Supplicatio
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© The Classical Couple.
The Senate has decreed a day of public thanksgiving — a genuine Roman supplicatio. Priests lead sacrificial animals to the altars of the Forum, incense rises, and the whole city turns out to thank the gods for a year of safety and plenty.
Seven puzzles stand between you and the ceremony itself. Solve one, and the Forum fills a little more — until, at the end, one final word names what the day has made holy.
Crossword — the vocabulary of a Roman day of thanksgiving.
Anagrams — unscramble seven words for the ceremony and its rites.
Cipher — decode a message, then answer the riddle it asks.
Matching — one verb, sacrificō ("to sacrifice"), active and passive.
Picture Count — reassemble a scattered scene, then count what you see.
Odd One Out — find the mismatched word in each row to reveal how the ceremony went, then answer questions about it.
Final Rebus — one clue from every lock. Their first letters, rearranged, spell the final word.
Every answer box checks itself instantly. Spelling and capitalization are forgiving — macrons are never required.
Fifteen words from a Roman day of thanksgiving. Every clue gives the English meaning; you supply the Latin. Fill the grid — every crossing letter must agree both ways. Nine cells are marked in red: once the grid is solved, their letters unscramble into one more word.
The grid is correct. Unscramble the nine red letters:
Seven words for the ceremony and its rites. Unscramble each one.
A message has been shifted 3 letters forward through the alphabet. Shift each letter back 3 to decode it — the message speaks for itself. Answer the question it asks, in Latin.
Decode the message — it already asks its own question at the end.
One verb, sacrificō, sacrificāre ("to sacrifice") — the offering that opens the ceremony — in every tense you know, active and passive. Drag each English meaning onto its matching Latin form.
The picture below has been scattered into 24 pieces — click two to swap them. Each piece locks in place once it's correct. When the whole picture is assembled, five counting questions will appear — in Latin, they ask quot ("how many") of each thing you can find.
Click two pieces to swap them. Correct pieces lock in place — keep going until the whole picture is assembled.
In each row, three tiles belong together and one doesn't. Drag out the odd tile. Find all 15 to learn how the ceremony went.
Now that the story is whole, answer these in Latin:
One clue from every lock you solved. Answer each in Latin — the first letter of each answer will reveal itself, in the order the locks appeared.
You're almost there! Arrange these letters to make a word.
The password was:
sancta — "holy, sacred." The gods have their due; the city can rest easy.