Contents

(E2) 1B: Novus Amīcus

Hover over each panel for vocabulary hints.

(NB: Hints are provided for verba ūtilia and phrases or grammatical concepts that have not yet been covered by this unit. Hints are not provided for verba necessāria or grammatical concepts that have been covered by this unit.)

pānem bread

vēndit she is selling

Quōmodo valēs? How are you doing?

Bene. well

Optimē valeō! I’m doing great!

Estne….? Is he….?

portat he carries/is carrying

tibi your/for you

mihi nōtus known to me

Pater Geriī the father of Gerius

vēndit sells

amphorās jars/amphoras

Vēndisne….? Are you selling….?

Sābratēnsis Sabrathan (from Sabratha, a town in Northern Africa)

sciō I know

meā. my

habitat. he lives/dwells in

Mercātōrēs. merchants

mihi portāre. for me to carry

ad. to

novam. new

tabernam. shop

AD FONTĒS

Our story is fiction, but our characters, Valeria, Gerius, and Calpurnia are based on historical figures and people who could plausibly live in the Ancient Roman World.

Our character Valeria is based on a few people. One is a historical figure – Vergilia the daughter of Marcus Vergilius Eurysaces, who was a famous baker from Rome. He was likely an enslaved man who later gained his freedom and made his fortune overseeing the baking and distribution of bread for the Roman Army. We also take a part of Valeria’s character from the character of Proculina in Hagith Sivan’s book, Jewish Childhood in the Ancient World. Proculina, the daughter of a Jewish baker, is based on Hagith’s studies of Judaism in Ostia. Finally, Valeria’s name is based on a real inscription found at Ostia. The inscription mentions Valeria, daughter of Marcus Valerius, and Caecilia, daughter of Quintus. Though they may have been related in some way, we made them sisters in our story and both the daughters of Quintus.

Calpurnia gets her name from a funerary inscription found in Ostia Antica. Lucius Calpurnius Chius was a freedman in Ostia who had four children. Three of his children were born into slavery, and the fourth, who was born free, was named Fēlīcissimus (meaning happiest). Calpurnia L.f. Chia Verna was the first named, and thus presumably the oldest child. After he gained freedom for himself and his family, Lucius Calpurnius Chius went on to become an extremely successful man in Ostia – president of the sēvirī Augustālēs, treasurer and president of the corn measurers, and treasurer of the cōdicāriī.

Our character Gerius comes from Sabratha in North Africa (modern day Libya) and a family of garum makers and traders. Much of Rome’s garum supply came from North Africa. The city of Sabratha was a strategic port city, like Ostia, and became part of the Roman provinces in the 1st century BCE. Today, parts of the ancient city still stand and you can see Roman theaters, temples, and other ancient monuments.

view of an ancient Roman graves with columbarium architecture with many cinerary urns, the tomb it’s located in the archaeological excavations of Ostia Antica – Rome, Italy

Notae