Classical Studies

A Greek language reference of Homeric terms and allusions for students of Greek at the third and fourth year of study, the Homeric Dictionary features the most common 9,000 words used in the Iliad and Odyssey, with grammatical forms and illustrations.

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"Sarah Ruden's translation is clear, lean, intelligent, and delightfully readable. The notes provide guidance without encumbering the text. This will be marvelous for classroom use, for reading aloud, or simply for reading for pleasure."
     —Pamela Gordon, Department of Classics, University of Kansas

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This is a collection of the standard texts of ancient Greek which are important components of what we know about Greek myth, religion, language and culture. All of the works collectively known as the Homeric Hymns are collected and translated here in their entirety, and the work includes ample notes and an introduction to provide information on the works' historic importance, a chronological table, genealogical chart, maps of Greece and the Aegean Islands, and illustrations of vase paintings with mythological themes.

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"Gripping. . . . Lombardo's achievement is all the more striking when you consider the difficulties of his task. . . . [He] manages to be respectful of Homer's dire spirit while providing on nearly every page some wonderfully fresh refashioning of his Greek. The result is a vivid and disarmingly hardbitten reworking of a great classic." —Daniel Mendelsohn, The New York Times Book Review

"It is hard to overstate the attractions of this translation. In a rhythm sinewy and flexible, with language that is precise, lyrical and fresh, Lombardo's Iliad pulses with all the power and luminosity of the Greek. He shows extraordinary sensitivity to the images and aural effects of the ancient poem. There are brilliant touches on every page. . . . Altogether this is as good as Homer gets in English." —Richard P. Martin, Princeton University

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A new edition is now available (released in September 2020). Click here for more information about the new third edition.

Introduction to Greek, Second Edition is an introductory text to Classical Greek. It is designed for the first full year course and it concentrates on the basics in a way that allows the material to be covered easily in courses that meet three times a week over the course of two semesters. The focus of the text is on grammar with slightly altered readings drawn chiefly from the works of Xenophon and Herodotus.

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A widely adopted textbook for first-year Classical Greek, Introduction to Greek has been rethought from the ground up in this third edition to make it even more effective and user friendly.

"Introduction to Greek, Third Edition is a major revision of, and significant improvement upon, the second edition. The third edition strengthens the few areas where the second edition was weak and adds some useful new features to make it more adaptable to different teaching approaches. Most importantly it is succinct and well designed, so that students can reasonably complete it during a standard two-semester course. The new edition should be extremely attractive to both faculty and students. It is unreservedly the textbook I plan to adopt the next time I teach first year Greek." —Michael G. Clark, Lafayette College

Instructor Resources: A digital answer key to the textbook (PDF only) is available to qualified course instructors. To request the answer key please use this form.

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Introduction to Latin, Second Edition is a complete introductory Latin text specifically designed for college level courses taught for three hours credit over a two semester period. The text is designed as a streamlined and uncluttered approach to Latin and grammar, providing a complete course, but without the nuance of more advanced explanations that hinder the first year student's mastery of the material. It covers all aspects of Latin grammar in a familiar pedagogical flow, with English grammar explained as needed, providing students with an in text reference point for new Latin material. Course Instructors: An electronic answer key for the textbook (PDF only) is available for qualified adoptors. If you have adopted the text, click here to request the answer key.

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DeHoratius' Introduction to Latin: A Workbook, Second Edition is an essential companion to Introduction to Latin, Second Edition, providing additional innovative exercises of the type found in the textbook that help students build reflexes in the Latin language.

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"Diane Arnson Svarlien's lively and accessible translations give an excellent sense of Euripides' poetic resources, from his artful blend of conversational idiom and high style, to his powerful displays of rhetoric and emotion, to the expressive rhythms and images of his songs. They are sure to delight readers and listeners alike. Moreover, they have been shaped by judicious use of the best and latest scholarship. The plays in this volume will surprise readers used to tragedy on the Aristotelian pattern and stimulate reflection about what tragedy is and what it is for."
     —John Gibert, Department of Classics, University of Colorado, Boulder

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Formerlly a two volume set, Itinerari Egeriae Pars Prior is now available in one volume (July 2020). The content is the same in both the two volume set and single volume edition.

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This is an English translation of Sophocles' famous tragedy of Oedipus and the fate he so much tries to avoid. Focus Classical Library provides close translations with notes and essays to provide access to understanding Greek culture.

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“This excellent translation in current idiomatic English continues the superb quality set by Sprague in her previous version of Plato’s Euthydemus. . . . Its accuracy and reliability make the present volume suitable for use in various courses in the humanities.”
     —The Classical Outlook

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A compilation of over thirty Latin letters with introduction, commentary and grammar review. The letters are focused on Cicero and Pliny, but include numerous other authors and a wide range of fascinating topics. Authors represented are Cicero, Seneca, Pliny, Augustus, Cornelia, Claudia Severa, Vergil, Sidonius, and Ausonius. Designed for use in the first or second-year Latin college level course.

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This classic text has been reset and reprinted based on the classic North and Hillard text. It includes all common words and constructions, special vocabularies, rules for the orders of words, list of synonyms and prepositional phrases, and more. Course Instructors: An electronic (PDF) answer key available to qualified course instructors who have adopted this text for their course, (not available for sale to students). If you have adopted this text, click here to request a copy of the answer key.

 

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"This is a superb new translation that is remarkably accurate to Plato's very difficult Greek, yet clear and highly readable. The notes are more helpful than those in any other available translation of the Laws since they contain both the information needed by the beginning student as well as analytical notes that include references to the secondary literature for the more advanced reader. For either the beginner or the scholar, this should be the preferred translation." —Christopher Bobonich, Clarence Irving Lewis Professor of Philosophy, Stanford University

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“An excellent, wide-ranging collection of Athenian speeches illuminating central topics of political, social, and legal history, including male and female sexuality, the ancient economy, Greek law, and major episodes of civic strife. Both accurate and faithful to the orators’ prose style, Wolpert and Kapparis’ new translations come accompanied by informative introductions and notes, a glossary of legal terms, and a helpful bibliography. Highly recommended for courses in the history of classical Athens, ancient rhetoric, and Greek law.” —Robert W. Wallace, Northwestern University

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This volume is the completely reset Second Edition of Jeanne Marie Neumann's A College Companion (Focus, 2008). It offers a running exposition, in English, of the Latin grammar covered in Hans H. Ørberg's Familia Romana, and includes the complete text of the Ørberg ancillaries Grammatica Latina and Latin–English Vocabulary. It also serves as a substitute for Ørberg's Latine Disco, on which it is based. As it includes no exercises, however, it is not a substitute for the Ørberg ancillary Exercitia Latina I. Though designed especially for those approaching Familia Romana at an accelerated pace, this volume will be useful to anyone seeking an explicit layout of Familia Romana's inductively-presented grammar. In addition to many revisions of the text, the Second Edition also includes new units on cultural context, tied to the narrative content of the chapter.

"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

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A sequel to her widely used A Companion to Familia Romana (now in its second edition), Jeanne Marie Neumann's A Companion to Roma Aeterna offers a running commentary, in English, of the Latin grammar covered in Hans H. Ørberg's Roma Aeterna, and includes the complete text of the Ørberg ancillaries Grammatica Latina and Latin–English Vocabulary II. It also serves as a substitute for Ørberg’s Instructions, on which it is based.

"Jeanne Marie Neumann’s A Companion to Roma Aeterna provides students, instructors, and homeschoolers with a treasure trove of learning that will enable them to fully benefit from Ørberg’s absurdly underused Roma Aeterna."  —James Dobreff, Department of Classics and Religious Studies, UMass Boston

"In using Ørberg's Roma Aeterna students undertake the daunting task of reading Latin containing advanced and complex grammatical concepts without the aid of any English explanations or assistance. Neumann’s companion text regularly serves as a welcome relief and periodically as a necessary crutch in the task. Using the two texts in coordination with each other is a highly effective method for learning Latin, maximizing the strengths and minimizing the weaknesses of Ørberg’s "Natural Method." In the end it all boils down to this: Roma Aeterna will successfully teach students to read Latin, and Companion to Roma Aeterna will help those students understand the complex grammatical and syntactical concepts that underlie the Latin language."  —Michael Holstead, in The NECTFL Review

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De Bello Gallico is a supplemental reader in the Lingua Latina series. This text includes abridged annotated versions of Julius Caesar's firsthand account of the Gallic Wars Books I, IV and V designed for students who have finished Part I, Familia Romana or anyone interested in learning Latin using the Lingua Latina Hans Orberg method.

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A valued supplement to Hans H. Ørberg’s Lingua Latina Pars I: Familia Romana, Colloquia Personarum offers carefully graded Latin-language texts that follow the progression of Familia Romana and offer additional stories about the fictional Roman family introduced in that volume. The Second Edition offers full-color versions of the illustrations that appeared in the First Edition. Also included is the text of Ørberg's Colloquia Personarum: Latin–English Vocabulary.

"Colloquia Personarum is a great complement to Familia Romana. At the end of each chapter of Familia Romana I use Colloquia Personarum because the structures and the grammar that students have been learning is presented in a new situation and is used again in a new context. The strength of these dialogues is also that they are amusing and fun. Students can perform the skits by reading them and acting. Such practice lets students improve their pronunciation while having fun. I also like the charts and the vocabulary at the end fo the book. Nice illustrations in color. Ørberg was a genius and a very fine Latinist." —Rita Pasqui, University of Memphis

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Entirely in Latin (with vowel lengths marked), this book includes 209 readings from the Old Testament Books. There are also engaging exercises, including crosswords and matching. Epitome Historiae Sacrae been edited according to the Lingua Latina per se Illustrata series, is ideal for students who have completed Familia Romana as it drills and reviews grammar while adding more than 1,300 words to their vocabulary and modeling excellent Latin prose style. Course Instructors: The Epitome Historiae Sacrae answer key and marginal notes (by Frank Nitsche-Robinson) is available as an electronic file (PDF only) for qualified adopters. If you have adopted the text, click here to request the PDF answer key and marginal notes file.

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The collection begins with the adventure of Pygmalion, the Cypriot sculptor who carved a woman out of ivory, and ends with nearly 200 verses of original Latin from books two and three of Ovid's Metamorphoses. The vignettes are annotated with helpful margin notes and are accompanied by beautiful historic woodcut illustrations. The volume contains two appendices: a list of vocabulary and a glossary of proper names. Fabulae Syrae can be used concurrently with Familia Romana for further enrichment or as a review text after completing Familia Romana. It is, however, also a stand-alone work and could also be used as a reader in mythology separate from the Lingua Latina per se Illustrata series. New vocabulary is kept to an absolute minimum, so the reader can truly enjoy the readings, while focusing on a mastery of the grammar and essential vocabulary taught in the Familia Romana.

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Indices contains list of Roman consuls and their triumphs (Fasti consulares and Fasti triumphales), a name index (Index nominum) and a word index (Index vocabulorum) of all the words used in both parts of the course. An integral supplement to Roma Aeterna.

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Lingua Latina Latine Doceo is designed to provide background to the methodology and philosophy of the Lingua Latina series. It includes the prefaces of many earlier editions and to some of the worldwide editions of Lingua Latina. It also includes a wealth of teaching tips and strategies for the book as a whole and for each of the specific chapters in the first book. It is an invaluable for instructors at colleges, schools and at home.

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Presented via the natural method by Hans Ørberg, Ars Amatoria (The Art of Love) allows students to read lightly altered Latin texts. The text is a poem in three books by Ovid. The first two books consist of instructions to men on the wooing of women of easy virtue; the third, of instructions to woman on seduction of men. The work is full of humor and charm, and contains interesting glimpses of Roman life and manners—the circus, the theatre, the banquet. It was perhaps partly on account of its immorality that Augustus banished the poet to Tomi by the Black Sea. These poems can be read by students who have completed the first five chapters of Ørberg's second-year text Roma Aeterna, (Lingua Latina Pars II), also available from Focus.

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This workbook contains supplemental grammatical exercises for each of the 133 lectiones (lessons) in Familia Romana (the main book of Pars I of the Lingua Latina per se illustrata series).

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Hans H. Ørberg's Familia Romana, Pars I of the Lingua Latina series, and Jeanne Marie Neumann's A Companion to Familia Romana, Second Edition, available for sale as a set at a reduced price. The set may be purchased with a hardcover edition of Familia Romana and a paperback edition of A Companion to Familia Romana, or with paperback editions of each volume. Instructor examination copy orders of the set will include paperback editions of each volume. 

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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.

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A convenient, single-volume vocabulary reference for Pars I of the Lingua Latina per se illustrata series by Hans H. Ørberg. This Latin-to-English glossary includes all of the vocabulary which a first-year student can be expected to encounter, namely the vocabulary used in Familia Romana, Colloquia Personarum, Fabellae Latinae, and Fabulae Syrae. Includes 2,435 words with their English equivalents.

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Grammatica Latina is a Latin morphology to be used with Lingua Latina: Part I: Familia Romana. It includes tables of paradigms and forms corresponding to the Familia Romana course material. Note: This text is included in the title, Lingua Latina: A Companion to Familia Romana (Second Edition). If you have purchased that text, you do not need to purchase this separately, as it is included in the back of the book.

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This student's manual, in Spanish, for Familia Romana (Lingua Latina Pars I), includes a guide to pronunciation, instructions, and information on key points to be noted in each chapter. This book is especially valuable for students working on their own or in homeschooling, though also useful for school or university students.

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This student's manual, in English, for Familia Romana (Lingua Latina Pars I), includes a guide to pronunciation, instructions, and information on key points to be noted in each chapter. This book is especially valuable for students working on their own or in homeschooling, though also useful for school or university students. Pars 1: Latin Disco is also included in A Companion to Familia Romana (Second Edition).

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A workbook for Roma Aeterna (the main book of Pars II of the Lingua Latina per se illustrata series) with an extensive collection of exercises.

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Instructions is student guide in English for Lingua Latina: Part II: Roma Aeterna and provides an overview of the chapter readings and grammar found in each chapter.

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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. 

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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.

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Presented via the natural method by Hans Ørberg, Petronii Cena Trimalchionis is an abridged and annotated edition of Petronius' Satryrion, with introduction and marginal notes in Latin. This text may be used as a supplemental reader in Hans Ørberg's Lingua Latina per se illustrate series. This can be read by students who have finished the book Lingua Latina per se Illustrata, Familia Romana, Pars I or anyone using the Lingua Latina Ørberg method to learn Latin.

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Amphitryo Comoedia  is an abridged edition with an introduction and marginal notes in Latin. It is designed for students who have finished Part I, Familia Romana or anyone interested in learning Latin using the Lingua Latina Hans Orberg method.

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This text is a supplemental reader for the Lingua Latina series that includes selections from Sallust's Catilina and Cicero's Catilinarian Speeches I and III for students who have finished Part I, Familia Romana or anyone interested in learning Latin using the Lingua Latina Hans Ørberg method.

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Presented via the natural method by Hans Ørberg, Sermones Romani allows introductory students to read lightly altered Latin texts. Through his innovative system of marginal notes, Hans Ørberg introduces the reader to the language and thought of ancient Rome through short readings by Cicero, Tacitus, Martial and others. Sermones Romani can be read immediately following Ørberg’s first year elementary text, Familia Romana (Lingua Latina Pars I).

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This book contains teacher's materials (advice for the instructor and all the exercises [Pensa] from Familia Romana and Roma Aeterna, on separate sheets for photocopying and distribution) and an answer key (Pensa Soluta) for Familia Romana (the main book of Lingua Latina Pars I) and Roma Aeterna (the main book of Lingua Latina Pars II), as well as for Exercitia Latina I and II. If you have purchased the CD-Rom's, or are using the courseware, you do not necessarily need the answer key, as the answers are provided on the CD-Roms and in the courseware after three attempts.

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Presented via the natural method by Hans Ørberg, Vergilii Aeneis Libros I et IV allows students to read lightly altered Latin texts. It includes extensive selections from the text of the Aeneid Books 1 and 4, along with indices of vocabulary and names, and marginal notes in Latin. This text is suitable for use in conjunction with Ørberg’s second-year text Roma Aeterna. (Lingua Latina Pars II), also available from Hackett, or any third year Latin course that studies Vergil.

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In this compilation from Plutarch's Greek Lives, James Romm gathers the material of greatest historical significance from fifteen biographies, ranging from Theseus in earliest times to Phocion in the late fourth century BCE. While preserving the outlines of Plutarch's character portraits, Romm focuses on the central stories of classical Greece: the rivalry between Athens, Sparta, and Thebes, the rise of Macedon, and the conflicts between these European states and the Achaemenid Persian empire. Bridging Plutarch’s gaps with concise summaries, Romm creates a coherent narrative of the classical Greek world.

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A handful of fragments is all that remains of the writings of Menippus, the third-century BCE provocateur of the Greek Cynic movement. The Western literary tradition knows him through Lucian, the Greek satirist who lived and worked four hundred years later. Included in this book are Joel Relihan’s lively English translations of Lucian’s three reanimations of Menippus—fantastic narratives and comic dialogues set in heaven and hell: Menippus; or, The Consultation of the Corpses, Icaromenippus; or, A Man above the Clouds, and The Colloquies of the Corpses (Dialogues of the Dead).

“Professor Relihan’s translations of Lucian’s Menippus works are the best I know of in English. The notes, Introduction, and Afterword are models of concision and clarity. This volume will be enormously useful to anyone interested in Lucian, Menippus, or ‘Menippean satire’.” —R. Bracht Branham, Emory University

 

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