CICERO

Certamen

C..........I..C.........E.......R............O.....

"A Competition to promote Harmony in Europe and the Countries of the World"

CICERO 2011

This unique international competition links school Classics students around the world. It began in Spain on 25.03 and continued in Australia, Italy, England, Scotland, Guernsey and France on 26.03, with Andorra on 01.04 and Tunisia on 16.04.

PRIZEWINNERS

1 = ITALY : Sara Quirico, Liceo Classico Statale "Pietro Verri" di Lodi (36.5 + tie-break answer)

Federico Mayor Prize to Liceo "Pietro Verri" Ray of Hope prize to Sara

2 = FRANCE : (36.5)

3 = UK : Alice Williamson, George Watson's College, Edinburgh (36)

4 = SPAIN & AUSTRALIA

6 = TUNISIA

7 = ANDORRA

CICERO participants in all these countries attempted the same questions, (click here to see the test paper) set by their teachers and translated into their native languages. During the competition many of them were able to communicate with each other by video-conferencing and to send each other their best wishes.

Below are details of videoconferencing, photos, videos and question papers.

Patrick Voisin, Director of CICERO, welcomes you to CICERO 2011

It is a great pity that technical problems in France prevented Patrick and his students from sharing in all the fun of videoconferencing, so Patrick could not enjoy the results of his vision and hard work.

As Cicero might have said: "O tempora! O [machinae] mores ! "

[see the very end of this page for a possible translation]

Dates of the CICERO competition in the participating countries - you can see an index of all the video-conferencing at the end of this page.

25 03 2011 : Spain
25-26 03 2011 : Australia Prizes were announced at the Senior Classics Students' Dinner : see Australian page for details.
26 03 2011 : France, Italy, UK (England, Channel Isles & Scotland)
01 04 2011 : Andorra
16 04 2011 :Tunisia Tunisia experienced a revolution earlier in 2011 and we were worried about our CICERO friends there. Here is a message from the teacher, Nadia:

Thank you so much for thinking of us here, in Tunisia. Now we are doing well and we try to reconstruct our country.There are still some problems but we will try to resolve them. We still worry about the refugees who avoid Libya towards our country and the situation near the border is alarming..

Many thanx for all those who expressed concern for us...

Here are some photos..

Love from Nadia and Tunisia.

Message from Anne Dicks, co-founder and Webmaster of CICERO:

IT IS WONDERFUL TO SEE STUDENTS ALL AROUND THE WORLD ENJOYING THE REALISATION OF THEIR SHARED ENTHUSIASM FOR CLASSICS. THANK YOU TO ALL THE TEACHERS WHO HAVE WORKED SO HARD TO CREATE THIS EXPERIENCE FOR THEIR STUDENTS.

Now a quick video - made by students at Malvern St James School in England - of the myth of Jason and the Argonauts, this year's cultural topic. If you are quick - VERY quick! - you can see Jason carrying Hera across the river, the Argonauts rowing the ship, the Clashing Rocks, the Harpies, Medea dismembering her brother and the fate of the dragon as Jason takes the Golden Fleece.

The story of Jason from the 'Argonautica' of Valerius Flaccus performed by students in Sydney, Australia, during their CICERO competition at Pymble Ladies' College. A list of Australian prizewinners can be seen on the 'Australia' page of this website.

Salvete amici amicaeque omnes!

Discipuli terrae Australis vobis salutem plurimam damus.

Hic Autumnus frugifer iam appropinquavit, vobis ver incipit gratum.

Ubique mutatio tempestatis climaticae vices vertit,

flumina mariaque torrentia clades maximas producunt,

sed Cicero sempiternus est -

sicut verae amicitiae, ut ipse Cicero dixit.

Students in Italy have made this inspirational video to celebrate the importance of reading Classical literature. The quotation is from the 15th Century Italian Humanist Johannes Picus Mirandulanus.

Italian students convey another message from Picus - this one is about Peace.

España

UK

Prizewinners were announced in May on this website and at the AGM of the Joint Association of Classical Teachers.

Tunisie

France: Paris (3), Avignon, Le Mans, Nancy

Classics students may well be in a minority in their own schools but there is a thriving worldwide community of young people who share your love of the subject. This competition was founded 5 years ago by Patrick Voisin and Anne Dicks, Classics teachers in France and England, so that students of Classical subjects around the world could interact with each other and feel a sense of comradeship as they pit their wits against each other while researching Classical themes. The competition consists of two very challenging examinations and it is a testament to the calibre of these young people that they have given up their free time to answer questions on the myth of Jason and/or to translate a difficult piece of Latin.

CICERO 2011

Federico Mayor Zaragoza is Patron of the CICERO competition and he has sent a prize for the winning school.

Federico Mayor Zaragoza was Director-General of UNESCO from 1987 to 1999 and he is the Founder and Director of Foundation for a Culture of Peace, Madrid. www.fund-culturadepaz.org

Federico's 2011 message to all of us affiliated to 'A Ray of Hope' is: "We must be committed and involved in ... a culture of dialogue and peace. From force to word."

'A Ray of Hope' UNESCO Youth Ambassador for the Culture of Peace supports CICERO.

www.unesco.co.uk

Its founder, Don, says: "CICERO is now a global amphitheatre, built around the pillars of the classics with an ever-expanding foundation of friendship."

DETAILS OF VIDEOCONFERENCING SESSIONS DURING THE COMPETITION

FRIDAY - Spain's competition - videoconferencing with with Italy Liceo Gandini and UK Malvern St James students

Meeting lasted 1 hour. 11am GMT; 1200 Spain The link for this recording cannot be shown on the website. If you think you are eligible to view it please contact the Webmaster ('communicate nobiscum' page)

NOTHING UNTIL 17.45

17.45 Competition in Spain: IES Infante D. Juan Manuel de Murcia
19.30 Greetings from UK Malvern St James
24.29 and 31.32 Greetings from Liceo Gandini in Italy but some problems with microphone on other sections

SATURDAY - CICERO in Sydney, Australia, was finishing as Italy began. Videoconferencing with UK students who had arrived early for their competition and with Anne (co-founder of CICERO)

Meeting lasted 1 hour : 8.30am GMT, 9.30am Italy, 7.30pm Australia. The link for this recording cannot be shown on the website. If you think you are eligible to view it please contact the Webmaster ('communicate nobiscum' page)

NOTHING UNTIL 21 18

21.18 UK students + UK Anne + Liceo Gandini in Lodi, Italia
41. 16 Italy teacher congratulates Malvern St James students for their Jason video
43.45 Australia joins; 47.13 students at Pymble Ladies' College talk about their recitations;
49.37 Italy: teacher talks about the competition
53.28 UK: Anne talks about the competition
57.37 Australian students talk about what they have been doing

SATURDAY - Italy was finishing as France and UK start - videoconferencing is mainly pictures with very little organised conversation: students spoke to or texted each other during the breaks between the tests.

Meeting lasted 6 hours. 12noon GMT; 1300 France, Italy. The link for this recording cannot be shown on the website. If you think you are eligible to view it please contact the Webmaster ('communicate nobiscum' page)

SATURDAY 16 April - CICERO in Tunisia. Despite all the hard work by the technicians, videoconferencing was not able to take place, but the competition was a great success and the students were able to see videos and pictures from the earlier events in different countries.

CICERO PARTNERS ONLY CAN LISTEN TO RECORDINGS OF THE VIDEOCONFERENCING.

CICERO is pleased to be in partnership with ePrep, a non profit initiative for enhancing international access to the 'grandes écoles' through ICT. Our partnership comes under the auspices of the Open University and videoconferencing takes place subject to the Open University conditions of use.

2011 question-paper on Jason and the Argonauts

2011 France translation , UK translation and markscheme

2010 question-paper (UK) on Carthage, from Dido to Hannibal
2010 France CULTURE Carthage

2010 UK translation

2009 question-paper (UK, Belgium and France) on The World of Odysseus

2009 UK translation

2008 question-paper (UK, Andorra and Spain) on Hercules/Herakles

2008 UK translation

Possible translation of the Latin quotation suggested for Cicero:

"O tempora! O [machinae] mores!"

O the times we live in! O the pitfalls [of a computer]!

Cicero did in fact say 'o tempora, o mores' referring to the dreadful situation in Rome at the time of the conspiracy of Catiline 'O the times we live in, O the way people behave!