The article discusses why Classics is important and why its study benefits not just university students but also young children. It was runner-up in the Intermediate Category for a Classical Association competition in 2025. The article explores the value of Classics as a wonderfully diverse subject involving the study of history, archaeology, architecture, art, and literature. Classics enables students to study over a thousand years of history, to uncover cultural values, to discover how language operates, to develop critical analysis skills, and to delight in its timeless literature. The article explores how the study of Classics can benefit young students’ reading and writing proficiency and can be especially beneficial for those with special educational needs. It explores how Latin translation builds code cracking and cognitive skills, not only developing grammatical knowledge but also encouraging problem-solving suited to science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM)-based subjects such as computer science and maths. The article looks at the interdisciplinary nature of the subject and the benefits of learning Latin and Greek vocabulary for language learning and science.

A response to the Classical Association’s Write | Speak | Design Competition 2025. A short essay presenting an argument which passionately asserts the centrality of classical education as providing the tools to make sense of the world at a pivotal socio-economic and political juncture, from the perspective of the author, a 16-year-old state school student in a school without classics provision. Emphasising the continued relevance of Classics in modern life through its relation to critical thinking, social mobility, and cultural capital, this essay advocates for the prioritisation of Classics in the modern curriculum. The author argues that the skills developed through the study of Classics, such as linguistic analysis, debate, and source criticism, are essential in providing tools to navigate misinformation and political polarisation. The essay highlights the cultural and intellectual legacy of Ancient Greece and Rome, asserting that lack of access to this education limits students’ cultural capital by decontextualising their understanding of literature, art, and history. Furthermore, the essay addresses the author’s experience of gendered and classist disparities in Classics education, highlighting the urgency for an increased advocacy and resource allocation to make Classical studies more accessible and inclusive in mainstream education.

Plutarch considers that the texts of the classical tradition with which young people come into contact from a very young age have many flaws, in terms of the ideology, the moral issues they deal with, the standards they project, and the decision-making they demonstrate. His admission of this is also the reason that leads him to devote a large part of his treatise to investigating the nature of poetry and how readers and teachers can correct, evaluate, and make positive use of the moral phenomena found in it. For him, poetry has a purely moral–pedagogical character as it exerts a direct influence on the human soul and mind. This last statement of his is confirmed in an undeniable way in practice, as the entire educational world recognises literature as the most suitable means of education and training. In ‘How to study poetry’, the philosopher does not want to moralise or manipulate the reader’s thinking, but rather give them the opportunity to decide for themselves the actions they will take to achieve the ultimate reading pleasure and benefit. In the present article, his pedagogical concepts meet with modern literary theories in a unique way, which makes reading them an interesting process.

This manifesto was originally submitted into and went on to win the senior category in the 2025 Classical Association ‘Write | Speak | Design’ competition. Through a mix of research and my personal classics journey, it argues that the contemporary relevance and remote accessibility of classical subjects, along with the academic joy they encourage in learners, make the study of the ancient past as important as ever and highlights ways these areas could be harnessed to increase the importance of classics further.

The teaching of Ancient Greek texts presents a unique opportunity to cultivate students’ critical thinking by encouraging deep analysis and interpretative engagement. Nevertheless, the instruction of Ancient Greek texts often remains formalistic and exam-oriented, emphasising grammatical and syntactical analysis at the expense of critical exploration and textual appreciation. This approach limits students’ ability to explore the deeper meanings and timeless messages embedded in these texts. This study proposes a teaching methodology that, within the Greek educational context, moves beyond a language-centred approach, integrating interpretative and extratextual elements to promote holistic, critical engagement with Ancient Greek texts. Classical texts should be approached not only as linguistic structures but also as dynamic systems reflecting the society that created them, allowing students to develop a deeper understanding of both antiquity and the modern world. By emphasising reflective inquiry and meaningful exploration, this methodology enhances students’ analytical skills while making the learning process more engaging. Ultimately, this approach reinforces the role of students as critical thinkers, equipping them with essential cognitive tools for academic and professional success.

For centuries, the Homeric Question has fuelled fierce debate among scholars. The Homeric epics are widely regarded as having their origins in the Late Bronze Age, with oral transmission continuing until a final redaction in the eighth to second century BCE.

The question of whether a single poet wrote both The Iliad and The Odyssey, the time and place in which Homer(s) worked and lived, and the circumstances of the poems’ final composition are still subjects of discussion.

In the present paper, a fairly simple statistical χ2 analysis has been carried out to evaluate the frequency of the keywords related to metals and weapons, which are mainstays of the material culture of this ancient period.

A thorough examination of The Iliad discloses a pronounced predominance of the keyword ‘bronze’, exhibiting a higher frequency in The Iliad than in The Odyssey. On initial observation, the prevalence of dominance appears to be a consequence of the warlike nature of The Iliad. Notwithstanding, a significant dominance endures even when the intrinsic disparities between the two poems are taken into account and suitably adjusted.

This remarkable discrepancy suggests the potential for distinct authorship, editorial involvement, or redaction locations for The Iliad and The Odyssey.

Teaching introductory courses on the ancient world is a study in reviewing a vast field of material without compromising on nuance. It is a tightrope walk, especially when beginning a teaching career. Comedy and economics are topics often parsed in more advanced courses to engage the primary source materials and modern debates with appropriate depth of analysis. However, their place in the introductory classroom is an essential aspect of understanding the ancient Greek world fully. Especially as students often struggle to find ancient comedy amusing upon first interaction, teaching these topics is a process of trial and error for the professor, who is often constrained by their own exposure to these topics. This article shares a classroom activity on comedy and economic institutions designed for the introductory class, engaging students by activating prior knowledge and practicing close reading of a selection from an ancient text.

This article presents a case study of an undergraduate workshop at Oxford University which, using the Corsi Collection of the Oxford University Museum of Natural History, focused on the identification and appreciation of coloured marbles, of the sort seen in ancient sculpture and architecture. Grounded in object-based learning (OBL), but conducted within the constraints of a predominantly text-based and classroom-bound curriculum, the workshop employed direct object engagement to foster observational skills, material literacy, and critical reflection on ancient resource use, offering students a chance to interact directly with Roman decorative materials. It aimed to demonstrate the pedagogical value of tactile engagement with artefacts in developing historical understanding, enhancing student enthusiasm, and embedding experiential learning within a traditionally text-centric curriculum. Drawing on theoretical frameworks developed by Hannan et al. and Laurillard, this paper argues that the integration of material-focused pedagogies can meaningfully boost student engagement and learning outcomes, while also contributing to broader institutional discussions about teaching excellence and student success. The outcomes demonstrate the significant pedagogical potential of object-based learning (OBL), especially in disciplines like Classics where material culture is often under-represented. In reflecting on outcomes, challenges, and broader applicability, the article advocates for wider adoption of OBL within Classics and outlines practical ways in which it can complement standard university teaching.

This paper discusses the teaching of Ancient History in Brazil through the experience of Projeto Vocabulário Político da Antiguidade (Political Vocabulary of Antiquity Project). This project has been developed at the Federal University of Paraíba in João Pessoa, Brazil, since 2016, with a team consisting of professors and students from undergraduate History and Classics programs. The project’s main goal is to create didactical materials that facilitate the teaching of politics and Antiquity to students aged 11 to 17, based on the translation of Greek and Latin texts. This paper will present two educational games developed by this project to teach the theory of forms of government in an engaging and enjoyable way. The positive results of the project highlight the importance of modernizing the teaching of forms of government regbased on the works of authors such as Herodotus, Aristotle, Polybius and Cicero. Furthermore, it demonstrates that the study of Antiquity can effectively contribute to the political awareness of young citizens.

This article introduces the special collection Teaching Late Latin: Past and Present, Challenges and Prospects and sets out a deliberately innovative, contrastive agenda for this issue of the Journal of Classics Teaching. While clearly programmatic in nature, this article advances a central claim: that examining the teaching of Latin in Late Antiquity and the early Middle Ages alongside the teaching of Late Latin today offers a productive lens through which to rethink Latin pedagogy across time. The special collection is structured around two dialoguing sections, Ars docendi antiqua and Ars docendi nova, which place medieval and contemporary classrooms side by side. In both contexts, teachers respond to shifting sociolinguistic landscapes with methodological creativity. By foregrounding these parallels, the volume challenges the widespread equation (still prevalent across much of the education system) of “Latin” with a narrowly defined Classical norm. At the same time, it calls for closer dialogue between philology and pedagogy, between historical transmission and present-day practice, and between scholars who research Late Antiquity and those who teach it. Our aim is not to offer definitive solutions, but to initiate a conversation. If this editorial has a programmatic edge, it is because we believe that reflecting on how Latin was (and is) taught is inseparable from reflecting on what kind of subject Classics wishes to be.

The UK Department for Education stipulates that lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, and queer+ (LGBTQ+) topics should be integrated throughout the secondary curriculum; however, for various reasons, it can be hard to follow these stipulations in the Classical studies classroom (broadly conceived). This article outlines the context for LGBTQ+ education in the UK, establishing the need for some kind of intervention. It focuses specifically on how sector-wide difficulties in this area manifest acutely in the Classical studies classroom because of several, discipline-specific challenges. It then demonstrates how the materials produced by ‘Queering the Past(s)’, a recently formed collective of academics and teachers, can be used to several pedagogical ends. The Queering the Past(s) resources are shown to fulfil government mandates about LGBTQ+ education whilst also providing important correctives to previous teaching materials. Most crucially, the article outlines how resources from Queering the Past(s) may be used to develop secondary students’ knowledge about LGBTQ+ topics and core KS4 and KS5 skills such as critical thinking and source analysis. This is demonstrated by means of a case study of Elagabalus, emperor of Rome from 218 to 222 CE, and the focus of one of the resources from Queering the Past(s).

The discovery of Priscian’s Institutiones Grammaticae brought a new perspective to the grammatical analysis of the eighth and ninth centuries, as it heavily relied on the commentaries on Donatus’s Ars Minor and Ars Maior, and many scholars of the time were not entirely aware of Priscian’s contribution to the scholarly discussion within the didactical framework. Entwining Priscian’s interest in metalanguage and definitions into their studies, scholars brought the methods of dialectics into the study of grammar. As such, we refer to a few relevant figures within the medieval framework who played a relevant role. Between the eighth and ninth centuries, scholars such as Alcuin of York started to determine a theory of definitions rooted in dialectics by observing and commenting on the use of definitions in Donatus and Priscian. This is also the case of the glosses and lexica written in the Middle Ages that shed light both on the need for definitions and on the relationship between Latin metalinguistic definitions and Germanic languages. Among the works concerned with metalanguage, the glosses from St. Gall hold a special place. The teaching methods used in the Abbey of St. Gall survive in the translations and commentaries of the monk, scholar, and teacher Notker Labeo, whose didactic purpose is evident in his work.

Although studies in Second Language Acquisition have consistently highlighted the fundamental role played by vocabulary in mastering a foreign language, traditional Latin instruction still tends to focus primarily on morphology and syntax at the expenses of vocabulary, with the result that students often struggle to retain the words they are required to memorize. Following in the wake of research on Game-Based Learning, I suggest that introducing board games in the Latin classroom—particularly those designed to develop the different stages of new information acquisition—is an inexpensive and engaging way to facilitate vocabulary learning and retention, as well as to foster students’ socialization and participation.

This article explores a novel approach to Latin instruction grounded in the principles of the natural semantic metalanguage (NSM) and the Minimal Languages framework. Whilst recent developments in Latin pedagogy have increasingly embraced communicative methods, the selection of appropriate target vocabulary remains a critical challenge, especially when traditional frequency lists prioritise terms ill-suited for active use. This, in turn, complicates the implementation of communicative approaches, which depend on accessible and contextually relevant language. We propose Minimal Latin (ML), a minimal language based on a universal lexicon derived from NSM principles and governed by a simplified grammar. ML offers a principled solution for vocabulary selection and lexical sequencing. It also facilitates in-language definitions and the explanation of cultural concepts without recourse to translation. The article outlines the theoretical foundations of NSM and Minimal Languages, presents a Latin version of NSM, and proposes ML as a pedagogical tool for Latin teaching across multiple instructional contexts.