This textbook provides a basic introduction to Latin and Ancient Greek. It demonstrates the similarities of their grammatical structures, as well as how they differ from English. This book contains 15 lessons. Each lesson includes various short exercises, introduces 10 new vocabulary words, and concludes a larger set of sentence exercises. The textbook was written not only for classroom use, but as a means of self-study. It can be used to create an intensive course or worked through at a user’s own pace. We have chosen to use the Erasmian pronunciation; however, teachers can decide to use a different Greek pronunciation with this textbook.
In writing this textbook, we made unique choices for the curriculum. To mimic the style of ancient Latin and Greek texts, we did not capitalize any of the Latin or Greek words other than proper nouns. Additionally, we chose to list the dictionary-entry formats of verbs as only the first- person singular and infinitive for both languages. This maintains a uniformity between the two ancient languages for easier acquisition.
Our fourth- and fifth-grade students noticed gender inequality profoundly reflected in these ancient languages. We tried to balance that tendency by listing the feminine form of the adjectives first, even though doing so breaks with countless dictionaries and other classical texts. Though the feminine form of the adjective belongs to the first declension and would therefore logically be listed before the second declension forms, the grammatical tradition has been to list the masculine form of the adjective first. We also added a “they (singular)” translation to the “she, he, it” list of pronouns. Hopefully, these and other editorial choices will make the study of Latin and Ancient Greek feel accessible to students of all genders, even though the languages themselves were not built to be inclusive.
We acknowledge that the realities of ancient Rome and ancient Greece, namely enslavement, misogyny, classism, ethnic discrimination, and other discriminatory practices, can make it difficult for students to connect with the historical and literary traditions of these cultures. We also acknowledge that an education in Classics has historically been a mark of elitism. While we cannot change the past, we hope that this textbook will make Classics feel more accessible to all and that our students will feel empowered to push back against these discriminatory practices that have stained Classics and its reception. Though we cannot ignore ancient realities, we can shift the ways that we classify grammar to reflect a more modern viewpoint.
This is a print on demand book. That means that we are able to make changes to the text and update the copy for sale quickly. If you find any errors in this book or have other comments, please contact the authors at eberts.mchugh@gmail.com. Thank you!
