Bless Your Ipod with Some Latin!

According to USA Today, the Vatican has given its blessing to the iBreviary, an add-on application for the Iphone and Ipod Touch that assists the faithful, especially ordained clergy, in praying the Liturgy of the Hours.  This daily prayer includes the office, lauds, daytime prayer, vespers and compline.  

Currently, iBreviary supports five languages for the main part of the program -- including Latin -- with plans for additional languages to be added.  Unfortunately, only Italian seems to be supported in the additional features which link daily Mass readings and traditional Catholic prayers, though updates are planned.  iBreviary is currently available in iTunes App Store for 99 cents.  

Read Sacred Texts: Vatican Embraces iTunes Prayer Book. (USA Today, December 23, 2008)

Also available for the iPhone & iPod Touch is Holy Rosary, which is a fully functioning graphically-based virtual rosary.  This program includes the text of standard Rosary prayers in Latin, as well as English, Spanish, Italian and French. 

Not religious in nature are a variety of other widgets in the iTunes App Store: Latin-English mini-dictionaries, quotation and poetry collections, and a Roman Numeral converter.

Who Says Rome Wasn't Built in a Day?

You can build Rome in your very own house on Christmas morning!

We ordered the Playmobil Romans for Christmas! Playmobil is a German toy maker that designs high quality playsets that include medieval castles, modern cities, zoos and much more. This year, they have released a set that includes the Colosseum, a Roman naval ship, gladiators, a Roman family, and of course, Gauls and barbarians.

What DID the Romans use for Toilet Paper?

Caroline Lawrence answers that question -- and a few others -- on the Roman Mysteries blog. (Unfortunately, the contest to win the prestigious Golden Sponge-Stick award isn't open outside the United Kingdom. Maybe someday...)

Save the Medieval Latin Department at the University of Heidelberg!

Sign the petition seeking to save the Department for Medieval and Neo-Latin Philology (Seminar für Lateinische Philologie des Mittelalters und der Neuzeit in Heidelberg) from closure!

More Classical Allusions from the '08 Campaign

Classical allusions abound this election season. Ariana Huffington has declared Sarah Palin to be "a Trojan Moose concealing four more years of Bush," referring no doubt to the famed wooden horse of ancient Greek mythology. Meanwhile, Maureen Dowd of the New York Times is lamenting the "Clash of the Titans" this presidential contest might have been if Barack Obama had chosen Hillary Clinton as his running mate.

For those of you who are rooting for the Democrats, Anima Altera has created a t-shirt with the slogan "quidquid id est timeo Republicanos et dona ferentis" -- whatever it is I fear the Republicans even those bearing gifts (modified from Vergil's Aeneid II.49-50).

Amazing Mazes!

Amazeingart is a pretty cool site, designed by Christopher Berg, where you can read all about mazes and labyrinths, learn how to draw mazes, download free printable mazes, subscribe to a free maze newsletter, and more. Christopher Berg is a professional maze artist and author of Amazeing Art: Wonders of the Ancient World. The free printable mazes available on the website include the Colosseum of Rome, the Statue of Zeus at Olympus, the Pantheon at Rome, as well as many other famous places from antiquity.

A Roman Mystery Solved!

American fans of Caroline Lawrence's Roman Mysteries series rejoice! The British Broadcasting Company's television adaptation of this action-packed children's book series will be aired on this side of the pond beginning in September 2008!

According to Worldscreen.com, Rainbow Media's Family Room HD Television will be presenting Series One of this highly-acclaimed children's series to North America beginning this fall.

For those of you lucky enough to live in Great Britain, Series Two begins on Tuesday, July 8, 2008 and you'll also be able to buy Region 2 DVDs of Series One. (Unfortunately, Region 2 DVDs won't work on American DVD players. American DVD players are coded for Region 1.)

You can also visit the author's Official Roman Mysteries Website to find out more!

Use Your Latin Language Powers for Good, not Evil!

Visit FreeRice.com and play their vocabulary game and help alleviate world hunger!



For every word that you get right, FreeRice.com donates 20 grains of rice to the United Nations World Food Programme. Sponsors whose names appear on the screen pay for the rice every time you get a correct answer. If you know some Latin, you should have a definite advantage in this game. FreeRice.com was named one of Time Magazine's Top 50 Websites for 2008.

According to the U.N. World Food Programme site, food from the FreeRice.com donations will be helping to feed victims of the catastrophic storms in Myanmar this summer.

Mirabile Visu!

An incredible christening shawl with 4 wishes for the recipient knit, in Latin, into the edging!

Edited to add: Also see the same designer's Seneca sweater, so named because he knit one of Seneca's quotes into the sweater. Note that it is the first sweater that he ever knit!