Fun Trivia : The Classics

Structure Sub-topic of: Literature Before 1900 Quizzes Other encyclopedia entries of interest: Aesop | Ancient Greek Drama | Homer | Virgil | Interesting Questions, Facts and Information There are a total of 10 general entries. Special Topics Latin Literature Judith Latin Literature Trivia Classic Epics Through Time Herodotus's Histories, Ch.1 1-5 The Epic Of Gilgamesh Ancient Literature Really Bad Classical Poetry The Song of Roland Old English Literature Latin is for Lovers Greek is for Geeks The Republic The Histories Chretien de Troyes' "Lancelot"

Interesting Questions, Facts, and Information

The Classics

Who wrote “De Constantia Sapientis”?

A Miscellany of Latin & Ancient Greek Literature


Seneca. Seneca (born 4 BC, died AD 65) was a Roman Stoic philosopher as well as tutor to the emperor Nero. “On the Constancy of the Wise Man” is just a study on a stoic wise man and his values.



What can Virgil’s "Georgicon" be called?

A Miscellany of Latin & Ancient Greek Literature


a didactic poem. "The Georgics" (or "Georgicon" in Greek, meaning literally 'of the farmers') is a didactic poem on farming (i.e. crops, trees and shrubs, livestock, bees). Publius Virgilius Maro(70 BC-19 BC) was one of the greatest Roman poets, mostly known for his epic poem, "The Aeneid".



What is Asianism?

A Miscellany of Latin & Ancient Greek Literature


a grandiloquent style. Asianism was an inflated, pompous style of speech, while Atticism was an elegant and concise way of writing. Both these styles of oratory fluorished in the 2nd century BC.



Is the 'stasimon' a song of the chorus in the Greek tragedy?

A Miscellany of Latin & Ancient Greek Literature


Yes. The 'stasimon', meaning literally 'stationary', was in fact a song that the chorus sang after each episode, once it had taken its position in the orchestra, while the parodos, meaning literally 'road on', was the entrance of the chorus.



There is a Roman writer whose style was described as "lactea ubertas". Who is this author?

A Miscellany of Latin & Ancient Greek Literature


Livy. It was Quintilian (Roman rhetorician, born 35 AD-died 95 AD) that in his "Institutio Oratoria"("Education of an Orator"), book 10,chapter 1,paragraph 32, described as "Lactea ubertas" (literally 'milky fullness') the prose of Livy, a Roman historian who died in AD 17.



Were Apollodorus of Pergamum, as well as Theodorus of Gadara, Greek rhetoricians?

A Miscellany of Latin & Ancient Greek Literature


Yes. In 45 BC Apollodorus of Pergamum was one of the teachers of the future Roman emperor Octavianus Augustus, while Theodorus of Gadara, who founded a famous rhetorical school, was the teacher of the future emperor Tiberius.



What's the 'synkrisis'?

A Miscellany of Latin & Ancient Greek Literature


a comparison. The 'synkrisis' is the final comparison between two biographies, as we see in Plutarch's "Parallel Lives", such as that comparing Caesar and Alexander. Plutarch(AD 46- after 119 AD)in fact compares one Greek personality with one comparable Roman. An antithesis is a rhetorical contrast of ideas, while the onomatopoeia is the use of words whose sound suggests an associated sense.



What are "The Pinakes"?

A Miscellany of Latin & Ancient Greek Literature


An encyclopedic work. Callimachus,a Greek poet and grammarian who fluorished 3rd century BC, wrote "The Pinakes" (literally "Tables"), a catalog in 120 volumes of the works contained in the Alexandrian library. Callimachus in fact was the most representative scholar of the staff of this famous library.



Which of Xenophon's works is about the trial and death of Socrates?

A Miscellany of Latin & Ancient Greek Literature


The Apology of Socrates. The Greek historian Xenophon(430 BC–c.355 BC) was one of the young disciples of Socrates and wrote "The Apology of Socrates" ("Socrates'Defense")to explain the reasons that induced Socrates to prefer death to life. He wrote also: "The Cyropaedia"('Education of Cyrus ') which deals with the education of Cyrus the Great; "The Anabasis"("The March Up") which is an account of a military expedition ;"The Hellenica" which deals with history of Greece from 411 to 362 B.C.