Classical Languages

Familia Romana (the main book of Pars I of the Lingua Latina per se illustrata series) contains thirty-five chapters and describes the life of a Roman family in the 2nd century A.D. It culminates in readings from classical poets and Donatus's Ars Grammatica, the standard Latin school text for a millennium. Each chapter is divided into two or three lessons (lectiones) of a few pages each followed by a grammar section (Grammatica Latina) and three exercises (Pensa). Hans Ørberg's impeccable Latin, humorous stories, and the Peer Lauritzen illustrations, reproduced in full color, make this work a classic. The book also includes a table of declensions, a Roman calendar, and a word index (index vocabulorum).

"Familia Romana and A Companion to Familia Romana came as a complete revelation. I'd heard they were unique, but they are literally nothing less than a work of genius. They would completely revolutionize the classroom, and I would urge all teachers of first-year Latin at universities and all high school teachers to seriously consider adopting this radical approach to learning Latin. The companion volume provides all the traditional exposure you would want, but the main volume shows every prospect of genuinely internalizing Latin in the learner's brain as a living language, calling on a whole set of language-acquisition skills and instincts normally neglected in the teaching of a dead language. Mind-blowing." —Jack Mitchell, Department of Classics, Dalhousie University

Familia Romana Essentials Online online courseware is also available. More information can be found in the links below:

COURSE INSTRUCTORS: Request free instructor preview access and learn more here.

INDIVIDUAL LEARNERS: See purchasing options and FAQs about the self-paced learner version of the cousre here.

Hans H. Ørberg's Roma Aeterna, 2nd edition (the main book of Pars II of the Lingua Latina per se illustrata series, now with full-color illustrations) and Jeanne Marie Neumann's A Companion to Roma Aeterna available for sale as a set at a reduced price. The set may be purchased with a hardcover edition of Roma Aeterna and a paperback edition of A Companion to Roma Aeterna, or with paperback editions of each volume. Instructor examination copy orders of the set will include paperback editions of each volume. 

Roma Aeterna (the main book of Pars II of the Lingua Latina per se illustrata series) introduces some of the most celebrated authors of Roman antiquity through the lens of Roman literature and mythology. A vivid description of the city's monuments precedes a prose retelling of the first four books of Virgil’s Aeneid, with many of the most famous passages in their original verse form. The selection from Virgil is followed by Book One of Livy's engaging mythical history of Rome's foundation. The prose selections are judiciously chosen and, in the first few chapters, gently adapted to provide students with a text that is authentically Latin and yet not difficult. The unadapted selections, which make up the majority of the text, are taken from Aulus Gellius, Ovid, Nepos, Sallust, and Horace. These annotated selections make Roma Aeterna useful both as the next step after Familia Romana and as a survey of Latin literature in its own right.

This text is a commentary in the original Greek, with an introductory essay, notes, a complete vocabulary and an introduction to how to use the resources in the Perseus Digital Library. The speeches in this text (1, 2, 3, 4, and 24) show the best and worst of Classical Athens, from tawdry affairs aired in the law courts to Athens' heroic self-image portrayed in the Funeral Oration.

Mater Anserina is a delightful book of twenty-eight poems, many of them favorites from Mother Goose, rendered in Latin, with the English translation on facing pages. Designated specifically for early learners of Latin, the nursery rhymes are designed for reciting or singing, with the particular aim of giving young students an introduction to Latin pronunciation.

Audio files: Audio recordings of all 28 rhymes covered in the book (formerly available on CD) are now streaming for free on the Hackett website. Click here to listen to the audio.

The print edition of Minor Authors of the Corpus Tibullianum in the Bryn Mawr Commentaries (Latin) series is now out of print and available only as a free PDF download. Click the learn more link below to visit the title page and download the free eBook.

Bryn Mawr Commentaries provide clear, concise, accurate, and consistent support for students making the transition from introductory and intermediate texts to the direct experience of ancient Greek and Latin literature. They assume that the student will know the basics of grammar and vocabulary and then provide the specific grammatical and lexical notes that a student requires to begin the task of interpretation.

Hackett Publishing Company is the exclusive distributor of the Bryn Mawr Commentaries in North America, the United Kingdom, and Europe.

A delightful collection of straightforward prose narratives, divided into 100-word sections. These stories are suitable for intermediate-level Greek students who have seen all or most of the grammar. Vocabulary and appendix of proper names. Because Morice chose characters and incidents from history and mythology, these stories also serve to introduce Ancient Greek culture.

New First Steps in Latin is the first book in a three-book series designed specifically for middle or high school students. The texts employ a minimum of explanation of grammatical principles, concentrate on essential grammar and morphology and on the syntax of simple, compound, and complex sentences. The focus on learning is through numerous examples. The series offers students a complete graded introduction to Latin and grammar. It can be used alone, as a main text supplemented by readings and cultural material, or as a supplementary grammatical work text for a reading-oriented course.

Course instructors: click here to request PDF instructor's materials.

New Second Steps in Latin is the second book in a three-book series designed specifically for middle or high school students. The texts employ a minimum of explanation of grammatical principles, concentrate on essential grammar and morphology and on the syntax of simple, compound, and complex sentences. The focus on learning is through numerous examples. The series offers students a complete graded introduction to Latin and grammar. It can be used alone, as a main text supplemented by readings and cultural material, or as a supplementary grammatical work text for a reading-oriented course.

Course instructors: click here to request PDF instructor's materials.

New Third Steps in Latin is the third book in a three-book series designed specifically for middle or high school students. The texts employ a minimum of explanation of grammatical principles, concentrate on essential grammar and morphology and on the syntax of simple, compound, and complex sentences. The focus on learning is through numerous examples. The series offers students a complete graded introduction to Latin and grammar. It can be used alone, as a main text supplemented by readings and cultural material, or as a supplementary grammatical work text for a reading-oriented course.

Course instructors: click here to request PDF instructor's materials.

Nunc Loquamur is an illustrated text for students new to Latin who want to incorporate speaking Latin into their study. Through rich drawings by the author, students are provided situations common to the classroom and their lives in which to speak to one another, along with clues and vocabulary necessary for basic conversations. Additional Resources: Free audio and interactive software for Nunc Loquamur is available online at: http://www.discamus.com/nunc/

Text in Greek with extensive commentary in English, including a general introduction, and introductions to each of the two texts, appendices, glossary, and vocabulary. The Euthyphro and the Clitophon provide an ideal, exciting introduction to Plato and Greek prose. Even a student fresh out of introductory ancient Greek can expect to finish these works within a semester, because the Greek of the Euthyphro is clear and easy to follow, but not overly simple.

Keitel and Crawford have produced a college level commentary of Cicero's great speech which provides insights into Roman life and culture, the nature and tools of Roman rhetoric, and, through the inclusion of correspondence and other texts, the life and friendships of Cicero himself. This volume includes the Latin text with vocabulary, exercises, notes, and an extensive introduction.

A Reading Course in Homeric Greek, Book 1 of the revised Edward's editions by Focus Publishing. This text was originally published by the well respected Frs. Schoder and Horrigan. A Reading Course in Homeric Greek, Book I, provides an introduction to Greek language as found in the Greek of Homer. Covering 120 lessons, readings from Homer begin after the first 10 lessons in the book. Honor work, appendices, and vocabularies are included, along with review exercises for each chapter which have answers. 

A Reading Course in Homeric Greek, Book 2, the revised version by Leslie Edwards for Focus Publishing. This text provides an introduction to Greek language as found in the Greek of Homer using Odyssey books 6 and 12. 

Readings and Exercises in Latin Prose Composition provides a refreshing approach for the standard Latin composition course offered at the college level. This text encourages the student to think in Latin through the process of reading unedited Latin selections and then composing in Latin, as opposed to the process of translating back and forth into English. The book offers a number of highly structured composition exercises that introduce students to a deeper understanding of Latin grammar and prose as well as to greater facility in reading and understanding it. Course Instructors: An electronic answer key (PDF only) is available for qualified instructors who have adopted this text for their course. If you have adopted this text for your course click here to request a copy of the answer key.

"It is humbling to encounter 'real' Latin, in letters inscribed on a building or tombstone, and to be utterly at a loss beyond the obvious. Yet, as Roman Lives demonstrates. . . much of this material can be relatively easy to decode. Furthermore, this book shows how epigraphy can open a window onto ancient lives and their humanity. This book should thus prove a rich resource for teachers of Latin and Roman civilization."
      —The Classical Outlook

Rouse’s Greek Boy is a slight revision of Rouse’s original Greek language reader, A Greek Boy at Home. Although designed to accompany Rouse’s grammar text, it is a useful reader for beginning Greek course. It begins with simple grammar and builds in complexity as the course continues. This edition includes revised and modernized hints for using the book and is intended to be used with Anne Mahoney's First Greek Course.

This reprint of the classic text contains brief explanations of Greek grammar as they pertain to various aspects of writing and usage, numerous exercises that cover issues in accidence, syntax and idiom and also allow for discussion of Greek grammar in relationship to English usage.

The print edition of Statius Silvae (Selections) in the Bryn Mawr Commentaries (Latin) series is now out of print and available only as a free PDF download. Click the learn more link below to visit the title page and download the free eBook.

Bryn Mawr Commentaries provide clear, concise, accurate, and consistent support for students making the transition from introductory and intermediate texts to the direct experience of ancient Greek and Latin literature. They assume that the student will know the basics of grammar and vocabulary and then provide the specific grammatical and lexical notes that a student requires to begin the task of interpretation.

Hackett Publishing Company is the exclusive distributor of the Bryn Mawr Commentaries in North America, the United Kingdom, and Europe.

Studies in Etymology is a standard introduction to the Classical etymology of the English language with equal coverage of Latin and Greek roots. The book is ideal for college-level classics or humanities courses of all designs. The book includes extensive exercises for each chapter, additional words for study, and indexes of prefixes, suffixes, and word stems. 

The 2-volume print edition of Terence Andria in the Bryn Mawr Commentaries (Greek) series is now out of print and available only as a free PDF download. Click the learn more link below to visit the title page and download the free eBook.

The print edition of The Pinax of Cebes in the Bryn Mawr Commentaries (Greek) series is now out of print and available only as a free PDF download. Click the learn more link below to visit the title page and download the free eBook.

“It is great news that this book is available again. It deserves to be better known, both for its pioneering methods of linguistic analysis and for the results to which they lead. It transforms our understanding of the all-important Greek verb ‘to be.’”
     —Myles Burnyeat, All Souls College, University of Oxford

The Worlds of Roman Women is a Latin reader on the theme of women in the ancient world for Intermediate Latin students. It contains introductions of each selection, notes, a glossary and an index. A companion website has been designed by the authors to be used in conjunction with the text.

The print edition of Theophrastus Characters in the Bryn Mawr Commentaries (Greek) series is now out of print and available only as a free PDF download. Click the learn more link below to visit the title page and download the free eBook.

Bryn Mawr Commentaries provide clear, concise, accurate, and consistent support for students making the transition from introductory and intermediate texts to the direct experience of ancient Greek and Latin literature. They assume that the student will know the basics of grammar and vocabulary and then provide the specific grammatical and lexical notes that a student requires to begin the task of interpretation.

Hackett Publishing Company is the exclusive distributor of the Bryn Mawr Commentaries in North America, the United Kingdom, and Europe.

Annotated and illustrated, Focus Classical Commentary’s Thucydides Reader contains passages from Books I-VIII of the Histories with introductory material, commentary, and grammatical notes for each of the eight books. An easy-to-reference, complete glossary—new to the second edition—is also included. Thucydides Reader is well suited for a course in Intermediate Greek, as well as for secondary school students who want to tackle the works of a popular but challenging author. This book is a standard text for any college course in reading Thucydides in Greek.

Transition to Attic Greek is a reference for students who need a bridge from Homeric Greek to Attic Greek - a handy reference for aspects of the language that will be unfamiliar to those who have taken an approach to Greek through Homer.