Latin and Roman culture really came alive during a field trip to the Etruscan & Roman art exhibit, Worlds Intertwined, at the University of Pennsylvania’s Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology. On the way to the museum, at 30th Street Station students noted the Art Deco interior style and the bronze Pennsylvania Railroad War Memorial. The massiveness and height of the Doric columns on the exterior of the Station were physical examples of what they had studied in the classroom. Here, they stopped to pose for a photo, fitting their bodies in the flutes and surrounding the column.

For the next part of their field trip, the class was split in half. One group toured the museum’s artifacts, where they saw Etruscan tombs, Roman sculptures, coins, and murals; and the other group went to Franklin Field, where they had foot races and simulated chariot competitions. When they reassembled to return to school, they had a chance to compare notes on all they had seen, but their return did not signal the end of the adventure: a feast in the Roman banquet style awaited. They had prepared a sampling of special delicacies and now they would have a chance to try some of them. It was, as described by Latin teacher, Anne Smith, a perfect way to end the day. Well, perhaps not entirely perfect. There was homework: to write, in the style of a Roman ode, on something seen or experienced.

Ode to Etruscan Armor
by Clayton Dyer

Clang! Dong! Whoosh!
The sounds of battle still ring through the
metal of an Etruscan warrior’s chest plate
Battle Scarred and colorless it stands
today
Stained of blood, dirt and rust
Thousands of years passing by
Untouched by human hands
Once on the battlefield, raging through
war, withstanding all the brutal blows
thrown at it
Now propped up in a glass case
Ode to Etruscan armor

February 10, 2006