What Ancient Latin Sounded Like, And How We Know It
Latin is a language
As dead as dead can be;
It killed the Romans long ago,
And now it’s killing me.
That famed ditty isn’t likely to resonate with many modern school children, but interest in ancient Rome remains fairly robust.
We’ve come to accept that those stately ruins were once covered in graffiti.
We can recreate their meals from hors d’oeuvres (Boiled Eggs with Pine Nut Sauce) to dessert (Pear Patina).
Thermae Romae, a popular Japanese manga-cum-feature-film, took us inside Emperor Hadrian’s bathhouse.
But what did the Romans sound like?
Kirk Douglas’ Spartacus? Or Laurence Olivier’s…
The skinny
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