End of Year Review · Latin II

The Pharos Signal

Seven locks stand between you and the beacon. The ships are waiting in the dark.

Alexandria  ·  the Great Lighthouse

🔊 Best with sound on.

© The Classical Couple.

Mission Briefing

The Door Has Sealed Behind You

19th-century artist's reconstruction of the Great Library of Alexandria

You are a guest in the household of Barbillus, a wealthy merchant of Alexandria and an old friend of your family.

One evening, Barbillus asks you to carry an urgent message to the keeper of the great Pharos lighthouse, out on the harbor's edge.

A storm rolls in off the sea. The lighthouse door seals shut behind you — and night falls before the beacon is lit.

Ships are already approaching the harbor in the darkness, with nothing to guide them home.

Seven locks bar the spiral stairway to the top. Solve them, climb higher, and light the fire before it's too late.

How to Light the Beacon

Seven Locks Stand Between You and the Fire

1

Work through all seven locks. Each one is a different kind of Latin puzzle.

2

Type your answer and press Check. Get it right and the stairway opens to the next lock — get it wrong and you can try again.

3

Watch the dots at the top of the page fill in gold as you climb higher.

4

Solve all seven, and you'll reach the beacon in time.

1

Crossword

Verba Reticulāta

Fill in every cell in the grid using the clues below, then press Check. There's no shortcut — the whole grid has to be right to open the lock.

Across

1. a guest — or the one hosting them, like Barbillus (6)
7. a sailor (5)
8. the wind driving the storm (6)
9. the city — Alexandria itself (4)
10. the study, where Barbillus sits with his friends (8)

Down

2. the harbor (6)
3. a letter — what Barbillus sent you with (8)
4. ash — what a fire leaves behind (5)
5. this lighthouse's own name — not just any turris (6)
6. a ship (5)
2

Anagrams

Verba Mixta

Unscramble all five words. Every one belongs to the world of Barbillus's Alexandria.

Y P U S G T A E
the country you have sailed to (8 letters)
C R R M A O T E
a merchant, like Barbillus himself (8 letters)
E P M T S E A S T
a storm — the danger the ship faced at sea (9 letters)
U U P R C I E L M
danger (9 letters)
T O E G B R U R N A
the helmsman who steers the ship (10 letters)
3

Caesar Cipher

Cōdex Caesaris

Julius Caesar himself used this trick to send secret messages: shift every letter three places earlier in the alphabet to decode. The message is a question — decode it, then answer it.

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z A B C
SURSH PDUH VWR VFRSXORV HW YHQWRV YLGHR QRFWH IXOJHR QDXWLV SURFXO YLDP GHPRQVWUR TXLG VXP

Each letter in the message shifts BACK three places. Decode the whole thing before you'll know what's being asked — then type your answer below.

4

Matching

Verba Iūncta

All nine forms below come from just two verb stems — nāvigō (to sail) and videō (to see). Drag each English meaning onto the Latin form it matches; the ending tells you the person, number, and tense.

5

Picture Count

Numerī

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, six counting questions will appear — in Latin, they ask quot ("how many") of each thing you can find.

The harbor of Alexandria with the Pharos lighthouse, ships, dolphins, and gulls

Click two pieces to swap them. Correct pieces lock in place — keep going until the whole picture is assembled.

6

Odd One Out

Verbum Dīversum

Piles of word-tiles litter the floor — three fit together, one doesn't. Drag out the odd tile. Find all 20 to learn what's happening at the harbor.

Ancient Byzantine mosaic from Qasr Libya depicting the Lighthouse of Alexandria
_____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____. _____ _____ _____, _____. _____ _____ _____. _____ _____ _____. _____ _____ _____ _____.

Now that the story is whole, answer these in Latin:

7

Final Rebus

Verbum Ultimum

One last word stands between you and the beacon. Each clue below points back to a different lock you already solved. Work out the Latin word each one describes and type it in.

1
Back in the crossword, what room did Barbillus sit in with his friends?
2
One of your anagrams named a merchant, just like Barbillus himself — what was the word?
3
In the cipher's riddle, which word means "I show, I point out"?
4
In the matching puzzle, which Latin form means "he/she was sailing"?
5
Your picture-count puzzle asked how many of these you could see wheeling over the harbor — what are they called?
6
In the sentence you assembled tile by tile, one short word means "him" — what is it?

You're almost there! Arrange these letters to make a word.

All Seven Locks Solved

The Beacon Is Lit

Fire blazes at the top of the Pharos. Out in the dark, every ship turns safely toward the harbor.

1pharus
2aegyptus
3canēs
4nāvigō
5delphīnōs
6tempestās
7venī!