The article examines current challenges in teaching Vulgar and Late Latin (LVLT) at the University of Helsinki, the institution with the longest tradition of teaching LVLT in Finland. Based on structured interviews with researcher-teachers and doctoral students, as well as the author’s own didactic experience, the study identifies institutional, teaching-related, and learning-related challenges for effective LVLT instruction. The key institutional challenges stem from significant reductions in degree requirements and teaching staff, limiting students’ exposure to LVLT. Teaching-related challenges emphasise the need for improved alignment between teaching methods and intended learning outcomes, while learning-related challenges concern declining Latin proficiency and academic skills among graduate students. Despite the difficulties, interdisciplinary and student-centred approaches have proven effective in LVLT teaching. The study highlights the importance of the linguistic, philological, and historical contextualisation of LVLT texts, especially original documents, as well as the necessity of independent study to supplement formal instruction.

The short treatise De mundo, transmitted with the Aristotelian corpus, has attracted scholarly attention in recent years for its linguistic, rhetorical, historical and philosophical features. This article focusses on the dialectic dimension of De mundo, which has hitherto been underexplored and restricted to its anti-Stoic aspects. The article argues that De mundo engages also with other rival visions of philosophy and conceptions of the cosmos, in some cases explicitly, in others implicitly, but always tactfully, without naming names, and in strict avoidance of open polemic. After reviewing five instances of explicit criticism in De mundo, in Sections 1 and 2 of the article, and five instances of implicit criticism in Section 3, Section 4 points to a general pattern that can be discerned in the author’s lines of criticism. Additionally, Section 4 considers why the author proceeds in the way he does and what this tells us about the author and possible dates of composition of his work.

This article is a study of Valerius Maximus’ understanding and rewriting of late republican history through his portrayal of Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus in chapter 6.2 of the Facta et dicta memorabilia. In chapter 6.2, ‘on the freely spoken and freely done’, Pompeius is mentioned in six consecutive exempla as the addressee of public criticism in episodes set between the 60s and 51 b.c. By offering a close reading of this chapter and by investigating its organizational criteria and themes, particularly Pompeius’ power, his silence and libertas, this article argues that Valerius aims to display how crucial the years of the ‘first triumvirate’ were in the development towards an inevitable autocracy. It suggests, moreover, that Valerius envisions the Facta et dicta as a work closer to historiography than usually appreciated.

This article discusses the Impressed Ware (IW) ceramic class from the early Late Chalcolithic 2 period (4200–4000 B.C.), which is considered fundamental for understanding chronological and socio-economic issues related to production and craft specialization in the Northern Mesopotamian region. The unpublished materials from the proto-historic site of Asingeran (Kurdistan region of Iraq) are examined through stylistic and decorative analysis and compared with specimens from contemporary sites across a broad territory, including the north-eastern Altinova plain, the south-eastern Erbil area, the south-western Khabur valley, and the Upper Eastern Tigris Basin. This paper aims to provide an overview of all IW ceramics found in Northern Mesopotamia, highlighting how the presence of this type, despite its diverse versions, serves as a significant means of identifying shared social practices among different communities within a specific ceramic region.

This article explores a novel approach to Latin instruction grounded in the principles of the natural semantic metalanguage (NSM) and the Minimal Languages framework. Whilst recent developments in Latin pedagogy have increasingly embraced communicative methods, the selection of appropriate target vocabulary remains a critical challenge, especially when traditional frequency lists prioritise terms ill-suited for active use. This, in turn, complicates the implementation of communicative approaches, which depend on accessible and contextually relevant language. We propose Minimal Latin (ML), a minimal language based on a universal lexicon derived from NSM principles and governed by a simplified grammar. ML offers a principled solution for vocabulary selection and lexical sequencing. It also facilitates in-language definitions and the explanation of cultural concepts without recourse to translation. The article outlines the theoretical foundations of NSM and Minimal Languages, presents a Latin version of NSM, and proposes ML as a pedagogical tool for Latin teaching across multiple instructional contexts.

By accepting a later dating for the composition of the Histories, this article argues that Herodotus mirrors Athenian imperialism in his account of the First Persian War to convey a political message to contemporary recipients. In doing so, he departs from the prevailing tradition of the expedition of Datis and Artaphrenes by creating a narrative that manipulates Persian methods of conquest, presenting them in a manner that appears emblematic of Athenian imperialism. In this way, the Herodotean Persians do not adhere to their expected cultural script, but act out the Athenian script. This reading offers a new understanding of Herodotus’ account of the Persian campaign as conveying a message to the Athenians who began to recognize that their former policies toward their allies were transgressive imperialism. As a result, his account of the First Persian War is a sophisticated meditation on the effects of imperialism rather than a straightforward depiction of historical events.

This paper investigates the extent and modalities of Latin and Greek teaching in early medieval British monastic communities by examining the indirect evidence offered by the manuscript known as the Liber Commonei, part of the composite manuscript Oxford Bodleian Auct. F.4.32. Using the patterns and nature of Latin and Old Welsh glosses as they appear in the manuscript, it is argued that, as expected, the monks would learn Classical Latin with the aid of Vulgar Latin and vernacular glosses and that they would tackle texts of a gradually higher complexity, conversely reducing their reliance on glosses. They would then proceed to learn Greek, using biblical excerpts (in Greek and in Latin script) as reference material; by analysing these texts, it is argued here that these British monks in the 9th century worked with the help of a Greek-speaking teacher.

This article uses the assemblage of surface-survey ceramics collected in the 2021 and 2022 West Area of Samos Archaeological Project (WASAP) field seasons to discuss the landscape structure and networking patterns (internal and external to the island) of Archaic through Byzantine south-west Samos. Collected in the basin of Marathokampos with intensive field pedestrian methods, a subset of a dataset of 1303 ceramics is discussed alongside the environmental context of their findspots. Spatial analysis is used to identify 15 ‘Areas of Interest’ in the landscape, densely populated by surface ceramics. The ceramic assemblage is interpreted in the framework of the Samian pottery production, to evaluate the entanglements of south-west Samos in regional and extra-regional trade networks. The main fabric groups are discussed and the range of types compared to material from the Hera Sanctuary and other parts of Samos. This leads to the surprising picture of a mostly inwards-looking island economy. Through the ages the assemblage is by far dominated by local productions, and the very few long-distance imports reflect more indirect trade contacts than an actively maintained, extensive trade network.