Cerberus Wins: Martia Dementia 2023 Recap

Martia Dementia 2023 brought back some popular players—mythical monsters—to face off against an array of ancient deities. Medusa, Medea’s dragons, and many more steeled themselves to fight the likes of Sterquilinus (Roman god of dung!), triple-bodied Hecate, and esoteric Etruscan god of the underworld, Lur. Among the divine challengers, a few emerged as early fan favorites. Sol Invictus, said to be “unconquered,” trounced the competitive field until succumbing to the goddess of victory herself, Nike. Hypnos and Thanatos, working as a pair, put in a good showing as well. Meanwhile, monsters dominated from the beginning: from the giant automaton Talos to the hundred-handed Hecatoncheires, these creatures proved their mettle.

Magistra Farkas's winning class.

In the end, the literal underdog of the competition—Cerberus, three-headed canine resident of the underworld—reigned victorious. Beating out several gods (Flora, Veiovis, Asclepius), Cerberus defeated mother of monsters Echidna before handily dispensing with Nike, a true upset. In the finals, Cerberus finished off Talos to run away with the championship win.

Thank you to all who participated this year in Martia Dementia. In 2023, we received a record number of bracket submissions, 740 entries, which means that competition was quite strong! First place resulted in a tie: congratulations to Magistra Farkas’s Latin 2 class at Belmont High School (Belmont, MA) and Derek Sanders, teacher at Great Bridge High School (Chesapeake, VA). Krystal Kubichek’s combined Latin 1 classes at Walnut Hills High School (Cincinnati, OH) took home third prize. Notably, this entry was one of the few top-scoring brackets that correctly selected Cerberus as the overall champion! Finally, laurels for achieving the most abysmal bracket go to a student participant at Piedmont Classical High School (Browns Summit, NC).

Once again, thank you to all participants, who helped make this year’s contest a resounding success. Have strong feelings about this year’s winners? Hope to see a particular ancient figure featured in next year’s contest? Tweet @BCPublishers what and who you would like to see and include the hashtag #MartiaDementia or give feedback in the comments below. We would love to hear from you!

Winner Derek Sanders and some of his students.