Atlanta Heroina: A Latin Novella retells the life of the extraordinary heroine who was abandoned at birth and became renowned for her prowess and speed. Atalanta faces rejection from the moment of her birth. She manages, however, to win the favor of the goddess Diana, and she travels the world with Jason and the Argonauts, winning prizes and fighting alongside renowned heroes. She is a heroine. What happens, then, when her father hears all the tales of her heroic deeds and decides that it’s time to reclaim his lost daughter?”
Atalant Heroina is suitable for use in Latin I/II. This novella may be appropriate at other levels depending on the students’ years of study and its intended use. The first chapter of the novella is available here.
Atalanta Heroina: A Latin Novella is available on Amazon. It will also be available in classroom or free voluntary reading sets on Bombax Press.
About the Plot of Atalanta Heroina
Atalanta is a capable heroine, but she faces people who dismiss her because of her gender from the moment of her birth. Her father decides to expose her because she was born a girl rather than a boy. His decision to expose her because he considers her unequal sets her on her path of becoming the famed heroine that she was.
From that moment, the goddess Diana raises Atalanta in the woods in a bear form until Atalanta is taken in by some hunters who further raise her. She encounters centaur who mean to harm her, and she joins Jason and the Argonauts as they sail the Mediterranean. She is fierce and independent. When her father comes to reclaim her, she struggles with how to respond as she feels the eyes of other women and girls on her. Will she ever be considered an equal?
Atalanta’s name means equal in weight, and she is ever so much equal to the heroes alongside whom she fought. This novella does not shy away from some of the difficulties she faced as a young heroine, both in terms of the misogyny she experiences as well as the actual feats she accomplished.
About the Vocabulary and Grammar
This novella is intended for use in the Latin 1-2 classroom. The level of use depends on whether students are reading independently or learning the stories in class. The novella may be appropriate for other levels, which is mostly dependent on vocabulary and reader interest. No amount of vocabulary knowledge makes up for a dull book, but it can be harder to read a book that has too much unknown vocabulary.
I always write novellas with the goal of limiting the overall amount of vocabulary and focusing on using high-frequency vocabulary. I did not, however, shy away from using a deponent word. After all, it’s hard to talk about a huntress without using the word vēnārī (to hunt). I made extensive use of both Dickinson College Commentaries’ Core Vocabulary as well as Essential Latin Vocabulary. I aimed to have as many words as practicable appear in these two lexical resources to ensure that students who are reading this novella are being exposed to high-frequency words in Latin literature. Although not all words appear in these two resources, I did make careful decisions about which vocabulary to include or excise based on these lists, and I chose between synonyms based on which word occurs more often in Latin literature.
This novella contains 146 total words. Of those words, thirteen are proper nouns like Atalanta and Hippomenes. In addition, I always glossed eleven words or phrases that might be unfamiliar to students that are used infrequently but were relevant to the story. I also carefully identified and used 29 cognates like animāl and competītor that were used infrequently in the novella. With proper names, glossed words, and clear cognates removed, students need a working vocabulary of 93 words to read this novella.
Unlike the vocabulary, the grammar in this novella is not sheltered. This novella is set in the present tense, but it does include substantial dialogue, incorporating past and future tenses. There are a few gerunds to express purpose as well as a handful of instances of the present subjunctive. Given the similarity of the forms (say, habet and habeat), these grammatical forms are not road blocks to understanding.
About the Artwork
Sara Rude-McCune designed the cover art for the novella, and we both had really similar ideas of what this kick-tush heroine should look like. I know Sara from years back when she was my roommate. She illustrates comic books and is often found at various Comic-Con events. If you would like to commission Sara for a project, you can reach her through her website here.
The interior artwork consists of images from the public domain, including paintings, drawings, grave markers, and Greek vases. I diligently review the sources, and a complete works cited list of images is included in the novella. Some images are edited for further clarity, either by adding vocabulary to aid comprehension or removing distracting features.
About the Text Features
Atalanta Heroina: A Latin Novella has a full index of all the words in their various forms. In the index, the reader can look up all unknown words. The index lists verbs separately. As such, a reader could independently look up both egone and mēcum without knowing the dictionary entry of the word. The index provides a general translation of the word. Verbs include a translation that is grammatically appropriate and would fit the context of the sentence. This text also contains a dictionary. This dictionary offers all the principal parts. The dictionary notes how frequently the words appear in Latin Literature according to the Core Latin Vocabulary or Essential Latin Vocabulary.
If you would like to review the vocabulary used in Atalanta Heroina: A Latin Novella, the dictionary is available here.
One Comment
Pingback: