LATIN READING SEMINARS | FROM GUIDED CONVERSATION TO AUTHENTIC LITERATURE
Experience Classical Texts Directly Through Active Philology
Step beyond textbook grammar and engage with the greatest minds of Antiquity, the Middle Ages, and the Renaissance. Designed for university students, PhD candidates, scholars, and dedicated adult learners, our seminars offer a unique environment to read, analyze, and discuss primary sources entirely in Latin.
Seminars are held entirely in Latin
Unadapted Works
From Sept 2026
Small Groups
Live Once or Twice per week
Active Philology
Deepen Your Command of Classical Latin Through Direct Textual Analysis, read and discuss original works of Latin literature fluently and naturally.
“Reading authors is the primary path to acquiring language, but active use is the key that unlocks their true meaning without endless delay.”
Traditional literature courses often rely on English translations or slow, painful dictionary decoding. Our seminars match the full academic depth of classical philology while utilizing active language use to foster immediate, intuitive comprehension.
By immersing you in authentic historical prose, poetic rhythms, and complex rhetorical structures, active practice trains your brain to process literature naturally. You internalize the exact foundation required to read unadapted classical, medieval, and Neo-Latin authors with speed, accuracy, and deep literary appreciation, participating in vibrant discussions held entirely in the target language.
3 Pillars of Our Seminar Pedagogy
Absorbing and discussing complex Latin naturally is the most direct path to enjoying authentic literature as it was meant to be experienced.
Authentic Textual Immersion: Engage with unaltered primary sources—from Vergil and Ovid to Apuleius and Renaissance poets—ensuring direct contact with the author's original voice.
Interactive Seminar Discussions: Our live classes move beyond simple translation. We focus on analytical discussions, thematic exploration, and immediate instructor feedback in the target language.
Intuitive Literary Comprehension: Eliminate the habit of word-by-word mental decoding. Build the reading stamina and conversational confidence required to debate complex ideas and cultural history directly in Latin.
Select Your Latin Seminar
Installment Plans Available
*Available for US customers onlyFOR beginners
COLLOQUIA LATINA
Target Student: Students looking to complement their foundational language study with guided oral practice and vocabulary reinforcement.
Core Curriculum Focus:
Provide an active, conversation-based complement to Latin language study.
Reinforce grammar and vocabulary through guided oral practice.
Transform passive knowledge into active linguistic competence through interactive activities centered on Roman history, mythology, and daily life.
Instructor: Adriana Caballer Ricart | Tuition: $600.00 USD | Schedule: Tuesdays, 12:00 PM - 1:30 PM EDT (US East) / 18:00 – 19:30 CET (Central Europe) | Oct 6 - Feb 2 (24 hours total) Format: Taught in Latin | Recordings Available
LED BY ADRIANA CABALLER RICART
This course provides an active, conversation-based complement to Latin language study, designed to reinforce grammar and vocabulary through guided oral practice. Through interactive activities centered on Roman history, mythology, and daily life, students will develop greater fluency, confidence, and intuitive command of Latin while transforming passive knowledge into active linguistic competence.
Taught in Latin
Recordings Available
Tue, 12.00 - 1:30 PM EDT (US East) - 18:00 – 19:30 CET (Central Europe)
Oct 6 - Feb 2
24 hours total
HISTORIAE ET FABULAE LATINAE
Target Student: Students bridging the gap between basic grammar and unadapted literature, looking to build reading stamina and historical context.
Core Curriculum Focus:
Bridge the gap between basic LLPSI grammar and classical literature using Greco-Roman history and mythology as a framework.
Explore the essential characters, myths, and historical events that form the cultural background of Roman thought.
Strengthen both spoken fluency and Latin reading comprehension through guided conversation, storytelling, and active image description.
Instructor: Adriana Caballer Ricart | Tuition: $600.00 USD | Schedule: Mondays, 1:00 PM - 2:30 PM EDT (US East) / 17:00 – 18:30 CET (Central Europe) | Oct 5 - Feb 1, 2027 (24 hours total) Format: Taught in Latin | Recordings Available
For Intermediate Students
LED BY ADRIANA CABALLER RICART
Using Greco-Roman history and mythology as a framework, we will bridge the gap between basic LLPSI grammar and classical literature. Through guided conversation, storytelling, and active image description, we will explore the essential characters, myths, and historical events that form the cultural background of Roman thought, strengthening both your spoken fluency and Latin reading comprehension.
Taught in Latin
Recordings Available
Mon, 1.00 - 2:30 PM EDT (US East) - 17:00 – 18:30 CET (Central Europe) .
Oct 5 - Feb 1 (2027)
24 hours total
SCRIPTA LATINA DE MONSTRIS: MONSTERS IN LATIN LITERATURE - A GUIDED READING SEMINAR
Target Student: Students bridging the gap between basic grammar and unadapted literature, looking to build reading stamina and historical context.
Core Curriculum Focus:
Explore monsters in Latin literature through a carefully selected corpus of authentic texts from Antiquity, the Middle Ages, and the Early Modern period.
Improve reading fluency by discovering how Latin authors imagined and described mythological monsters, werewolves, vampires, and fabulous beasts.
Develop confidence in reading unadapted historical and mythological narratives.
Instructor: Laurent Daumale | Tuition: $375.00 USD | Schedule: Saturdays, 12:00 PM – 1:30 PM EDT (US East) / 18:00 – 19:30 CEST (Central Europe) | Sept 19 – Nov 21 (15 hours total) Format: Taught in Latin | Recordings Available
Led by Laurent Daumale
This guided reading seminar explores monsters in Latin literature through a carefully selected corpus of authentic texts from Antiquity, the Middle Ages, and the Early Modern period. Participants will improve their reading fluency while discovering how Latin authors imagined and described mythological monsters, werewolves, vampires, fabulous beasts, and other extraordinary creatures.
Taught in Latin
Recordings Available
Sat 12:00 PM – 1:30 PM EDT (US East) / 6:00 – 7:30 PM CEST (Central Europe)
Sept 19 – Nov 21
Duration: 90 minutes
15h total
MIRABILIA APULEIANA - APULEIUS’ METAMORPHOSES
Target Student: Advanced students, scholars, and professionals ready to analyze, debate, and interpret authentic texts across various historical eras entirely in Latin.
Core Curriculum Focus:
Engage in an active introduction to Apuleius’ Metamorphoses, one of the most original and captivating works of Latin literature.
Analyze the text's unique blend of the novel, the marvelous tale, and satire.
Explore a rich sequence of stories featuring travelers, bandits, witches, slaves, gods, and animals to understand the imaginative and everyday worlds of Roman life.
Instructor: Adriana Caballer Ricart | Tuition: $600.00 USD | Schedule: Thursdays, 12:00 PM - 1:30 PM EDT (US East) / 18:00 – 19:30 CET (Central Europe) | Oct 1 - Feb 4 (24 hours total) Format: Taught in Latin | Recordings Available
SEMINARS FOR ADVANCED READERS
LED BY ADRIANA CABALLER RICART
This course offers an active introduction to Apuleius’ Metamorphoses, one of the most original and captivating works of Latin literature. Blending elements of the novel, the marvelous tale, and satire, the text presents a rich sequence of stories featuring travelers, bandits, witches, slaves, gods, and animals, inviting students into both the imaginative and everyday worlds of Roman life.
Taught in Latin
Recordings Available
Thu, 12.00 - 1:30 PM EDT (US East) - 18:00 – 19:30 CET (Central Europe) .
Oct 1 - Feb 4
24 hours total
VERGIL’S GEORGICS: POETRY, LABOR, AND POLITICAL ORDER IN ROME
Target Student: Advanced students, scholars, and professionals ready to analyze, debate, and interpret authentic texts across various historical eras entirely in Latin.
Core Curriculum Focus:
Read and analyze the most salient and evocative portions of Vergil’s Georgics.
Examine the text as a didactic poem that ostensibly teaches the practices of agriculture.
Uncover the poem's richly layered meditation on labor, nature, and human civilization.
Instructor: Alexander Olave | Tuition: $300.00 USD | Schedule: Thursdays, 12:00 PM – 1:30 PM EDT (US East) / 18:00 – 19:30 CEST (Central Europe) | Sept 10 – Oct 29 (12 hours total) Format: Taught in Latin | Recordings Available
Led by Alexander Olave
This course introduces students to the most salient and evocative portions of Vergil’s Georgics, a didactic poem that ostensibly teaches the practices of agriculture, yet unfolds into a richly layered meditation on labor, nature, and human civilization.
Taught in Latin
Recordings Available
Thu, 12:00 PM – 1:30 PM EDT (US East) / 6:00 – 7:30 PM CEST (Central Europe)
Sept 10 – Oct 29
12h total
THE DISCIPLINE OF ATTENTION: JOHN CASSIAN’S COLLATIONES
Target Student: Advanced students, scholars, and professionals ready to analyze, debate, and interpret authentic texts across various historical eras entirely in Latin.
Core Curriculum Focus:
Read John Cassian’s Collationes, a foundational text of Latin monastic thought.
Investigate the text as a key witness to the ancient psychology of attention, discipline, and interior struggle.
Explore how monastic experience is transformed into a reflection on focus, distraction, and the governance of the mind.
Instructor: Alexander Olave | Tuition: $300.00 USD | Schedule: Tuesdays, 12:00 PM – 1:30 PM EDT (US East) / 18:00 – 19:30 CEST (Central Europe) | Sept 13 – Nov 1 (12 hours total) Format: Taught in Latin | Recordings Available
Led by Alexander Olave
This course introduces John Cassian’s Collationes, a foundational text of Latin monastic thought and a key witness to the ancient psychology of attention, discipline, and interior struggle. We will explore how monastic experience is transformed into a reflection on focus, distraction, and the governance of the mind.
Taught in Latin
Recordings Available
Tue, 12:00 PM – 1:30 PM EDT (US East) / 6:00 – 7:30 PM CEST (Central Europe)
Sept 13 – Nov 1
12h total
CATULLUS IN THE WORKS OF MARCANTONIO FLAMINIO AND HIS CONTEMPORARIES
Target Student: Advanced students, scholars, and professionals ready to analyze, debate, and interpret authentic texts across various historical eras entirely in Latin.
Core Curriculum Focus:
Discuss the many meters used by Catullus and his Renaissance imitators, using Marcantonio Flaminio’s first book of poems as a framework.
Examine the intellectual environment in which Flaminio wrote during the early 16th century.
Analyze other Latin and Italian authors of the period within Flaminio's intellectual orbit.
Instructor: Lee Lanzillotta | Tuition: $375.00 USD | Schedule: Fridays, 2:00 PM EDT (US East) / 20:00 CEST (Central Europe) | Sept 4 – Dec 11 (15 hours total) Format: Taught in Latin | Recordings Available
Led by Lee Lanzillotta
Using Marcantonio Flaminio’s first book of poems as a framework, we will discuss the many meters used by Catullus and his Renaissance imitators. We will also cover the intellectual environment in which Flaminio wrote, touching on other Latin and Italian authors of the period (early 16th century) within his intellectual orbit.
Taught in Latin
Recordings Available
Fri, 2.00 PM EDT (US East) / 8:00 PM CEST (Central Europe)
Sept 11 – Dec 18
15h total
“We don’t learn Latin to talk about everyday trivia—we learn it to read the greatest works ever written.”
Placement Guarantee: Pre-Term 1-on-1 Consultation
Unsure which specific level is the right starting point for your continuing Latin studies? Before classes begin, every student meets 1-on-1 for a brief consultation with our instructional staff. If we determine together that a different level or section is a better fit for your goals, we will adjust your enrollment immediately.
Sergio Antonini - Head of Ancient Music Department
Lelio Paolo Panzone - Ancient Greek Teacher
Adriana Caballer Ricart - Latin Teacher
Alexander Olave - Latin and Ancient Greek Teacher
Joanna Thornhill - Latin and Ancient Greek Teacher
Rogelio Toledo Martin - Ancient Greek Teacher
Camille Debouchy - Ancient Greek Teacher
Vukašin Miljković - Latin and Ancient Greek Teacher
Miguel Ángel - Ancient Greek Teacher
Francisco Anania - Latin and Greek Teacher
Soraia Tabaio - Ancient Greek Teacher
Jerfferson Araujo - Latin Teacher
Maciek Gdula - Greek Teacher
Laurent D'Aumale - Latin Teacher
Lee Lanzillotta - Latin Teacher
Instruction Led by Experienced Teachers, Scholars & Immersion Specialists
• Elite Academic Backgrounds:
Members of our faculty hold degrees and fellowships from Cambridge University, Accademia Vivarium Novum, Polis Institute, and Sorbonne.
• Target Language Active Command:
Instructors possess fluent oral and written command of Classical Latin and extensive online and in-person teaching experience with the active method.
• Small-Group Mentorship:
Classes are capped to guarantee active participation and personalized feedback.
• Faculty Directory:
Explore full instructor bios here.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
Q: I can read Latin fairly well, but I have never spoken it. Can I still join an advanced seminar?
A: Yes! Many students come to our seminars with strong reading skills but little speaking experience. Our faculty are trained to gently facilitate conversation. The seminars naturally build your active vocabulary, allowing you to transition smoothly into speaking about the texts over time.
Q: Do these seminars focus on grammar or literature?
A: The focus is strictly on literature, historical context, and thematic analysis. While complex grammatical structures will naturally be clarified as they arise in the texts, the goal is to experience the literature as a vehicle for ideas, rather than a puzzle for parsing.
Q: Are these seminars suitable for graduate students and academic researchers?
A: Absolutely. Our seminars are highly populated by PhD candidates and scholars who wish to engage with primary sources dynamically and directly, stepping away from the translation-dictionary loop.
Q: What happens if I miss a live session?
A: Every class is recorded in high definition and posted to your secure student portal within 24 hours.
Continue Your Journey into Authentic Classical Latin
Terms begin throughout September and October.
Class sizes are strictly capped to ensure small-group interaction and seminar-style discussions.
Reserve Your Seat!
Installment plans available*
*Available for US customers only