Found in Antiquity

  • Medulla project: website, summary and core values

    I have launched a permanent home for the Medulla project on GitHub at this link: https://foundinantiquity.github.io/Medulla/ It is currently in the form of a static webpage (created from the GitHub repository’s ReadMe file) outlining the rationale and procedures of the project.  GitHub was chosen for hosting for a number of reasons. GitHub provides transparent public Read more

  • The business case for Latin textbooks adopting the Medulla cross-compatibility standard

    I am very pleased with the amount of feedback I have received on the Medulla project since first proposing it. One person wrote in to ask why any new textbooks would take on a premade open source core grammar and vocabulary sequence rather than coming up with their own. After all, there would be no Read more

  • The Medulla: A Proposal to Break Out of Closed Latin Textbooks and Create an Open-Source Curriculum

    In this essay I will propose how we can create an open-source Latin curriculum, which I nickname the Medulla, or the bone-marrow. This curriculum can serve as the common core for a diverse new generation of Latin textbooks. Have you ever daydreamed about writing your own Latin textbook from start to finish, knowing deep down Read more

  • We need to talk about Latinitas.

    We need to be allowed to talk about Latinitas in the context of Latin teaching. What follows is a 7,000 word explanation why. In the course of this essay we will explore the effects of mandating a veneer of public positivity about CI Latin novellas and why this is problematic. As a community we need Read more

  • Do we have too many English translations of the Aeneid?

    Recently, I wanted to compare many different English translator’s approaches to a particular line in Vergil’s Aeneid, but I discovered that there was no easy reference chart online listing all English translations of the Aeneid. The few aging websites that had some partial bibliographies only listed a handful of translations, and did not include notable Read more

  • Nothing new under the sun: Learning Latin through all four modes in 1887

    Recently I was emailed by someone asking what I thought about an essay called “The Art of Reading Latin: how to teach it” by W. G. Hale of Cornell University published in 1887. The essay is a fascinating document in that it advocates for the incorporation of reading, listening, speaking, and writing in Latin instruction, Read more