2000 Ad Fontes Certamen
Level I - Round One


1. Welcome to the first round of the 2000 Ad Fontes Certamen. We'll start with an easy question. What is the English meaning of Ad Fontes? To the sources/springs/fountains.

Bonus:Decline fons, fontis completely, singular and plural. Fons, fontis, fonti, fontem, fonte, fontes, fontium, fontibus, fontes, fontibus.

2. Rome is said to be a city of seven hills. Name four of them. Palatine, Aventine, Capitoline, Caelian, Viminal, Quirinal, Esquiline.

Bonus:Name the other three.

3. On what hill was Rome originally founded? Palatine.

Bonus:Where did Remus want to found the city? Aventine.

4. First year students must often learn the special declension of the two nouns mare and animal. Give the ablative singular forms of these two words. Mari / animali.

Bonus:What is the grammatical designation of these two words? Third declension, neuter, i-stems.

5. Who was the emperor when Christ was born and what were the dates of his rule? (Caesar) Augustus, 27 B.C. - A.D. 14.

Bonus:Of what dynasty was Augustus the founder? Julio-Claudian.

6. Augustus' stepson Tiberius was the emperor when Christ was crucified. He probably didn't even know about the event, however, as it occurred in what out of-the-way Roman province? Judea.

Bonus: Who was the Roman procurator of Judea at this time? Pontius Pilate.

7. Translate the following sentence into English: Patres ad filias aquam portaverant. The fathers had carried water to their daughters.

Bonus: Translate the following sentence into Latin: The mothers had given water to their daughters. Matres filiabus aquam dederant.

8. Who am I? I was the king of Sparta, and after winning the hand of the most beautiful woman in the world, I had to suffer the indignity of having her taken away by the Trojan prince Paris. My brother Agamemnon and I had to fight for ten years to get her back. Menelaus.

Bonus: Who was the father of Agamemnon and Menelaus? Atreus.

9. Who am I? I thought of the idea of how to get inside the walls of Troy, though I didn't actually build the horse. I had ten long years of trying to get home to Ithaca before I was finally united with my wife Penelope. Odysseus.

Bonus: What goddess gave Odysseus the idea of the Trojan horse? Athena

10. What mood of the verb is used in the following sentence: The girls are lovely. Indicative

Bonus: What case would lovely be in and why? Nominative because it's a predicate nominative/predicate adjective, or because it must be the same case as girls after a linking verb.

11. Looking at a new Pennsylvania quarter, I do indeed find the motto E pluribus unum on there. What abbreviation was stamped on Roman coins and what Latin words does it stand for? SPQR, Senatus Populusque Romanus

Bonus: Say in Latin: Caesar gave money to the Senate and people of Rome. Caesar Senatui Populoque Romano pecuniam dedit.

12. What road was known as the Regina Viarum? Via Appia/The Appian Way

Bonus: To what city did the Via Appia originally run? Capua.

13. Who was the famous slave who led a rebellion in 73 B.C.? Spartacus

Bonus: From what city did Spartacus and his first followers escape? Capua.

14. Who was the general who put down the slave revolt led by Spartacus before Pompey arrived from Spain? Crassus

Bonus: What other general mopped up remnants of Spartactus' forces and tried to claim credit for the victory? Pompey.

15. Give the Roman numeral for our year‹not the Roman year‹in which Julius Caesar was assassinated. XLIV.

Bonus: Give the Roman numeral for the year in which Julius Caesar became Pontifex Maximus, Cicero as consul exposed the Catalinarian conspiracy, and Augustus was born. LXIII.

16. We all know that the Latin word insula means island. Nevertheless it has another meaning that would have been more prevalent in land-locked cities. What is that meaning? Apartment-building.

Bonus: What is an English derivative from insula that originally suggested the idea of to convert into an island? Insulate.

17. What Greek hero killed Hector? Achilles

Bonus: Who killed Achilles and how? Paris shot him in the heel with an arrow.

18. Why was Achilles only vulnerable in his heel? Because his mother had dipped him in the River Styx to make him immortal, but the water didn't cover the heel where she held on to him.

Bonus: Who was Achilles mother? Thetis

19. Welcome to the Cinema Romanum. What classic movie would you be watching if you saw Mea Domina Pulchra? My Fair Lady.

Bonus: What story of an artist who falls in love with his own creation is this tale loosely based upon? Pygmalion and Galatea.

20. Today's movie is a classic double-feature. What is the second film, Fenestra a Tergo? Rear Window.

Bonus: The crime in Rear Window was homicide, the killing of a person. It was more specifically, however, uxoricide, the killing of a wife. Had the son instead of the husband been the murderer, what would the crime have been called. Matricide.