Keartamen Open (KO), Round 2

1. The performance of a tragedy about an attack by what people caused a thousand-drachma fine for its author, Phrynichus, who inspired a scene where their queen Atossa waits in Susa for news in an Aeschylus play about Xerxes’ fate?

(THE) PERSIANS

B1: Phrynichus also wrote Phoenician Women, whose title was later reused for a tragedy by what Greek author?

EURIPIDES

B2: But Euripides’ Phoenician Women took its plot from what play, Aeschylus’ earliest-extant tragedy besides Persians?

SEVEN AGAINST THEBES

2. What letter starts these English words: a bird from the Greek for “water-pitcher,” κάδος; a discipline whose Greek root means “metal mixing”; a big animal with a name from lacertus; a fruit that is “cooked early,” or praecoquus?

A

B1: “Albatross,” “alchemy,” and “apricot” have this first letter since they come to English via Arabic, whose definite article is “al-”. Another English word formed from this process is “elixir,” whose root ξηρός has what meaning?

DRY / DRIED-UP / WITHERED / PARCHED [ACCEPT EQUIVALENTS]

B2: “Alligator” comes from mistaking Spanish’s article el as part of the word in el lagarto. This is unique, but many Spanish words come from Latin via the Arabic process. For example, what Latin noun is the root of alcázar, or “palace”?

CASTRUM (MEANING “CASTLE” or “FORT”) // CASTRA (MEANING “CAMP”)

3. Who was wounded by Chalcodon on the island of Cos, then saved by Zeus to serve as a “mortal aid” on Chalcidice’s headland of Phlegra, where neither Pallene’s native son Alcyoneüs nor other Giants survived his venomous arrows?

HERACLES

B1: Alcyoneüs’ death closely resembles Heracles’ victory over what other giant opponent, a son of Poseidon and Gaea?

ANTAEÜS

B2: In Liguria, Heracles used stones sent by Zeus to kill Ialebion and what brother of his, two sons of Poseidon who were sometimes called giants?

DERCYNUS

4. In Greek, what linguistic process transfers to a verb of saying with an “adherescent” particle, occurs by adding an “alpha privative” to δύνατος, is needed to convey an idea via its opposite in “litotes,” and is done by μή and οὐ?

NEGATION / NEGATIVE

B1: The alpha-privative shares its origin with the prefix νη-, as in the drug νηπενθές, which has what literal meaning?

NO(T) {PAIN / GRIEF / HURT}

B2: What three-letter Greek prefix expresses negation in the word for “misfortune,” using its sense of “bad” or “ill”?

Δυσ-

5. Each division of what people was governed by a touto under a meddix tuticus and met in councils in Bovianum, though these were run by powerful families like those of Gellius Egnatius and Gavius Pontius, one of their Caudini tribe?

SAMNITE(S) [PROMPT ON “OSCAN(S)”]

B1: What Latin word for “district” denoted the division below the touto and above the vīcus in Samnite society?

PĀGUS / PĀGĪ

B2: Which Samnite tribe supposedly took its name from the Oscan for “wolf,” as its settlers followed one to new lands?

HIRPINI

6. Who is invoked as “of the spangled mind” or “iridescent-throned” before being called “deathless child of Zeus” in a namesake “ode” that begins modern editions of Sappho’s poetry, which asks her to “be a [divine] ally” in love?

APHRODITE

B1: The compound “ποικιλόθρον” or “ποικιλόφρον” has posed similar translation problems to the Odyssey’s “πολύτροπον.” Give an English translation of “πολύτροπον” and identify the author’s translation from which it comes.

(EMILY) WILSON = “COMPLICATED”; (ALLEN) MANDELBAUM = “OF MANY WILES”; (ROBERT) FAGLES = “OF TWISTS AND TURNS”; (ROBERT) FITZGERALD = “SKILLED IN ALL WAYS OF CONTENDING”; (STANLEY) LOMBARDO = “CUNNING”; (RICHARD) LATTIMORE = “OF MANY WAYS”; (ALEXANDER) POPE = “VARIOUS ARTS”; (GEORGE) CHAPMAN = “MANY A WAY” // “WOUND WITH HIS WISDOM”

B2: Anne Carson used “of the spangled mind” in If Not, Winter, her translation of Sappho’s fragments. She has also used two different translations of the compound γλυκύπικρον, which Sappho 130 uses to describe Eros. Give either.

BITTERSWEET // SWEETBITTER

7. Translate Lucretius’ line “hostibus intulerant ignem formīdinis ergō” into English, keeping in mind that ergō can be used postpositively with a similar meaning to fossilized ablatives that take the genitive, such as causā?

THEY HAD {BROUGHT FIRE TO // THROWN FIRE ON // SET FIRE TO} (THEIR) ENEMIES {OUT OF // DUE TO // BECAUSE OF // ON ACCOUNT OF // OWING TO // FOR THE SAKE OF} FEAR [ACCEPT EQUIVALENTS]

B1: What Latin noun for “image” essentially takes the genitive with a similar meaning to the English preposition “like”?

INSTAR

B2: The word tenus can be used postpositively with the genitive, as most often with plural Latin words for what things?

BODY PARTS [ACCEPT EQUIVALENTS]

8. Per Ovid, transformation into what occurred when a sistrum was shaken at Phaestus in Isis’ temple, when Poseidon atoned for raping the Lapith woman Caenis, and when Tiresias hit mating snakes a second time, regaining normal form?

(A) MAN / MALE / BOY

B1: The story of Iphis’s transformation likely explained a coming-of-age rite at Phaestus, since Antoninus says the same miracle followed Galatea’s prayer for what son—who shares his name with the cross-dresser who sought Daphne’s love?

LEUCIPPUS

B2: Another Cretan, Siproites, was turned into a woman after seeing the naked body of what Greek goddess, whose Cretan cult absorbed that of two local deities tied to fishing and hunting nets?

ARTEMIS

9. What kind of object is indicated by Greek’s ψῆφος, Latin’s scrūpulus, and Latin’s calculus—which took on meanings based on how one was used to vote, one was used to count, and one was a nuisance in a shoe—plus Latin’s lapillus?

PEBBLE // {SMALL / LITTLE} (SHARP) {STONE / ROCK}
[PROMPT ON “(ROUGH) STONE” or “(ROUGH) ROCK”]

B1: A scrūpulum was also the smallest weight division, as it was a twenty-fourth of what unit that we call “ounce”?

UNCIA

B2: The smallest normal Roman capacity measure was what ladle-sized unit, twelve of which comprised a sextārius?

CYATHUS

10. Epigraphic evidence of what process at Gortyn contradicts the idea that it was the singlehanded work of men like Charondas and Zaleucus, whose systems resembled the early Athenian one “written not in ink but in blood” by Draco?

(LAW) CODIFICATION // WRITING (DOWN) LAW(S) // LAWGIVING // {MAKING / DEVELOPING / FORMULATING / ESTABLISHING / ENACTING / FORMALIZING / ADOPTING} LAW(S) // LEGISLATION [ACCEPT EQUIVALENTS; PROMPT ON “LAW(S)” BY ASKING “WHAT WAS HAPPENING TO THE LAW(S)?”]

B1: Zaleucus’ city of Epizephyrian Locris was in what broad Italian region, so named for its Greek-speakers?

MAGNA GRAECIA // MEGALE HELLAS

B2: What fifth-century B.C. colony, founded on Sybaris’ ruins after its destruction by Croton, adopted Zaleucus’ laws?

THURII / THURIUM

11. Early worship of what kind of animal at Thelpusa is linked to the tale that the Arcadian “Mistress” was born as one in the land of Oncius, as she was the offspring of the transformed Poseidon and Demeter, like her brother Arion?

HORSE(S) / MARE(S) / FOAL(S) / STALLION(S) / FILLY / FILLIES

B1: Pausanias says Demeter’s horse-headed image, wreathed with serpents, stood in a cave on Mt. Elaeüs, where she hid mourning Persephone until she was found by what native Arcadian god?

PAN

B2: The exact birth form of the “Mistress,” or Despoina, was disputed with Thelpusa by what city, which controlled the cave on Mt. Elaeüs and a shrine to Eurynome in mermaid form?

PHIGALIA

12. Lectures on what topic by the so-called “Thracian” Dionysius schooled Aelius Stilo in rules of Aristarchus of Samothrace, creating a discipline that joined logic and rhetoric in the trivium due to its role in reading classical texts?

GRAMMAR / PHILOLOGY / LANGUAGE

B1: Even non-grammarians at Rome styled themselves as such, like what author of a two-book work on analogist principles?

(GAIUS IULIUS) CAESAR // (JULIUS) CAESAR

B2: What anomalist grammarian was credited with introducing grammatical study to Rome during an unexpected stay in the city in 168 B.C. after breaking his leg in an open sewer?

CRATES (OF MALLUS / PERGAMUM)

13. What emperor’s marriage to the pagan rhetorician’s daughter Athenaïs angered his virgin sister, who won when his death in a riding fall let her husband Marcian succeed him, ending a 42-year reign rivaling that of his “great” namesake?

THEODOSIUS II [PROMPT ON “THEODOSIUS”]

B1: Pulcheria’s role in church politics is shown by what pope’s support for her position at Second Ephesus in 449 A.D.?

(POPE) LEO I

B2: Pulcheria clashed before the Second Ephesus with what monk, who rose to prominence by countering Nestorius’ teaching with monophysitism and by securing the backing of his godson, the influential eunuch Chrysaphius?

EUTYCHES

14. What Greek noun was contrasted by philosophers with δόξα and translated as “unconcealedness,” is found twice in the quote “γνώσεσθε τὴν [blank], καὶ ἡ [blank] ἐλευθερώσει ὑμᾶς” and once in “ἐν οἴνῳ [blank], and is defined as “truth”?

(ἡ) ἀλήθεια // (τὴν) ἀλήθειαν

B1: The word ἀλήθεια is related etymologically to what Greek verb, which means “escape a person’s notice”?

λανθάνω / λανθάνειν

B2: What neuter Greek noun refers to the “true sense” or “original meaning” of a word?

(τὸ) ἔτυμον

15. What family had a member who gave a eulogy quoting Aeschylus’ line “pain which cannot forget falls drop by drop” and one who echoed “cīvis Rōmānus sum” in German and ended a chiastic line “ask what you can do for your country”?

KENNEDY(S)

B1: In one speech, RFK encouraged the UN to achieve a lasting peace by enacting a nuclear test ban treaty, quoting what Greek’s assertion “give me a place where I can stand—and I shall move the world.”

ARCHIMEDES

B2: In one speech, JFK argued direction was needed, saying: “for, as Socrates told us, ‘if a man does not know to what port he is sailing, no wind is favorable.’” However, this adage comes not from Socrates, but from a letter by what author?

(LUCIUS ANNAEUS) SENECA THE YOUNGER [PROMPT ON “SENECA”]

16. What system was adapted for Roman use by the childbirth goddess Carmenta after it was partly invented by Palamedes, partly derived from Hermes’ observations of crane flight formations, and partly introduced by Cadmus from Phoenicia?

(ANCIENT GREEK) {ALPHABET / LETTERS / WRITING}

B1: What son of Carmenta was an Arcadian immigrant whose name means “good man” in Greek and who introduced writing to his people after being taught by Hercules, according to some stories?

EVANDER

B2: In the Aeneid, Aeneas was well aware of how to write in Latin before meeting Evander. For example, he leaves the inscription “Aenēās haec dē Danaīs victōribus arma” at what site in Book 3 of the Aeneid?

ACTIUM

17. What topic, which a man asked Lucius Lucceius to honor in a monograph, was the subject of a bad rhyming line starting “Ō fortūnātam nātam” in Dē Cōnsulātū Suō, a poem drawing on letters to Allobroges and four contemporary speeches?

CICERO’S CONSULSHIP // CONSULSHIP OF 63 B.C. // (CICERO’S DEFEAT OF)
{THE CATILINARIAN // CATILINE’S} CONSPIRACY [ACCEPT EQUIVALENTS]

B1: The only other standalone line to survive from the Dē Cōnsulātū Suō is “[blank], concēdat laurea laudī,” since it was quoted in several of Cicero’s other works. Fill in that blank with the missing three-word Latin phrase.

CĒDANT ARMA TOGAE

B2: Cicero was fond of self-quotation. For example, he quoted 13 lines from what historical epic, probably written in his youth and named for an earlier Roman statesman, in Dē Dīvīnātiōne?

MARIUS

18. What king’s land grab at the Peace of Naupactus and control of Demetrias and two other “fetters” led to a war with Rome that ended at the Peace of Phoenice, which secured his rule until the legion beat his phalanx at Cynoscephalae?

PHILIP V (OF MACEDON) [PROMPT ON “PHILIP (OF MACEDON)”]

B1: Philip’s activities spanned Rome and Greece, with shifting loyalties. He allied with what ruler against Rome, but abandoned him before a war in which that ruler employed Polyxenidas and Hannibal as admirals?

ANTIOCHUS {III // THE GREAT} [PROMPT ON “ANTIOCHUS”]

B2: The Peace of Naupactus followed what war, which shares a name with one where Chares tried to retake Chios?

SOCIAL WAR // WAR OF THE ALLIES

19. What sort of people, who are praised in a beātus ille epode and the line “Ō fortūnātōs nimium sua sī bona norint,” overcome “dūrīs urgēns in rēbus egestās” by being “improbus” and realizing “labor omnia vincit,” per the Georgics?

FARMER(S) // COUNTRY(MEN) // PLOW(MEN) // RUSTIC(S)

B1: What is the literal meaning of the Latin phrase “ēnse et arātrō,” which praises those who serve in war and in peace?

WITH SWORD AND (WITH) PLOW [ACCEPT EQUIVALENTS]

B2: Cato’s fragments use a similar four-word Latin formula to define a farmer as he did to define an orator. Give either.

VIR BONUS COLENDĪ PERĪTUS // VIR BONUS DĪCENDĪ PERĪTUS

20. What Latin word can refer to a eunuch who tended Mt. Pessinus’ black stone, the cognōmen of a legate of Syria who aided Gessius Florus or a poet who built statues of himself in Egypt, a dying man in a Pergamene statue, or a rooster?

GALLUS

B1: Quintilian notes this ambiguity, though he likely didn’t foresee gallus fitting every Certamen category. He also notes that verbs may have multiple meanings in different contexts, such as what verb for “perceive” or “distinguish”?

CERNŌ

B2: He also says Latin’s lack of spaces creates ambiguity. For example, armāmentum might mean “equipment,” or be read as arma and mentum. What is mentum’s anatomical meaning?

CHIN