2 of 2 - Lego Pompeii and the Nicholson Museum /  by Anthony Gibbins

In February, Legonium episode 7, Claudia will be visiting Pompeii. This has been made possible by the incredible Lego Pompeii that forms part of the collection of the Nicholson Museum. Sydney University’s Nicholson Museum has a proud (if recent) tradition of displaying historical Lego models. In 2012 they displayed a wonderful Lego Colosseum, and in 2014 the Athenian Acropolis. Both were built by LEGO Professional Builder Ryan McNaught. Both brought in a huge number of visitors who otherwise may not have visited the museum. The latest model is their most ambitious by far; Pompeii. In Legonium episode 7 Claudia will visit Lego Pompeii. Here is a little about the model from the Nicholson Museum’s website.

LEGO Pompeii, one of the largest LEGO historical models ever built, is on display in the Nicholson Museum, constructed by LEGO Professional Builder Ryan McNaught aka The Brickman. The model includes Pompeii as it was at the moment of destruction in 79AD, as it was when rediscovered in the 1700s, and as it is today.

As with our LEGO Colosseum and our LEGO Acropolis the model incorporates fact and fiction, history and pop culture. Be on the look out for...

                  Admiral of the Fleet Pliny the Elder

                  Pink Floyd in concert at the Amphiteatre

                  Mozart feeling inspired in the Temple of Isis

                  Archaeologist Steven Ellis

                  Doctor Who and his TARDIS

                  Vulcanologist and antiquarian Sir William Hamilton

                    'Indiana Bones' Estelle Lazer

Soon, breakfast completed, the two amicae rose and embraced. I will send a letter to you,’ Claudia said.

1 of 2 - Lego Pompeii and the Nicholson Museum /  by Anthony Gibbins

Claudia is off to Pompeii. Lego Pompeii. About a thirty-minute walk from my home – I’ve done the walk more than a few times – is Sydney University. And in the Main Quad of Sydney University is the Nicholson Museum. And in the Nicholson Museum is a Lego model of Pompeii.

Here are some details on the Nicholson Museum from their website.

The Nicholson Museum is Australia's oldest University museum and home to the largest collection of antiquities in the Southern Hemisphere. Our gallery is located in the historic Main Quadrangle at the University of Sydney and open to the general public. Admission is free.

The museum was founded in 1860 following the donation by Sir Charles Nicholson (Sydney University’s second chancellor 1854-1862), of his private collection of antiquities and curiosities. Since that time the museum has been overseen by eight different curators, all with different expertise and vision for the development of its collections. As a result the museum has grown in size and scope, today comprising nearly 30,000 artefacts of artistic and archaeological significance from Egypt, Greece, Italy, Cyprus and the Near East. From the intriguing to the macabre, the Nicholson Museum provides insight into the minds of the archaeologists, collectors and curators who have contributed to making our museum a unique Australian cultural institution.

‘I have in mind,’ Claudia said to her amica, ‘to make a journey today to the city of Pompeii. I very much want to explore the ancient monuments of the city.’

haven’t I seen this photo before? /  by Anthony Gibbins

Yes! Well spotted! This is the same photo as appeared previously in episode 5, as Marcellus walked from his home to the barber shop.  It is my attempt to represent that the two episodes – 5 and 6 – occur in the same temporal space. You may remember that as Scipio knocked on the barber shop window and asked his father for money, that Claudia walked past wearing a backpack. Soon, all of that will make sense.

For on that day, a few hours before Marcellus found the suitcase, Miranda and Claudia were having a conversation about a journey.

ientaculum in terra mirabili /  by Anthony Gibbins

What a great word is ientaculum. Say it out loud. The i sounds like the y is yes. And the stress should be placed on the ta. yenTAculum. It means breakfast, although the Oxford Latin Dictionary supplies the rather charming a light early-morning refreshment.

Perhaps you are familiar with the following iconic lines from Alice Through the Look Glass;

Alice laughed. ‘There’s no use trying,’ she said: ‘one can’t believe impossible things.’

‘I daresay you haven’t had much practice,’ said the Queen. ‘When I was your age, I always did it for half-an-hour a day. Why, sometimes I’ve believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast.

Here are those same lines from Clive Harcourt Carruthers’ 1966 translation, Aliciae Per Speculum Transitus.

Alicia ridens dixit: ‘id conari non usui est. eis rebus quae fieri non possint nullo modo credi potest.’

‘hoc fortasse te non multum exercuisti,’ regina inquit. ‘cum tot annos haberem quot tu nunc habes, cotidie semihoram me exercebam. aliquando etiam non minus sex rebus impossibilibus ante ientaculum credidi.’

That, without a doubt, I will soon do. First, however, I want to speak briefly about the breakfast of Miranda and Claudia.

quo modo (dicitur) (.com) /  by Anthony Gibbins

quo modo or quomodo is often translated as how, and that is a fair and reasonable translation. Still, it is nice to have a deeper understanding of the word(s). quo is a form of the Interrogative Pronoun and so on its own means what? modus means measure, size, way or method, among other things. Here we will take it as method. Now, you may remember recently reading a post on the Ablative of Manner. quo modo is an example of such a thing. So, taken together, the words mean by what method? Hence, how?

A very common expression in the Latin classroom is quomodo dicitur…? As in quomodo dicitur ‘cat’? Literally, By what method is ‘cat’ said? The answer to which would be ‘cat’ ‘feles’ dicitur.

There is an excellent Podcast called Quomodo Dicitur? that I cannot recommend highly enough. Here is the description lifted straight from their website quomododicitur.com;

Quomodo Dicitur? is a weekly Latin podcast about anything. In each episode Augustus, Iustus, and Iason chat about a particular topic, from life in the desert, to our favorite sports, to the kinds of hijinks we get up to on the weekends. Our goal is to provide meaningful, contextualized Latin input. It might get messy. Sometimes we’ll make mistakes. But we do hope it will be fun.

Hello reader. Recently I promised that I would narrate to you how that suitcase full of money was placed in the dumpster.

the end of episode 5 /  by Anthony Gibbins

Thank you for reading (and hopefully enjoying) another episode of Legonium. This has been an exciting month for me. I have been working very closely with the Nicholson museum at Sydney University, the fruits of which will be evident on February 1st, when episode 7 is released upon the world. Episode 6, meanwhile, is ready to go, and has a different feel – I think – to what has come before. Not to mention a tribute to Banksy! And the plot of episode 8 is currently spinning around in my head. If all goes to plan, it will introduce a new character – Monas Brickvir, investigator privatus. On another note, Legonium reached 1000 followers on Twitter this week, and I’ve had some lovely feedback from teachers using Legonium in their classrooms. I am looking forward to seeing where life will take Claudia, Marcellus, Miranda and the gang in 2017.

Whose is this money? And how was it placed in the dumpster? If you return soon, I will tell you everything.

faciat vs faciet /  by Anthony Gibbins

The Latin Verb facio, facere, feci, factum means to make or do. As you can probably imagine, it is one of the most commonly used Verbs in Latin. The Verb appears twice on this page.

faciat is in the Subjunctive Mood. The Subjunctive Mood has all kinds of uses, one of which is called the Deliberative Subjunctive*. It is used, as its name suggests, to deliberate. For example, quid facio? – in the Indicative Mood – means What am I doing? quid faciam? – in the Subjunctive Mood – means What should I do? quid faciat noster Marcellus? means What should our Marcellus do?

*That, of course, is the name given to it by grammarians. The average Roman didn’t think ‘Hey, I’m using a Deliberative Subjunctive!’ any more than you or I do when speaking our own native tongue.

faciet is in the Indicative Mood – the Mood of straight up fact. It is also in the Future Tense. So, quid faciet noster Marcellus? means What will our Marcellus do?

I have recently read some predictions written by students after reading this episode of Legonium. They were fantastic! If you should have the time, I’d love you to leave a comment on the blog page. What do YOU think Marcellus SHOULD do? What do YOU think he WILL do?

Look! The suitcase which Marcellus found (amazing to say) is full of…money! What should our Marcellus do? What will Marcellus do?

Harrius Potter et Philosophi Lapis /  by Anthony Gibbins

curiosus. A short slice from Peter Needham’s AWESOME Latin translation of J. K. Rowling’s [I don’t have an Adjective that would do that work justice] Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone.

in facie sua Harrius id solum amabat: cicatricem tenuissimam in fronte exceptam cuius figura erat fulguri similis. cicatricem tam diu habuerat quam meminisse poterat et meminerat primam quaestionem a se Materterae Petuniae propositam fuisse quomodo eam excepisset.

‘in ea collisione autocinetorum qua interfecti sunt parentes tui.’ quod locuta addiderat ‘noli curiosus esse.’

noli curiosus esse – ea erat prima lex si quis volebat tranquillam vitam apud Dursleos agere.

And the original:

The only thing Harry liked about his own appearance was a very thin scar on his forehead that was shaped like a bolt of lightning. He had had it as long as he could remember, and the first question he could ever remember asking his Aunt Petunia was how he had gotten it.

"In the car crash when your parents died," she had said. "And don't ask questions."

Don't ask questions - that was the first rule for a quiet life with the Dursleys.

Don’t ask question is translated as Don’t be inquisitive. I like that.

Marcellus thinks that it is strange that he found a suitcase in the dumpster. Inquisitive, he decides to open it.