Christopher Dawson Centre
Annual Summer School in Latin: Late Medieval, Renaissance and Neo-Latin
Jane Franklin Hall, 4 Elboden St, South Hobart
23-27 January, 2017

Latin is arguably the mother tongue of Europe. Its literature is immensely rich. In a sense it never died; original work continued to be written in Latin up to modern times. This course will offer a general introduction to literary and technical Latin written from the Late Medieval and Renaissance periods to the present day. We shall also look at passages of older material that remained highly influential in the later period (e.g. Scripture, Vitruvius, Pliny the Elder). There will be a strong emphasis on reading inscriptions and on palaeography, including an opportunity to handle original manuscripts.

Some prior knowledge of Latin is desirable, but beginners with experience of learning a foreign language might consider purchasing a self-instruction primer and working on the basics between now and the start of the course. Participants will never be embarrassed if their Latin is imperfect: the teaching method leaves the entire task of translation and exposition to the Lecturer. This approach has been useful to relative beginners as well as those who are more experienced.

Any Latin Primer designed for self-instruction can be used, but F. Kinchin Smith’s Teach Yourself Latin (out of print, but cheap copies are easily available from internet sites such as www.abebooks.com) is particularly good.

The Lecturer is Dr David Daintree who founded the Annual Latin Summer School in 1993.

The Programme

There will be four lectures a day on each of the five days, from Monday 23 to Friday 27, starting at 9.00 am. There will be only one lecture after lunch each day, to free up the afternoons for private study.

At this stage a daily programme has not been finalized. Dr Daintree would be happy to include material by request from participants.

The cost of the course is $350. Meals and accommodation are not included. Jane Franklin Hall may be able to offer inexpensive self-catering accommodation on site, but participants would need to arrange that directly with the college at office@jane.edu.au. Proceeds from this course go to the Christopher Dawson Centre (http://www.dawsoncentre.org).

To enrol and for further information contact dccdain@gmail.com.