Found in Antiquity

  • When ‘comprehensible input’ is not enough

    I’ve been on Latin reddit discussions for years and one single educational theory comes up again and again as if it were the only way to learn a language: Krashen and his comprehensible input hypothesis. Put simply, a learner should be introduced to the each feature of the language incrementally, by receiving input that contains Read more

  • Getting better at teaching scansion

    Previously, I had taught the scansion of dactylic hexameter by giving a lecture of the whole system then getting students to have a crack at it with a copy of Latin text – and with no macrons printed either. (I quickly learned not to use the opening of Aeneid 1 as the starter material, because Read more

  • ‘Palatina Medea’ or ‘Medea Palatina’? A preference for adjective-noun word order in Latin

    We’ve been told that adjectives in Latin ‘tend to’ or ‘prefer to’ follow the nouns they describe. But on the contrary, the statistical evidence shows that Caesar and Cicero actually preferred putting adjectives before nouns. We didn’t learn that ‘noun then adjective’ rule from reading unadapted Latin. We didn’t discover it from real usage. We Read more

  • Speed-running putting on a toga

    What can you do stuck at home inside? See how fast you can get yourself dressed for the Senate of course. I started this challenge when someone said, “You need slaves or helpers to get yourself dressed in a toga – it’s so long and difficult to drape.” I understand that in practice, a wealthy Read more

  • Tabula: a strategic 2-player Roman board and dice game

    Picture yourself planning for a Year 8 class in the final period of the day. It’s the second last week of term and everyone has finished their exams and have mentally started their holidays already. The class includes several (loud, influential) students who are not continuing Latin next year. They’ve probably been watching videos all Read more

  • The accent of words ending in -que

    TL;DR: Latin words ending in -que should be accented on the syllable before -que only if that syllable is (or has become) heavy; otherwise, the word should retain its original accent. If this sounds new to you, that’s probably because you’ve been following Allen & Greenough and other nineteenth century scholarship. The rules of accent Read more