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DICKEY, Eleanor, Learning Latin the Ancient Way. Latin Textbooks from the Ancient World. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2016. XII,187p. Paperback. Professor Eleanor Dickey travelled around Europe to view the scraps of material that remain from ancient Latin school textbooks, or colloquia, which would have been used by young Greek speakers in the Roman empire learning Latin between the second and sixth centuries AD. The manuscripts, which Dickey has brought together and translated into English for the first time in her forthcoming book Learning Latin the Ancient Way: Latin Textbooks in the Ancient World, lay out everyday scenarios to help their readers get to grips with life in Latin. Subjects range from visiting the public baths to arriving at school late – and dealing with a sozzled close relative. (...) The colloquia show the language learners how to deal with getting to school late - a boy told that 'yesterday you slacked off and at midday you were not at home.' He successfully escapes from censure by putting the blame on his very important father, whom he had accompanied 'to the praetorium' where he was 'greeted by the magistrates, and he received letters from my masters the emperors.' (...) The Latin learners are provided with examples of how to deal with visits to sick friends and preparations for dinner parties. They are also briefed on trips to the market to wrangle over prices ('How much is the cape?' 'Two hundred denarii.' 'You’re asking a lot; accept a hundred denarii') and an excursion to the bank. 'We don’t know if they would have roleplayed the scenes with other students,' said Dickey, a professor of classics at the University of Reading. 'But my hunch is that they did.' (...) Dickey said the texts were very commonly used. 'We know this because they survive in lots of different medieval manuscript versions.' (...) Dickey shows how the students had glossaries to help them get to grips with the new language, collecting together lists of words on useful subjects. (...) 'When we think of the Romans, it’s mainly of the rich and famous generals, emperors and statesmen,' Dickey told the Guardian. 'But those people are clearly atypical: they’re famous precisely because they were remarkable. Historians try to correct this bias by telling us about the masses of ordinary Romans, but rarely do we have works written by or about these people. These colloquia give us real, contemporary stories about their lives and I hope my work gives a fairer and truer vision of ancient society.' (ALISON FLOOD in The Guardian, 10.02.2016). € 25.00 (New) ISBN: 9781107474574