Cursus Honorum is a text-based game of Roman political ambition. You begin as a private citizen of an old but debt-ridden family, and climb the cursus honorum — the traditional ladder of Roman public office — through study, strategy, money, and the connections you build along the way, all the way to the consulship.
Purpose
This game is designed to improve Latin literacy: it builds vocabulary, deepens knowledge of Roman culture and custom, and rewards strategic thinking, all through play rather than rote memorization. It is aimed at Latin II and III students and beyond, or anyone with some grounding in the Latin language who wants to keep sharpening it in context.
How It Works
- Forum — make narrative choices and encounter random events that shape your reputation, relationships, and fortune.
- Study — answer multiple-choice and fill-in-the-blank questions on Latin vocabulary, grammar, and Roman culture to earn denarii; questions grow harder, and build on what you've already learned, as you earn more.
- Market — spend denarii on reputation, relationships, investments, debt repayment, and — for the right price — the occasional shortcut past Rome's bureaucracy.
- Amici — cultivate relationships with senators, merchants, priests, and rivals; some can personally sponsor your rise to office once trusted enough.
- Rising in rank — each office (Tribune, Quaestor, Aedile, Praetor, Consul) requires enough denarii and reputation, or a patron's sponsorship, and unlocks a new power unique to that office.
Made by Max Yang, a Classics student at The Hill School.
