Found in Antiquity

  • Latin tutoring: Practice literary and context questions for Aeneid VI

    I’ve been captivated once again by the wonderful style and substance of Vergil’s Aeneid. But this year I’ve been particularly nerding out because my three Year 12 Latin tutoring students are all studying book VI, the journey to the Underworld, which was the book I studied when I was in Year 12. Read more

  • Twelve tenses: When English outdoes Ancient Greek in precision

    I have sometimes heard people say, “Ancient Greek is the most precise language in the world.” This usually comes from people who have not studied Greek for themselves and haven’t really seen its quirks first-hand. I don’t know how best to respond. True, there are distinctions which Greek makes that English doesn’t make, but in Read more

  • A Latin counting song and thoughts on Primary Latin

    I’m sorry that I missed an update in April, but there has been at least one reason for that. I’ve been involved in a pilot program to introduce Latin to a public primary school, and so far it has been a blast. Here’s a song I sung to the children yesterday on my guitar. First Read more

  • Latin and Greek for your pets

    Your dog can learn Latin and Ancient Greek! And everyone in the family can pick up a bit of Latin or Ancient Greek along with you and your four-legged pal. The internet may be chocked full of cat and dog videos, but did you know there aren’t any videos of dogs responding to (grammatically correct) Read more

  • Grammar or reading: which type of Latin or Greek textbook is better?

    If ever you read Amazon reviews of Latin and Ancient Greek textbooks, you’ll find some very lively discussions on the relative merits of grammar- and readings-based textbooks. (If ‘lively’ is the right word to use!) In this video, I outline the main differences between these two kinds of textbooks, and weigh in on the pros Read more

  • Five reasons why Latin should be taught in schools

    I learned Latin in high school, I loved it, and now I’m a private tutor for high school Latin. But when I tell people what I do, the question that so often comes up is this: Why should schools still teach Latin? I’ve heard many answers to that question over the years, and while they Read more