Syra Sōla

Syra Sōla (Syra Alone) is a sheltered-vocabulary Latin novella published by Lance Piantaggini in 2019 as part of the Pisoverse series. It tells the story of Syra, a Roman girl who just wants some alone time, but Rome is too crowded. She goes to many locations in Rome, and then to Pompeii and Herculaneum in search of solitude.. It is notable for It is notable for its low core word count and its very low number of T-units per sentence, meaning that there are very few compound sentences. Its illustrations, depicting Syra as a Roman woman with dark skin, are also of note, as they help correct the misconception that all Romans were what we would consider \"white.\"

Available from the author's website (bulk discounts available) or from Amazon.

Reading level

Though the author's introduction gives no indication of the intended reading level, Syra Sōla seems to have been written at the same level as the author's works that are intended for the first year of study (e.g. Rūfus et Arma Atra). Comprehensible Antiquity puts this novella at Level A.

Diverse & Multicultural Identities

For information about how representation of multicultural and diverse identities is analyzed in LNDb, see here.

Parallel cultures

Syra is Roman, so she does not belong to a parallel culture as defined by LNDb. That said, the illustrations depict Syra as a dark-skinned woman, and the author’s introduction states that part of the novella’s goal is “exposing learners to multicultural Rome” (p. 5). The lesson for readers seems to be that, contrary to popular belief, not all Romans were what we would consider “white” today. Given the overwhelmingly white depictions of Romans in other Latin instructional materials, this visual choice is significant.

Gender

Features one cis female main character (Syra). Features no cis male main characters or transgender main characters.

Sexual identity

No depictions identified in the text. (An illustration shows what appear to be a man and a woman as her parents.)

SES/class

No depictions identified.

Religion

No depictions identified. (Syra visits Roman temples, but no religious practices are depicted.)

Disability

No depictions identified.

Language Statistics

Vocabulary

Word counts may differ from the author's advertised figures. See here for information about how words are counted in LNDb.

Word List

A complete word list for Syra Sōla can be found here.

Glosses

This novella contains glosses in the form of both footnotes with English translations and pictures. It also features many illustrations. While they are not glosses of particular words, they are meant to depict the events of the story in a way that supports comprehension on a level broader than individual words.

Of the 44 unique words (not counting proper nouns) used in the text, 11 of them (25%) are glossed at their first appearance in the text. Of the 1915 total words in the text, 144 of them (7.5%) are glossed.

Glossary

This novella contains a Latin-English glossary, with every form of each word listed separately. The glossary is complete.

Syntax

The ratio of compound sentences indicates what proportion of the total sentences are compound sentences, on average. A compound sentence is defined as a sentence with multiple T-units.
The ratio of complex sentences indicates what proportion of the total sentences are complex sentences, on average. A complex sentence is defined as a sentence with one or more subordinate clauses or verb phrases.

See here for more information.

Summary

The graph above shows the vocabulary and syntax of the novella relative to the other novellas studied. A higher position on the graph means that this novella scores higher than average in this criterion. These scores are not necessarily tied to reading level; this graph is descriptive of the novella's language rather than predictive of its difficulty.

Genre & Sources

This novella is in the genre of historical (Classical).

It is not an adaptation of any particular piece of Classical literature.

CONTAINS SPOILERS

Syra is a Roman girl who likes to be alone. She goes to various places in Rome (the Subura, the Pantheon, the Temple of Janus, the Forum...), but cannot find any place to be alone. She gets a suggestion to go to Pompeii. She buys a horse from a merchant and goes there, but she can't find any alone time there either. She gets another suggestion to go to Herculaneum and is pleased to see that it is less crowded there. She sees many animals there and decides she wants an animal companion who also likes to be alone. A merchant offers her several exotic animals, and Syra settles on a giraffe. The giraffe bites her, and so she returns to Rome alone.

First 100 Words

Underlined words are glossed in the text. See also the preview found here.

Syra est Rōmāna.
Syra sōla est.
Syra est Rōmāna sōla.
Syra sōla Rōmāna est. sed, Syra amīcōs habet.
amīcī Syrae sunt multī.
Sextus est amīcus Syrae.
Rūfus amīcus Syrae est.
Quīntus quoque est amīcus Syrae.
Syra est amīca Sextī, Rūfī, et Quīntī.
Syra amīcōs multōs habet. Syrae placet habēre amīcōs. sed, Syrae quoque placet esse sōlum.
Syrae placet esse sōlum, et Syrae placet esse Rōmānum. Syrae placet esse sōlum Rōmānum!
Syra est Rōmae.
Syra vult esse sōla.
Syra vult esse sōla, Rōmae.
Syra sōla esse vult, Rōmae. sed, sunt multī Rōmānī, Rōmae—ēheu!
Syra vult esse sōla in Subūrā. sed, Rōmānī multī sunt in Subūrā. ...

Studies show that a reader should understand 98% of the words in a text in order to have a good chance of comprehending it. One rule of thumb is to read the first hundred words and count the number of unfamiliar words. If there are two or fewer unfamiliar words, it can be read without much difficulty. Three to five unfamiliar words is possible to read, but may be difficult. If there are six or more unfamiliar words, the text may be too difficult.

Supplementary Materials

The author has created numerous supplementary materials, including a teacher's guide with expanded readings, an audiobook, and an add-on book (Syra et Animālia) with additional reading material based on the story.

Presentation

Illustrations?	Yes
Illustrator	Lauren Aczon, Lance Piantaggini
Macrons?	yes
Font	Verdana, 14 pt
Pages of story	47
Total pages	73
Chapters	10

Key Information

Publication date	February 10, 2019
Publisher	Poetulus Publishing (Createspace)
ISBN	1725042247
ISBN-13	978-1725042247