Aquila Ascendit
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© The Classical Couple.
Garlands hang on every door, a lamb stands ready by the altar, and the whole village has gathered for the yearly spring rite. At its very end, the priest will release an eagle — and everyone will watch to see how high it climbs.
Seven puzzles stand between you and the rite's ending. Solve one, and the procession moves a little further — until, at the end, one final word names what the eagle carries.
Crossword — the vocabulary of a Roman springtime procession.
Anagrams — unscramble seven words for the journey down to the shore.
Cipher — decode a message, then answer the riddle it asks.
Matching — two verbs, tollō and portō ("to raise," "to carry"), in every tense you know.
Picture Count — reassemble a scattered scene, then count what you see.
Odd One Out — find the mismatched word in each row to learn what happens, 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 springtime procession. Every clue gives the English meaning; you supply the Latin. Fill the grid — every crossing letter must agree both ways. Six cells are marked in red: once the grid is solved, their letters unscramble into one more word.
The grid is correct. Unscramble the six red letters:
Seven words for the journey down to the shore. 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.
Two verbs, tollō, tollere ("to raise, lift up") and portō, portāre ("to carry") — everything the rite needs, from lifting the eagle to carrying the garlands — in every tense you know. 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 what happens.
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:
alātus — "winged." The eagle has climbed out of sight, and the whole village believes the spirit has risen with it.