Reconstructing Virgil in the classroom in late antiquity

Abstract

This essay considers how teaching and learning may have functioned in late antique Roman classrooms by examining two texts: one is from the teacher’s perspective, the other – which, until recently, was unedited – provides some access to the student’s perspective. Despite much recent scholarly work on education in antiquity, there has been no attempt to bring teachers’ and students’ perspectives together through two contemporary sources from the Latin-speaking West. The first text is by Servius, a late antique teacher, whose Commentary provides detailed analysis of Virgil. The other comprises the Colloquia, containing ‘real life’ dialogues in Latin and Greek set in a school context. Through this comparison, the author aims to shed some light on what may have happened in a Latin-speaking classroom in late antiquity.