Aquae Bīthȳniae
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Bithynia, about AD 111. Pliny is the emperor Trajan's governor, sent to put the province's accounts in order. At Nicomedia he finds that the townspeople have spent over three million sesterces on an aqueduct, left it unfinished, then spent another two hundred thousand on a second one and abandoned that too. Along the coast, the colony of Sinope has no good water at all.
Pliny writes to the emperor for advice and for engineers. Seven puzzles from his letters stand between you and the emperor's reply. Solve them all, and one last word names the town that will get its water.
Crossword — water, money and building, from Pliny's letters.
Anagrams — unscramble seven words from the building sites of Bithynia.
Cipher — decode a message in Latin, then answer the riddle it asks.
Matching — two verbs, perdūcō ("to bring") and efficiō ("to complete"), in the passive, with the gerundive of obligation.
Picture Count — reassemble the unfinished aqueduct, then count what you see.
Odd One Out — find the word that doesn't belong in each row to build the story, then answer questions about it.
Final Rebus — one clue from every lock. Their first letters spell the final word.
Every answer box checks itself. Spelling and capitals are forgiving, and macrons are never needed.
Sixteen words from water, money and building. Every clue gives the English meaning; you supply the Latin. Fill the grid — every crossing letter must agree both ways. Eight cells are marked in red: once the grid is solved, their letters unscramble into one more word.
The grid is correct. Unscramble the eight red letters:
Seven words from the building sites of Bithynia. Unscramble each one.
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The password was:
Sinōpē. Trajan agreed that Sinope should have its aqueduct, so long as the colony could pay for it from its own funds and the work would benefit its health. At Nicomedia, he told Pliny to find out whose fault it was that so much money had been wasted.