Description:

Advanced Latin is for students not quite ready for Latin I, but who wish to continue learning Latin after finishing Latin for Children Primer  A. This year, we will review all of the concepts from Beginning and Intermediate Latin, as well as learning Latin personal and demonstrative pronouns, interrogative pronouns, cardinal and ordinal numbers, a full complement of adverbs, 3rd conjugation verbs, and 3rd declension nouns. We’ll focus on medieval history (386 A.D. through 1560 A.D) while working through the Latin history reader Libellus de Historia.

This year gives us the opportunity to read two epic poems.  Jason and the Argonauts, by Apollonius of Rhodes, is the thrilling adventure story of Jason and the Argonauts (his noble band of heroes) who venture out from Greece aboard the ship Argo, in search of the fabled Golden Fleece of a magical ram. 

As well, we’ll read the classic Latin The Aeneid by Virgil in a younger student-friendly version. This story is the tale of Aeneas, the legendary ancestor of Romulus, who escaped from the burning city of Troy and wandered the Mediterranean for years before settling in Italy. Our version will be in English, and it will be a good introduction for young minds to this most famous of Roman authors. Patterned after The Iliad and The Odyssey, The Aeneid is often studied in Latin as part of classical Latin coursework for advanced high school and college students.

We’ll delve into the innovative world of Roman architecture, full of new ideas such as concrete, domes, the perfection of arches and vaults, the development of sewer systems, and the building of bridges and roads, many of which are still standing thousands of years later. Our class project will involve building our own Roman architecture, and we’ll end the year with a Roman convivium (banquet), complete with togas, Roman food, and entertainment!