Hesse Abitur Latin GK key terms

The Roman state as a shared public affair, used both for the Republic as a form of government and for the commonwealth itself; in exams it often signals political legitimacy and civic duty.

The Roman council of elders that advised magistrates, controlled finances and foreign policy in the Republic, and remained influential under the emperors; its authority is a frequent topic in political texts.

The ordered sequence of public offices a Roman aristocrat climbed, from quaestor through praetor to consul; knowing it helps you place historical figures and understand ambition in narrative texts.

One of two annually elected chief magistrates of Rome who commanded armies and presided over the state; consulship marks the peak of a political career and often dates events in Roman historiography.

The formal power of command held by senior Roman magistrates, including military leadership and legal authority; the term also yields our word 'empire' and matters when texts discuss legitimacy and power.

Literally 'first citizen', the title Augustus and his successors used to describe their position; it disguises monarchical power behind republican language, a key point in interpreting imperial-era texts.

Honorific meaning 'the revered one', granted to Octavian in 27 BC, which became the name of the first emperor; texts from his reign often discuss peace, restoration and moral renewal.

The long period of relative internal peace and stability across the Roman Empire from Augustus into the second century AD; frequently invoked as a political ideal and as a counterweight to civil war.

The legal power of a Roman father over his household, including children and dependants; understanding it clarifies family conflicts, marriage arrangements and moral examples in Latin literature.

The Roman household including slaves, freedmen and relatives under one head; it was an economic and social unit, and texts use it to discuss loyalty, hierarchy and inheritance.

A dependant who owed services and political support to a patron in exchange for protection and favours; the relationship explains social networks and obligations in forensic and satirical texts.

The powerful protector of clients in Roman society, offering legal help and money in return for loyalty; the role recurs in speeches, letters and satire as a model of unequal exchange.

Friendship, in Roman usage also a political alliance between influential men; Cicero's writings treat it as a moral bond, while historians note its strategic function in public life.

Manly excellence, courage and moral worth, a central Roman value combining military bravery with ethical integrity; it is a standard yardstick for judging characters in historiographical and rhetorical texts.

The dutiful respect owed to gods, country and family, especially parents; Virgil's Aeneas embodies it, and it often stands in tension with personal desire in epic and drama.

Fate or an utterance of destiny, understood as an unchangeable divine decree; in epic and tragedy it drives plot and raises questions about human responsibility.

A god, in Roman religion a powerful being honoured through ritual and sacrifice; Latin authors use divine intervention both as plot device and as a way to comment on human action.

The custom of the ancestors, the unwritten norms Romans treated as the foundation of morality and politics; appeals to it signal conservatism and are common in speeches and historiography.

The art of persuasive public speech, a core subject of Roman education; recognising rhetorical devices and speech structures helps you analyse both orations and narrative prose.

A speech or formal address, and in grammar the direct or indirect form of reported speech; distinguishing oratio recta from obliqua is essential for translating subordinate clauses accurately.

A Latin participial construction in the ablative that stands apart from the main clause and expresses circumstances such as time, cause or condition; you render it with a subordinate clause or prepositional phrase.

A participle agreeing with a noun in the main clause and adding information about it; unlike the ablative absolute, it shares its subject with the sentence and is usually translated with a relative or adverbial clause.

Accusativus cum infinitivo, the construction in which a verb of saying, thinking or perceiving takes an accusative subject with an infinitive; recognising it is fundamental for translating indirect statements.

The rules governing tense choice in subordinate subjunctive clauses, depending on whether the main verb is primary or historic; mastering it prevents common errors in rendering purpose and result clauses.

The Latin subjunctive mood, used for wishes, commands, potential statements, purpose, result and indirect questions; identifying which function applies is decisive for correct translation.

A verbal adjective ending in -ndus expressing necessity or obligation, as in 'delenda est Carthago'; it also replaces the gerund with an object and often signals moral or political demands.

The system of quantitative verse based on patterns of long and short syllables; scanning hexameter or elegiac couplets supports interpretation of rhythm, emphasis and genre.

The six-foot dactylic verse line of epic and didactic poetry, with a characteristic caesura and fixed cadence; its rhythm shapes pace and emphasis in passages you must interpret.

A poetic genre written in elegiac couplets, used for love poetry, lament and reflection; identifying genre conventions helps you read tone and allusion in Augustan poets.

Virgil's twelve-book epic on Aeneas' journey from Troy to Italy, connecting Roman origins to Homeric tradition; it is a standard Abitur text and a source of themes like duty and fate.

Augustan poet of the Metamorphoses and love elegy, exiled to Tomis in AD 8; his witty narrative style and exile poetry are common examination material.

A transformation, and the title of Ovid's hexameter poem collecting myths of change; the theme invites interpretation of identity, violence and artistic order.

Roman orator, politician and philosopher of the late Republic whose speeches and letters model rhetorical prose; his works are central to stylistic and historical analysis in the Abitur.

The later reception and reworking of ancient texts, motifs and ideas in art, literature and politics; exam tasks may ask you to compare a Latin passage with a modern adaptation.

The Renaissance movement that revived classical texts and ideals of education; it explains why Latin remained central to European schooling and shapes questions about tradition and interpretation.

The polytheistic cult system of Rome, including state festivals, sacrifice and household gods; knowledge of it prevents misreading of ritual references and divine epithets in texts.

The institution of slavery central to the Roman economy and society, affecting law, labour and literature; exam passages may raise ethical questions about freedom and human value.