In the biggest ambush since the Battle of Teutoburg Forest in 9AD, Columba College descended on the annual University of Otago Senior Classical Studies quiz in record numbers this past Tuesday evening.

Ten Dunedin high school teams engaged in a titanic tussle as they flexed their classical knowledge throughout rounds encompassing Mythology, Literature, History, Art, Architecture and Archaeology and a touch of Pot-Luck, with Columba sweeping the podium placings. 

Last year’s champions ‘Mythamphetamine’ (Holly Bancroft, Madeline McCane, Sophie O’Neill and Emma Orr) emerged victorious again, with an unprecedented 53 out of a possible 55 points, with second place going to ‘Get Oedipus Wrekt’, a Year 12 team comprising of Evie Ballantyne, Allison LeBuffe, Lara Seaton, as well as John McGlashan College’s Jack Lundy. 

‘Stab the Salad’, a Year 11 team (Sophia Arnell, Olivia Charles, Angela Fu and Chloe Heineke) were pipped into 3rd after a tie-breaker question - a Herculean effort, given that Classics at Columba only starts as an NCEA subject at Level 2. 

A massive thanks and hearty ‘macte hac gloria’ to all participants – it’s because of you and your enthusiasm for all things antiquated that, like the Hydra, Classics at Columba continues to thrive.