By Julia Hannon

   With a new year comes new beginnings. This is part of what the Roman holiday, Agonalia, celebrates. 

   Agonalia is a holiday shared by multiple gods, including Janus, the god of doorways and beginnings. Some Romans considered Janus to be the god of the prime beginning and end. 

   In celebration of the holiday and the new year, the Arizona Junior Classical League held its own Agonalia at TPA on Jan. 27th. TPA hosts this event annually with the leadership of the Classics Club. The preparation and work during the event resulted in a fun day filled with friendly competition!

   Participants began with the competitive game of “certamen” at either the novice/intermediate or advanced level. Certamen, meaning contest in Latin, is a quiz-bowl style game for students of Latin, Greek and classical civilizations. The questions ask about Latin vocabulary and grammar, Roman history and Greek mythology. Each game consisted of four rounds, with 15-20 questions each. 

   After certamen, the participants enjoyed a “prandium,” a lunch, of pizza and CapriSuns, before playing a Roman history and Greek mythology-based game of charades, or playing another game of advanced Certamen. 

   During the second game of advanced certamen, the players were introduced to a new element: using their chins to hit the buzzers! This added a silly and fun component to a very challenging game. Agonalia ended with an award ceremony for the victors of certamen. 

   The event had a large turnout of 52 people from five different schools, including TPA, Gilbert Classical Academy, Trivium Preparatory Academy, BASIS Ahwatukee and BASIS Tucson North.    Events like Agonalia encourage classics enthusiasts to come together and cultivate their love  and knowledge of ancient peoples, languages and cultures. Fern White, a junior at TPA, said that her favorite part of the event was “playing certamen with people from other schools.”