#caecilius est in horto

[greekmythcomix]

Between 2018-2021 I worked with archaeologist Dr Sophie Hay, Ancient Historian Prof. Andrew Wallace-Hadrill, Director of the Cambridge Schools Classics Project (who make the CLC Latin course!) Caroline Bristow and her gorgeous team, and legendary historical children’s fiction author Caroline Lawrence, to illustrate a novel and ancient history course about the life of Pompeiian freedman Amarantus and his neighbours in Insula 1.9

The story is a year in the life of Amarantus, following the events he experiences, including the devastating earthquake of 63BCE and his manumission (by a certain local natural-history-loving magistrate), the traditions of a Roman life, and the likely inhabitants of the rest of his block, based on the buildings and finds in Insula 1.9.

It acts as an Ancient History/Classical Civilisation (non-language) prequel to the Latin Caecilius stories (CLC Book 1) and there are some Caecilius-themed visual easter eggs 😁

The course has been designed for even non-specialists to be able to pick up and teach, entirely for free, to help bring Ancient History/Classics into schools.

We made the images in grayscale so they could be cheaply printed and reproduced in PoD books/PDFs for schools, but made some images in full colour for the website and book cover to show the diversity of the Pompeiian world. They’re all based on archaeological evidence and research and each one took hours of discussion and argument (and occasional paper models) to get right. (And I’m proud to say my rebuilding of some ruined structures like the Herculaneum Gate has been approved by other Pompeii experts, like the Cooleys 😁)

The entire book and course is massively researched and based on archaeological findings, and is FREE on the CSCP website: https://CambridgeAmarantus.com/home

Or you can buy the book PoD via these links: https://www.cambridgescp.com/array/buy-book

Bonus Roman Chickens (the precursors to my Roman History Chickens series!): the cockfighters Odysseus and Polyphemus! (And yes cockfighting is terrible and I’m glad we don’t have it any more)

[blue-fairy-mushroom]

just done a Latin paper about this girl who got her ring stolen (WJEC Level 1 Comprehension) and there was a metellus??

CALLING ALL THE CLC CLASSICISTS OF TUMBLR WE MUST CONGRATULATE METELLUS ON HIS TRANSITION

[musichooman]

its for research i swear

[strixton]

hot take: Cambridge Latin students are a cult

[yel-ashaya]

Flashback to that time I wrote Cambridge Latin Course fanfic (no I’m not ashamed)

I’m too British 😂

[latin-phrases-showdown]

Round 2 Poll 6

Sic transit gloria mundi

"Thus passes the glory of the world," glory fades

It was used in papal coronations for centuries. It was to remind the pope of the transitory nature of life and earthly honours

It's the title of the first published poem by Emily Dickinson and Yellowjackets' first season finale

Carpe noctem

Means "seize the night," make the most of the night

It's a recent phrase, a pun on the more usual "carpe diem"

It's also the title of an episode of the series Angel

Caecilius est in horto

Means "Caecilius is in the garden"

if anyone has read the cambridge latin course textbooks you know that caecilius is SEMPER in horto. it’s iconic. multiple adult people i know when talking abt latin will instinctively go ‘caecilius est in horto’. it’s a classic (baddum tish).

[alistairtalkstoomuch]

ngl i think more people need to talk about cambridge latin course, it's so jkfdals;fjkl;afjda, I love cambridge latin course, thank you for listening to my tedtalk

[briochethebreadmaker]

i need to make a clc latin fan fic

[fusion-of-fandom]

SPOILERS FOR THE CAMBRIDGE LATIN COURSE!

I love the absolute meme of this course :)

So, I take Latin at my high school, and after the whole mass volcano murder of pompeii...

we cut to a random house in Britain, at around the same time, with slaves.

One of these slaves was named Varica, and its fucking amazing how much my class has tortured my Latin teacher about this character.

Because, in latin, there are many endings that regard to gender. ( -us for masculine, -um for neuter and -a for feminine)

Long story short, my entire class collectively decided to call Varica by EXCLUSIVELY feminine endings and she/her pronouns. To the point where my teacher made VARICAS GENDER a question on the LATIN MIDTERM.

Yes, I have drawn them as androgenous, and yes, I use NEUTER pronouns for them.

Because I like my grade :)

[scrambldmeg]

“caecilius est in horto” is the “donde esta la biblioteca” of latin students

[sarcasticspiderman]

the REAL ones had the Cambridge Latin Course

[blue-fairy-mushroom]

Favorite fruit in the berry family?

blueberry 🫐!!

[secretceremonials]

the good news is that ive got an interview for classics. the bad news is they expect me to still remember gcse latin (it was 3 years ago…)

[edvmery]

Learning a dead language is really an experience. Like does any other textbook, than a dead language textbook include useful words like slave-dealer or Syrian ship? And does any other textbook include a story of a man walking around the harbor hoping to buy slaves, not liking any, until a slave girl (for which you learn a new specific word) and now I quote "delights the banker" which leads to the banker buying her? The story than proceeds to have a funny little ending when every man in the household is happy about the purchase except for the mother.

[latin-phrases-showdown]

Round 1 Poll 12

Cæcilius est in horto

"Caecilius is in the garden"

if anyone has read the cambridge latin course textbooks you know that caecilius is SEMPER in horto. it’s iconic. multiple adult people i know when talking abt latin will instinctively go ‘caecilius est in horto’. it’s a classic (baddum tish).

Mens rea

"State of mind of the defendant"

A phrase from criminal law about moral guilt.

In common law, the defendant is usually only guilty if there's proof of mens rea (intentionality) and actus reus (criminal act)

Used in Legally Blonde

[maneaterm1a]

i miss you cambridge latin course. i miss drawing hearts around quintus and clemens in my textbook. why create an image of a life so tragically beautiful and trap it in my gcse latin book. the way the whole class got excited when there was a story about our faves. the way we gasped at the end of book one. i was meant to learn the structure of a roman road and instead i learned how much compassion i can hold for people i could never know