What is it?

The Ludi Romani is an event for Latin students to have fun and show what they know about Latin and

Roman culture.  There are quiz bowl competitions, individual written tests, mini-sessions and ludi

Olympici.

What is an Oral Certamen?  See sample questions or view video clips!

Oral certamen is a chance for you and your friends to team up and show what you know about grammar, mythology,  culture and history.  Your team will compete against other teams from the same level.  If a team is made up of students of differing levels, the team will have to compete at the upper level in order to be fair to the other teams. A moderator will ask a question and give your teams a reasonable time to discuss and write down your answer(s).  After the allotted time, all teams with the correct answer will earn a point.  After the preliminary round of competition, teams with the most points will advance to the FINAL round in the afternoon.  Team members will win medals for placing first, second and third.

What is a Written Certamen? See sample questions or view video clips!

Written certamen are tests for which you sign up as an individual.  This sounds daunting but remember

you are only competing against students who have had the same amount of Latin as you.  There are 6

tests to choose from  and you will take two.  There are grammar and comprehension, mythology, word

derivation, Roman life and customs,  Roman history and Roman geography.  The tests are multiple

choice and have 40-50 questions.

What is a Mini-session?  View video clips!

Mini-sessions are opportunities to explore more about Roman culture.  During this hour, you can choose to to paint a vase with a mythological theme, learn some Ancient Greek, play Roman board games, learn Roman script and make a scroll, converse in Latin (don’t worry, we’ll help), make a mosaic, make a model of the Colosseum or a Roman soldier, cook some Roman food (and eat it), make Cameos, study Roman coins, make a bulla/lorica, or make a Roman theater mask.  (The cost for this is included in your registration.)

What are the Ludi Olympici?  View details about each event or view video clips!

The Ludi Olympici are a chance to burn off a little energy after written tests and to be a little silly. 

Mostly they are relay races for 2-4 students while doing various silly things.  You don’t have to

participate but the more people who do, the more fun.  There are prizes for this event too.

When is the Ludi Romani and where?

The event will be held at Minnehaha Academy’s South Campus on Saturday, January 19th.  You can get directions to the school from Minnehaha’s website.

Check-in will begin at 9:00; the event will be over by 4:00. View a complete schedule of the day.

Spectators are also welcome.

Which level am I?  

Your teacher can help you with this.  If you are just starting Latin this year, you are in intro/Level I;  if you had some Latin last year but have not yet completed an entire year of high school Latin, you are in intro/Level I;  if you have completed one year of high school year Latin - perhaps as Latin IA and Latin IB- you are in level II; and if you have completed two years of high school Latin, you are in level III+.

How much does it cost?

$10.00.  This includes your pizza for lunch, one can of soda, healthy vegetables, and even a cookie! The rest of the money goes to the cost of the medals you can win for the oral and written certamina, the prizes for the ludi Olympici, the photocopying costs and materials for the mini-sessions.

Remember, this is an opportunity for fun and good-natured competition between you and your friends

and between your school and others.  And you may even learn something along the way.

Registration

Download a registration worksheet here. This is for the students to fill out and is due by December 16th.

Teachers then fill out the online registration by December 20th. PLEASE, no registrations can be accepted after this date.

Teachers must register too, No student registrations will be processed until the teacher for each school is registered. Student to teacher ratio is 1:25.  If you are bringing more than 25 kids, please bring more than one Latin teacher.

All of us have something in common: We love Latin!