Salve! My name is Soraya, and I’m a fourth-year Classics and MML student at Wadham College. I am particularly fascinated by Ovid's Metamorphoses and am currently trying my hand at learning Greek too. The OALS classes have immensely helped me during my time in Oxford, and I love to be part of a community sharing our passion for the classical world and its languages!

Salve! I’m Beth (or Elisabetha in Latin), a Classics student at Brasenose College. Upon meeting the OALS community in Fresher’s Week of my first year at Oxford, I was quick to recognise the benefits and above all the huge amount of joy to be found in immersing oneself completely in ancient languages, which allows one to engage with ancient texts in a much more profound and enlightening way. Besides studying Latin and Greek literature and Indo-European linguistics, I enjoy learning about ancient music and playing my lyre. I am most likely to be found marvelling at the unparalleled beauty of Vergil’s hexameters or lost in composing Latin poetry of my own – often simultaneously. I have made some wonderful friends within the society, and am eager to welcome any newcomers and make some more!

„Salve! I am Eleanor, a third-year Lit. Hum. undergraduate at New College. When not doing my degree I am to be found reading ancient Greek and Roman music theory or practising the aulos or recorder (the Renaissance kind, not the plastic classroom kind!). For me, the OALS is wonderful primarily because of the community: it was through the OALS that I was able to find people to speak Latin and Greek with, and also find people with whom I could discuss and play ancient music.“

Salvete! I am Nicholas—or, as increasingly many people call me, Nicolaus—and am currently serving as a general committee member of the OALS. By day, I study Classics and Sanskrit at Magdalen College, and by night I am a philosopher-philologist and student of Nietzsche. I spend much of my time on Indo-European linguistics, or, when I’m not working, with Wittgenstein (my second-favourite philosopher) or Racine. My motto is from the Greek Anthology: 

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εἰ θεός ἐστιν Ὅμηρος, ἐν ἀθανάτοισι σεβέσθω: 
εἰ δ᾽ αὖ μὴ θεός ἐστι, νομιζέσθω θεὸς εἶναι. 

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Is Homer god? High ‘mid the gods enthrone him!  Is Homer man? Still for a god we’d own him! 

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I have had the joy and privilege of participating in a community in Oxford where it was possible to speak Latin and Greek in the classroom and in daily life: this has worked wonders for my appreciation of those languages and their literatures, and found me many good friends, and I am keen to help share it with as many people as possible.

I teach ancient Greek and Latin at Jesus College and Harris Manchester College. I’m passionate about making Classics appealing and accessible to all who want to study it, no matter what background they come from, and regardless of any previous experience of ancient Greek and/or Latin. Going on a Septimana Latina in Italy run by the Oxford Latinitas Project in 2018 showed me the potential of the Active Method to help people from all backgrounds access the ancient languages with ease and fluency, and inspired me to learn how to use the method myself and subsequently to introduce it at Jesus and Harris Manchester. As well as being Senior Member of the Oxford Ancient Languages Society, I also chair the board of Oxford Latinitas. When I have any spare time I spend it on books.