Latin Literature

Question 0

Fabulae palliantae

Answer 0

Latin comedies derived from Greek originals.

Question 1

Livius Andronicus

Answer 1

Considered the founder of Latin literature. Born 284 BC. Greek from Tarentum and brought to Rome as a slave. Translated the Odyssey and wrote Fabulae palliatae.

Question 2

Gnaeus Naevius

Answer 2

First native Roman writer if note. Born in 270 BC. Best known for Bellum Punicum (epic poem about 1st Punic war). Wrote Fabulae palliatae and invented Fabulae praetextae.

Question 3

Fabulae praetextae

Answer 3

Dramas based on Roman subjects named for the garment.

Question 4

Quietus Ennius

Answer 4

Writer of plays and poems. Born in Rudiae in Calabria in 239 BC. Knew 3 languages (Latin, Oscan, and Greek). Said he had 3 hearts. Most important work is Annales (18 book long epic poem). First writer to adapt Greek hexameter verse into Latin.

Question 5

Titus Maccus Plautus

Answer 5

A comic playwright born in 255 BC. Wrote about 130 plays and only 20 fully survived. And a large fragment of one survives. Derived his plays from those of Greek.

Question 6

Amphitryon

Answer 6

(Plautus) concerns Jupiter’s love for Alcmena, wife of Amphitryon

Question 7

Aulularia

Answer 7

(Plautus) “The Pot of Gold”

Question 8

Captivi

Answer 8

(Plautus) “The Captives” concerning a man Hegio searching for his list sons, it has no female characters.

Question 9

Epidicus

Answer 9

Plautus’ favorite play.

Question 10

Menaechmi

Answer 10

(Plautus) “The Twin Menaechmi” one of Plautus’ most successful comedies. 2 speared brothers find each other and reunite in Syracuse.

Question 11

Miles Gloriosus

Answer 11

“The Braggart Soldier”

Question 12

Mostellaria

Answer 12

“The Haunted House”

Question 13

Poenulus

Answer 13

(“The Carthaginian”) Contains the only extant passages of Carthaginian language. Hanno stops his daughters from bring sold into prostitution.

Question 14

Psuedolus

Answer 14

The title character helps his master obtain money to free a courtesan named Phoenicium from Simo the procurer

Question 15

Cato the Elder

Answer 15

Born inTesculum in 234 BC. Romes first prose writer. First to write roman history in Latin.

Question 16

Origines

Answer 16

A lost work in 7 books dealing with beginnings of Italian civilization

Question 17

Agri Cultura

Answer 17

Hand book on agriculture. First surviving Latin prose work.

Question 18

Origines

Answer 18

First history written in Latin. Only name mentioned was the only elephant of Hannibal that survived the trek over the alps.

Question 19

Terence

Answer 19

Comic playwright (Carthage 195 BC). Taken to Rome as a slave by