Course and event summaries

The Song of Arms and a Man (performance)

“A brilliant dramatisation – warm, witty, bloody and cruel – and a sensational performance.”   Prof. Tim Whitmarsh (at Cambridge)

“The Song of Arms and a Man was an enthralling and unique dramatisation of Virgil’s Aeneid … very easy to follow regardless of how much or little Latin each person knew … I cannot recommend this performance enough.”   Safa Malik, The Virgil Society Newsletter, May 2023 (at King’s College, London

“ Phenomenal. Lots of our students were in the audience – thank you for inspiring them. I was spellbound.”   Guildford High School (at Charterhouse)

The Latin Qvarter’s presentation of Virgil’s Aeneid is read by Emma Kirkby, Matthew Hargreaves, Ben Cartlidge and Maria Roddis. George Sharpley’s adaptation of a rarely heard masterpiece echoes the ancient culture of public performance of poetry, and is accompanied with live ancient music by aulos-player Callum Armstrong. The performance brings the thrilling epic alive, telling the story of Aeneas’ struggle to fulfil his destiny as founder of Rome – from his escape from the burning ruins of Troy to his asylum and heart-breaking affair with the Carthaginian queen Dido and then his reluctant war with the inhabitants of his fated homeland of Italy. Selections of Virgil’s epic verse are read in the original Latin interspersed with an English narration which tells the whole story of the poem. This innovative and acclaimed presentation was first performed in Gloucester in 2018, and since at Bristol, Oxford, Charterhouse, Cambridge, King’s College London, and is coming to University College London (10th November 2023)

LATIN for Complete Beginners

The classes will focus on key language skills for newcomers, with an engaging narrative to help practise each topic; and you will read the words of ancient writers themselves. This course is suitable for students of both classical and medieval literatures.

LATIN for Accelerated Beginners and Returners

During these online classes we will read excerpts from writers such as Cicero, Virgil, Livy, Suetonius and other classical authors, whose voices weave a narrative of the history of Rome, starting with the early myths and legends, and reaching the rule of early emperors. Along the way we explore cultural and social aspects of their times and receptive influences the world over. The language content assumes participants are beginners, but expect a steep-ish climb into the grammar. Post-beginner and intermediate courses are also taught.

Latin for Beginners (day-course)

This is a day-course for real beginners. You’re welcome too if you’re not new to Latin, but no previous knowledge is needed. Come and have some fun, and make new discoveries! You’ll have an introduction to how the language works, and discover all sorts of things about English too, with so many Latin words at the root of English ones. Last but not least, you’ll get to hear some of the great works read aloud.

The Romans and their gods (day-course)

These colourful fabulous figures enliven the literature of the Romans. But what of their darker side, those mysterious powers with chilling consequences for mortals who err in some way or who are just in the wrong place at the wrong time? Religious beliefs embraced the ‘personality’ gods who figure in ancient literature and art, like Jupiter, Mars and Venus, and also all kinds of less visible spirits. The day will take a tour of some of the insights offered by ancient writers and poets, with a chance to hear some of the most thrilling verses ever composed.

A day in Greece and Rome (day-course)

What do the ancient Greeks and Romans mean to you? This one-day course traces the rise of Greek civilisation from the legendary times of Troy to the end of the Roman Republic and the first emperors. These two cultures are closely related and in turn shaped the world that followed. The Greek classical heyday was the fifth century BC, Rome’s was four hundred years later. In between came Alexander and his conquests, which left a world transfused with Hellenism: this was what the Romans inherited and they put their own stamp on it. In fact they put their stamp on quite a lot.

Horace’s Odes (day-course)

How unique a poet is Horace? He belongs to a well-established tradition of preclassical Greek lyric poets, he reproduces their forms, themes and functions, and even their metres in the Latin language. He absorbs literary mannerisms of 3rd century Greek poets from Alexandria and also from recent Roman poets like Catullus. After him come medieval verses which echo similar themes, and Renaissance and later poets who deliberately seek comparison (Ben Johnson, Marvel, Pope and others). He is one link in a long chain of lyric poetry. And yet he has an extraordinarily distinctive voice. None of his themes and topics are new (e.g. invitations, celebrations, goodbyes, praises, erotic desires, farewells to love, reflections on friendship, how to live, and not least what to drink). It is possible that there may be more poems lost to us which are close models. But somehow Horace stands out as one of the most original poets in all antiquity, for his humane, ironic outlook, his unpredictable switching of direction (scene, characterisation, emotional focus, tone, slipping into humour or irony and back again); and above all what one scholar called the ‘miracle of sound’: his choice of words, in their time fresh and colloquial, and their enchanting (and for us challenging!) arrangement.