''Hebdomada Aenigmatum'' is the first
magazine
A magazine is a periodical publication, generally published on a regular schedule (often weekly or monthly), containing a variety of content. They are generally financed by advertising, purchase price, prepaid subscriptions, or by a combinatio ...
of
crossword
A crossword is a word puzzle that usually takes the form of a square or a rectangular grid of white- and black-shaded squares. The goal is to fill the white squares with letters, forming words or phrases, by solving clues which lead to the answ ...
s in
Latin
Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...
.
Contents
The magazine features several crosswords and word puzzles in Latin, a variation of
Sudoku with
Roman numerals
Roman numerals are a numeral system that originated in ancient Rome and remained the usual way of writing numbers throughout Europe well into the Late Middle Ages. Numbers are written with combinations of letters from the Latin alphabet, eac ...
, a section with global news, a comic strip of Incredibilis Snupius (English:
Snoopy
Snoopy is an anthropomorphic beagle in the comic strip ''Peanuts'' by Charles M. Schulz. He can also be found in all of the ''Peanuts'' films and television specials. Since his debut on October 4, 1950, Snoopy has become one of the most recog ...
) and a section on miscellaneous subjects (including films, recipes and sport).
Special editions included two Christmas editions (“Editio Natalicia”) in December 2014 and December 2015 and the “Ego sum Carolus” (
Je suis Charlie) edition in January 2015 to support freedom of speech after the
terrorist attack at the French satirical weekly newspaper
Charlie Hebdo
''Charlie Hebdo'' (; meaning ''Charlie Weekly'') is a French satirical weekly magazine, featuring cartoons, reports, polemics, and jokes. Stridently non-conformist in tone, the publication has been described as Anti-racism, anti-racist, sceptica ...
in Paris.
The first crossword puzzle in ancient Greek appeared in April 2015 as an annex to the 9th issue of ''Hebdomada Aenigmatum''. It developed into a separate magazine with the name of ''Ὀνόματα Kεχιασμένα'' (''Onomata Kechiasmena''). with crosswords, word puzzles, join-the-dots where the dots are sequentially marked with Greek letters, a strip of Asterix in ancient Greek, two pages of recent news in ancient Greek in collaboration with Akropolis World News.
Organization and initiatives
Launched in June 2014, ''Hebdomada Aenigmatum'' is published monthly and is available free of charge upon registration on the website.
The
editor-in-chief
An editor-in-chief (EIC), also known as lead editor or chief editor, is a publication's editorial leader who has final responsibility for its operations and policies.
The highest-ranking editor of a publication may also be titled editor, managing ...
is
Lucas Cupidus in collaboration with Herimannus Novocomensis, Iconoclastes, Lydia Ariminensis, Theodorus.
A contest of Latin crosswords (Certamen Aenigmatum Latinorum) has been organized twice by the Greek-Latin Festival in 2016 and 2018 at the
École normale supérieure de Lyon
The École normale supérieure de Lyon (also known as ENS de Lyon, ENSL or Normale Sup' Lyon) is a French grande école located in the city of Lyon. It is one of the four prestigious écoles normales supérieures in France. The school is ...
. Latin crosswords have been the subject of several conferences at
Scuola Normale Superiore di Pisa
The Scuola Normale Superiore in Pisa (commonly known in Italy as "la Normale") is a public university in Pisa and Florence, Tuscany, Italy, currently attended by about 600 undergraduate and postgraduate (PhD) students.
It was founded in 1810 wi ...
.
Both ''Hebdomada Aenigmatum'' and ''Onomata Kechiasmena'' are included in a memorandum of understanding with the
Italian Ministry of Education
The Ministry of Education, University and Research (in it, Ministero dell'Istruzione, dell'Università e della Ricerca, italic=no or MIUR) is the ministry of the Italian government for the national education system, the Italian universities and ...
to promote the use of Latin and Greek crosswords as a tool to facilitate learning ancient languages.
Memorandum of Understanding with the Italian Ministry of Education
References
{{Authority control
2014 establishments in Italy
Magazines established in 2014
Latin-language mass media
Crossword magazines
Magazines published in Rome
Italian-language magazines
Monthly magazines published in Italy