AP Latin key terms

The six-foot meter of epic poetry such as the Aeneid, built from dactyls (long-short-short) and spondees (long-long); the fifth foot is usually a dactyl and the sixth a spondee.

The process of reading Latin verse aloud and marking each syllable as long or short in order to identify the metrical pattern of the line.

In reciting verse, the dropping of a final vowel or vowel plus -m before a word beginning with a vowel or h, so that the two syllables merge into one.

A word break occurring within a metrical foot, most often in the middle of the third foot of a hexameter, which gives the line rhythm and emphasis.

Vergil's twelve-book Latin epic about Aeneas's journey from Troy to Italy and the founding of the Roman line; a central set text for the exam.

Trojan hero and son of Anchises and Venus who leads survivors from fallen Troy to Italy, where his descendants will found Rome.

The Roman virtue of dutiful loyalty owed to gods, country, and family; Aeneas's defining quality and a recurring theme in the Aeneid.

Latin for 'fate' or 'a spoken decree'; the fixed destiny that guides Aeneas's mission and that even the gods cannot overturn.

Queen of Carthage who falls in love with Aeneas, is abandoned by him, and kills herself; her story fills the first half of the Aeneid.

Roman queen of the gods, wife of Jupiter, who opposes Aeneas because of her love for Carthage and an old grievance over Troy.

Rutulian king and chief Italian opponent of Aeneas, whose rivalry drives the war in the second half of the Aeneid.

An extended comparison, often several lines long, that uses imagery from nature or daily life to illuminate a character or action.

A descriptive word or phrase attached to a name, such as 'pious Aeneas' or 'fierce Turnus', often used to fit the meter.

A direct address by the narrator to a person, place, or thing that cannot respond, common in Vergil's epic narration.

The loss of a short vowel or syllable inside a word, as when a form like 'audisse' appears shortened; poets use it to fit the meter.

Julius Caesar's seven-book first-person account of his campaigns in Gaul, written in clear prose and a standard exam set text.

Gaius Julius Caesar, Roman general and author who narrates his own campaigns in the Gallic War commentaries, often calling himself 'Caesar'.

A Celtic people whose attempted migration through Roman territory opens Caesar's Gallic War and prompts his first campaign.

Leader of the united Gallic revolt against Caesar; his surrender at Alesia marks a turning point in the Gallic War.

A construction in which a verb of saying, thinking, or knowing introduces an accusative noun and an infinitive instead of a direct quotation.

A grammatically independent phrase made of a noun and a participle in the ablative case, expressing time, cause, or circumstance.

A subordinate clause expressing intent, introduced by 'ut' or 'ne' with a verb in the subjunctive, common in narrative prose and poetry.

A verbal adjective in -ndus agreeing with a noun, often expressing obligation or necessity, as in a passive periphrastic construction.

A verbal adjective that shares features of verbs and adjectives, appearing in present, perfect, and future forms and often carrying time relationships.

The tendency in Latin prose to place the verb last in its clause and to arrange other elements around it, though emphasis can shift the order.

An unfamiliar Latin excerpt on the exam that candidates translate and analyze without prior preparation, testing grammar and comprehension.

A translation that renders each Latin word and construction as closely as English allows, preserving grammar and word order where possible.

A translation that conveys the meaning of the Latin naturally in English rather than word for word, while still respecting the original syntax.

A close-reading essay that identifies literary devices and explains how they produce meaning and effect in a specific passage.

An exam task requiring a brief written response, often identifying a figure of speech, translating a phrase, or explaining a grammatical form.

A free-response task in which candidates scan lines of verse, marking feet and quantities and sometimes explaining metrical effects.

A longer free-response answer that develops an argument about a text using evidence from the Latin, often comparing passages or themes.

A technique such as anaphora, chiasmus, or tricolon that a writer uses to shape emphasis, rhythm, or persuasion in prose or verse.

The analysis of recurring ideas and the portrayal of figures through their words and actions, a common focus of free-response essays.

The North African city founded by Dido and destined, in Roman tradition, to become Rome's great enemy in the Punic Wars.

Aeneas's descent in Aeneid 6 to visit his father Anchises and learn Rome's future, a model for later epic katabasis scenes.