been spoken for by Essex Junction High School.
Greek Tragedy in the Roman Perspective
Seneca (4 B.C.-1 A.D. -65 A.D.)
Aeschylus (c. 525 - c. 456 B.C.)
Sophocles (500-494 - 406/6 B.C.)
Euripides (485 or 484 or 480 - 406 B.C.)
Suggestions for the skits:
Suggestions for the Individual Displays:
1) Do a mock-up of a Greek theater. Note the Greek terms for the parts of the theater.
2) Do a mock-up of a Roman theater.
3) Design a stage setting for a Greek tragedy.
4) Make a Greek tragic mask.
5) Make a map of the ancient world, marking the places with especially fine theaters.
PROBATIO PARTICULARS:
!!! Special Instructions for the Mini-Probatio (10:00-10:15)!!!
!!! Instructions for the Probatio and Certamen:
SAMPLE QUESTIONS:
Grammar:
1. Give the principal parts of tango, cedo, sum, parco, curro, mitto, vinco.
2. Give the dative sing. and pl. of rex, vinum, fortitudo, dies, manus.
3. Give the accusative sing. of tempus, amicus, domus, gladius, corpus.
4. Give the pres. act. subj. of video, vito, fugio, audio, habito.
5. Give the 2nd person pl. imperfect indic. of hortor, labor, mentior, utor.
6. Give the case governed by each: ad, sine, inter, infra, sub, super.
7. What mood is required for an indirect question?
8. What is the fourth principal part of a verb called?
9. Give the dative singular of all genders of hic, haec, hoc.
10. Give the present subjunctive singular of volo in all three persons.
Vocabulary:
1. Give an English derivative from the following Latin words: bos, bovis; atrox; nullus/a/um; stultus/a/um; suavis/e; mittere; sequi; capere.
2. What is the Latin for: to stand; to lead; to seek; to ask; to make?
3. What is the English of: os, oris; os, ossis; sanguis, sanguinis?
4. Give an English derivative for each of the three nouns in question 3.
5. What semantic category do the following words belong to: cibus, prandium, cena, manduco, edo, and bibo.
6. Give five verbs of intransitive motion.
Greek and Roman History, Literature, Geography, Art:
1. What is the date of the foundation of Rome?
2. When was Cicero's consulship?
3. When did Augustus die?
4. When was Gaius Julius Caesar born?
5. How many books are there in the Aeneid ?
6. What was the name of the horse Caligula made a senator?
7. Who was Elissa?
8. When was the battle of Actium?
9. Who said "alea iacta est"? In what century?
10. What was the name of Alexander's Bactrian princess?
11. How many poets competed at the same time in the performances of Athenian tragedy?
12. Who was the son of Clytemestra?
13. Name a daughter of Agamemnon?
14. Who was the wife of King Priam of Troy?
15. Give any name of the Greek god of wine.
16. Under what emperor did Seneca the Younger live?
17. Which Greek dramatist produced a satyr play entitled Cyclops?
18. In what year did Aeschylus produce the Oresteia trilogy?
Mythology:
1. What is the Latin name for Zeus, Artemis, Hermes, Athena, Hera?
2. What god chased Daphne?
3. What god invented the lyre?
4. Who was the father of Agamemnon and Menelaus?
5. Who was the mother of Helen and Clytemnestra?
6. What are two names of Aeneas' son?
7. Who was Dido's husband?
8. Who killed Turnus?
9. Who was the father of Romulus and Remus?
10. Who is the messenger of the gods?
SCORING INFORMATION
Separate Ribbons will be awarded for Skits and the Probatio on a scale of 1-40 points: 30-40 points = blue ribbon; 20-29 points = red ribbon; 1-19 points = yellow ribbon. Ribbons will also be awarded for Displays (see below under Displays).
The Skits will be judged on conception, costume, clarity of representation, and text (optional, but if text is used, present a copy to the judges in advance). SKITS ARE TO BE NO LONGER THAN 4 MINUTES plus 30 seconds for getting on stage and 30 seconds for getting off. Instruction in use of the microphones will be given at 9:00 a.m. at the Registration Desk. Points will be deducted for exceeding the time limits.
!!! SPECIAL NOTE !!! In preparing skits on Mores Gentium Mundi, be sure to choose a theme or episode in which you can relate your tribe to the Romans. In other words, your skit should somehow portray an encounter with Rome, friendly or hostile, either in its particular details or in the abstract.
Displays: 10 points awarded for the winning of a blue ribbon for a display‹maximum of 20 points credited toward silver bowl. Ribbons individually awarded at the discretion of the judges. NOTE: Judges will be impressed by creativity, cohesion, neatness of presentation, and relevance to Greek and Roman antiquity and to the ancient languages.
Probatio: All questions are worth 2 points each. There will be 5 questions on culture (history, myth, art, etc.); 10 questions on grammar and syntax; 5 questions on interpretation, translation or composition
Awarding of the Silver Bowl: Two silver bowls will be presented: one to a large school (total enrollments above 600) and one to a small school.
Bowls will be won by the schools with the greatest number of total points scored for: 1) Skit (40 points maximum); 2) Juniores Probatio (40 points maximum); 3) Displays (20 points maximum); plus additional points or demerits for the Mini-Probatio, as described on p. 6.
In order to alleviate the inequity produced by some schools having both Juniores and Seniores Probatio teams only the Juniores score will be counted toward the silver bowl. The Seniores teams will compete for a special plaque to be known as the Senior Probatio Question Reward (SPQR ),The winning school's name will be engraved on the Plaque and it will be housed at the winning school until the next Latin Day. (If there is a tie, both school names will be engraved and the plaque will reside at each school for six months.)
Special Awards (not credited toward Silver Bowl or Seniores Probatio Plaque):
…
Largest Delegation; Highest per capita enrollment (compute by dividing your Latin enrollment by your High School's total enrollment‹grades 9-12); School Traveling the Farthest; CANE Writing Contest: State Winners; Vermont Latin Sight Translation Test Winners; Largest increase in Latin enrollment; First attendance at Latin Day; D.O.T. Award (= Delegatio Optime Togata, or Best Costumes!)
SPQR Number 2: SUNT PORCI QUIDAM ROMANI (Certain Romans are pigs!) Please help clean up the area where your school is seated (garbage bags will be provided). At the end of the day a panel of esteemed judges may designate an award called SPQR Number 2!
April 2, 2004
Please copy and return this form by March 19, 2004 to: Ms. Jeanne P. Valley,
Classics Department, UVM, 481 Main Street, Burlington, VT 05405-0218; e-mail: Jeanne.Valley@uvm.edu
PLEASE WRITE LEGIBLY!
Name of School
Principal's name
Teacher's Name(s)
Number of Students attending Number of miles traveled one way
Number of buses Number of buses remaining all day
Number of students enrolled in grades 9-12 Number of Latin students
Give the Title of your Skit and the Tragedy on which it is based. If there is an extended text in Latin or English, please bring copies for the Judges or send them with this Registration Form.
Title and Tragedy
Number of display(s) Each school will be allowed two 8-foot tables maximum space. Do you need any special equipment (e.g. extension cords, VCR)?
Will you have a Jr. team for the Probatio? Sr.?
Name of Junior team captain
Names of the other 5 Jr. team members (6 members altogether):
Name of Senior team captain
Names of the other 5 Senior team members (6 members altogether):
Name of Mini-Probatio Praeco ____________________
LATIN DAY 2004
List of Displays (Please print clearly)
DISPLAY NAME and STUDENT(S) RESPONSIBLE
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