Latin Resources on the Internet

Below I present a few of the most important Latin resources freely available on the Internet.

Beware: Don't be fooled by the fact that I am not providing hundreds of links. I do not believe in swamping unwary visitors with links to obscure sites (which then often turn out to be dead ones). Instead I try to point out the really important gateways plus a few gems.

These links provide information and resources both for beginners, intermediate and advanced learners.1

Beginners' Learning Resources

  • Textkit.com: This web-site is the ideal place for anyone needing help in learning Latin. The site offers several text books and texts for free download. Its main appeal, however, are its forums. There are forums devoted to the text books "Wheelock's Latin", "Latin for Beginners" (D'Ooge), and "Latin: An Intensive Course" (Moreland/Fleischer). A fourth forum covers questions concerning learning Latin in general (including grammar).
  • LatinStudy: This is the front-end of "an open mailing list dedicated to the study of Latin, including Classical, Medieval, and Neo-Latin authors" for both beginners and experienced latinists.
    In each group a coordinator sets a task. The group members send their translations to the coordinator via e-mail whereupon a side-by-side listing is generated and sent to the group members. That way they can compare their translations. Questions can be asked, too.
    As of June 2010 there are 32 active groups covering not only "Wheelock's Latin 6th edition" but also various ancient texts like Caesar's Bellum Gallicum (and several rather unorthodox authors like the Venerable Bede). There is even one for (probably simple) prose composition.
    I have not so far (June 2010) made use of this FREE offer, but it seems to be a great thing for anyone learning Latin on his own.

Using Latin

  • Vicipaedia Latina: This is the Latin version of Wikipedia. Let's face it, it is not in a very good state. Unfortunately there are few persons available both able and willing to write entries for it in Latin.2. So, should you ever reach a certain level, do not hesitate to collaborate.

Latin Texts Online

  • edonelly.com: This list of links to freely downloadable Latin books (text books, reading material) is simply superb. If you are looking for a free text book etc., this is the place to visit.
  • The Philological Museum: This web-site hosts two separate lists of Latin text (including links to the actual content):
    1. The Library of Humanistic Texts, and
    2. The Analytic Bibliography of On-Line Neo-Latin Texts
    The latter list is especially interesting as it is very comprehensive (34,900 records as of June 10, 2010). It is indexed by author, but there is also a search function.
  • Perseus Project: "The Perseus Project at Tufts University is the foremost Digital Library for the classical world." What makes this digital library interesting is that it provides not only the raw text but gives additional information. Try out the following thing:
    • Go to the starting page and select "Caesar, Gallic War (Latin)" from the box "Popular Texts". When you do so, the famous first sentence3 is shown plus lots of "navigating equipment". Not very impressive.
    • Now look at the right side, and you will see to the top right a block titled Notes (J.B. Greenough, Benjamion L. D'Ooge, M. Grant Daniell, 1898) beside which there are the two options focus and load.
    • Press the load-option and voilà, the notes concerning this passage are being displayed. Try it, it's "wicked".
    • There is also a vocabulary tool (or you can just click on one of the Latin words in the text), and I have only skimmed the surface of the Perseus Project.
  • Bibliotheca Augustana: This well structured German web-site offers Latin texts from the 7th century B.C. to the 19th century. If you are interested in texts dating from after the collapse of the Roman empire, have a look. You will not be disappointed. Its content can be listed both chronologically as well as alphabetically (author).
  • The Latin Library: This web-site may not be as glitzy as others, but it provides many Latin texts (ancient, medieval and neo-latin) in a format which makes reading them online or downloading them easy.4
  • Intratext: This digital library has a good Latin section comprising texts from all eras. Like the Perseus Project this site is designed for reading texts on-line.

News in Latin

  • Ephemeris: This excellent newspaper-style site has been providing news in Latin since 2004. Older articles can be looked up in the archive. This site is definitely worth visiting.
  • Nuntii Latini (until 14.06.2019): This Finnish site belonging to the Finnish national broadcaster YLE published short news bites in Latin (mostly international politics and some important domestic news) from September 1989 to 1st December 2017. These news provide a nice and regular bit of reading material, and while doing so one can pick up some of the modern vocabulary necessary for dealing with our world. A glossary of words used in the nuntii is provided by the Glossarium programmatis (Latin, Finnish, English, German). The nuntii are also available as MP3. Some of the older news can be read here:
  • Nuntii Latini apud Radio Bremen: The German Radio Bremen provides a monthly review in short Latin pieces. It is also available as a podcast.

Resources about Roman history, monuments, etc.

  • Lacus Curtius: This is a web-site maintained by Bill Thayer and featuring several Latin texts. What is more important, however, is that it provides more resources, e. g. extracts from works about Roman antiquities. This is definitely a web-site worth visiting.
  • Le Dictionnaire des Antiquités Grecques et Romaines de Daremberg et Saglio: If you are able to read in French, than have a look at this scanned version of this huge dictionary of Greek and Roman antiquities published from 1877-1919. I first stumbled upon it when visiting Lacus Curtius. Give it a try.
  • Classics Resources: As the subtitle of this link list says: "Useful resources for the study of the Ancient World" (both Greek and Roman)

Spoken Latin

  • Kulturzeit extra: O tempora!: In 2008 the German/Austrian/Swiss TV channel aired a special edition of its magazine "Kulturzeit" entirely in Latin (with German sub-titles). The programme lasts about 37 minutes and offers an interesting impression of Latin.

The above selection of resources should keep you happy for some time.

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