The earliest Latin
What is the name of the earliest known Latin inscription, found on a gold cloak-pin?
The Praeneste Fibula
Who is considered the "Father of Roman Poetry" for translating the Odyssey into Latin?
Livius Andronicus
Which orator and statesman is credited with perfecting Latin prose style?
Cicero
Which Stoic philosopher and playwright influenced the Silver Age with his "pointed" and epigrammatic style?
Seneca the Younger
What is the name of the late 4th-century Latin translation of the Bible?
The Vulgate
Latin belongs to which major language family?
Indo-European
Which early comic playwright is famous for his "rough" but lively Latin in plays like Pseudolus?
Plautus
Who wrote the Aeneid, the definitive epic of the Golden Age?
Virgil
Who wrote the Metamorphoses, a massive mythological work bridging the Golden and Silver ages?
Ovid
Which influential Christian philosopher wrote Confessions in a style that bridged Classical and Medieval Latin?
St. Augustine of Hippo
In which specific region of Italy did the Latin language originate?
Latium
Which author’s work, De Agri Cultura, is the oldest surviving complete work of Latin prose?
Cato the Elder
Which leader wrote Commentarii de Bello Gallico, known for its clear, direct military Latin?
Julius Ceasar
Which historian of the Silver Age is known for his dark, concise, and cynical prose in The Annals?
Tacitus
What do we call the everyday, spoken Latin that eventually evolved into French, Spanish, and Italian?
Vulgar Latin
Which alphabet did the early Romans adapt to create the Latin alphabet?
The Etruscan alphabet)
Early Latin lacked certain shorthand and punctuation; what is the term for writing where words are run together?
Scriptio continua
What is the term for the "pure" form of Latin used by the elite during this era, as opposed to the common speech?
Sermo Urbanus
What is the name of the satirical novel by Petronius that gives us a rare glimpse into the "Vulgar Latin" spoken by commoners?
The Satyricon
By the 6th-9th centuries, Latin had largely ceased to be a primary native language; what did it become for the next millennium?
A Lingua Franca
What was the name of the first Roman legal code, written in archaic Latin around 450 BCE?
The Twelve Tables
Which playwright was known for a more refined and "hellenized" (Greek-influenced) style of early Latin?
Terence
Which lyric poet is famous for the phrase "Carpe Diem"?
Horace
Which satirist is famous for his bitter critiques of Roman society and the phrase "Bread and Circuses"?
Juvenal
During the Carolingian Renaissance, which scholar helped standardize "Medieval Latin" to improve literacy in Europe?
Alcuin of York