Shorts from Spinning at the Seams

"Patrick my man!" I looked up from my Vocabulary book to see Tristan striding towards me.

"Tristan my man!" I said in response as I looked back down and tried to figure out how I was supposed to memorize twenty words in a half hour.

"Patrick you know Roman culture don't you?" I looked back up to see Tristan standing in front of me. I nodded.

"Yeah, of course! I am a Roman culture genius," Really I wasn't. Marissa or Toni could kick my butt with knowledge any day, but Tristan didn't know that.

"Great, then you can answer some questions I have." I nodded wondering how many of the answers I would have to make up, after all I was only a freshmen who was a semester into Latin.

"Who founded Rome?" I raised an eyebrow wondering how serious that question was.

"Romulus, he founded it after he killed his brother Remus." That one I didn't have to make up thanks to the History packets our teacher made us read. I wouldn't bother reading it if I didn't give me a chance to talk to Marissa, this girl I had a major crush on. Reading it gave me a chance to argue with her and thereby a chance to talk to her.

"Okay, and their religion?" I nodded again and wondered how many more questions would be this easy.

"They worshiped many gods each of whom had a different domain," Tristan nodded and pulled out a notebook to write that down.

"Okay, and what were those gods and domains?" I shrugged trying to remember them all.

"I only really know the big ones. If you want them all you'd have to ask Toni, she seems to have that down." Tristan made a face that I couldn't read.

"Well I don't really want to ask her, so just give me what you know," I frowned trying to figure out why he wouldn't want to ask her seeing that I thought they were friends, but whatever.

"Let see, my favorite is Apollo, he was the god of fortune telling, music, poetry, and light. Then there was his sister Diana/ Artemis depending on the culture. Diana in Roman, Artemis in Greek." Tristan looked slightly confused.

"You can just stick to Roman names, the two are confusing me. I mean, why do they have to names for one person?" I laughed.

"They didn't. See in Greek the main ones were Zeus, Hera, Hades, Poseidon, Hermes, Hestia, Apollo, Artemis, Athena, Aphrodite, Demeter, Hephaestus, and Ares. But when the Romans conquered the Greeks they decided to steal their idea of the different gods and make it their own. So they changed all the gods names. Athena became Minerva, Aphrodite became Venus, etc." Tristan nodded in understanding.

"Okay then, well still stick the Greek names because those I've heard before." I nodded and began racking my brain.

"Well I already told you about Apollo, did I tell you about Artemis?" Tristan shook his head.

"Okay well Artemis was Apollo's twin sister. She was the goddess of the Hunt, the moon, and chastity. Then there was Athena, she was the goddess of wisdom and their half sister. They had the same father in Zeus because he slept around a lot. Zeus, by the way, was the head god and in charge of the Olympus, he could throw lightening bolts," Tristan stopped me there.

"Wait, what's Olympus," I shook my head in disbelief.

"It's where all the god's lived. It was located on some mountain," I wasn't sure which mountain, but I knew it was a mountain.

"Okay, continue." Tristan commanded, I nodded closing my vocabulary book.

"Well then there was Zeus's actual wife and sister Hera. Don't ask me why he married his sister, he just did. She was the goddess of marriage. She had two kids, Ares and Hephaestus. Ares was the god of war while Hephaestus was the god of metal working. Hephaestus was married to Aphrodite, but Aphrodite tended to sleep with his brother Ares. She was the goddess of love, Aphrodite. Her son is what we call Cupid. Then there was Hermes. He was the messenger god, he had some other domains but I don't remember them all." Marissa did, we had argued about them for an hour, it was one of my best memories. She's cute when she's mad, "Then there's Poseidon, he's the god of the ocean. Um, who am I missing, oh Hades. Hades was god of the Underworld and all who dwelled there. He had a three headed dog named Cerberus, which is what I plan to name my dog one day now. Then there was Demeter, she was the mother of Hades' kidnapped wife. Demeter was the goddess of agriculture and the seasons. There is some story involving the seasons but I don't remember how it went. You'll have to ask Toni. And last, but not least, there was Hestia, I don't remember much about her other then she was the goddess of the hearth and home." Tristan nodded as he wrote that all down.

"Okay and last question, how did they name their children?" I smiled in relief that I knew the answer, after all we had just talked about this in class less then an hour ago.

"The Roman's named their kids in different ways depending on the kid's gender. The boys were given names from the family or from what number child they were. Sextus meant he was the sixth child. The girls were given names based off the father and then what number child they were. For instance if Julius Caesar had two daughters, the first would be named Julia, and the second would be named Julia Secunda or the second Julia, and so on and so forth." Tristan got a look on his face that seemed to be one that made me think there was supposed to be a light bulb above his head.

"So if Marc Antony had a daughter, she would be named Antonia?" I nodded wondering where he was going with this. "Okay, thanks for the help Patrick!"

"No problem," I said as Tristan walked away smiling. Now back to vocabulary, how am I supposed to remember the word dedicate means to give a name to something after someone else?