Studying Latin is about far more than just acquiring a language. It is a window into the past, a look into the fascinating world which the ancients inhabited. Simultaneously, it furnishes its students with an unsurpassed and strikingly modern cultural and linguistic literacy, allowing students to comprehend the world around them in a far richer way.
Mark Zuckerberg, founder of Facebook, famously summed it up when he applauded Latin for its analytical and historical benefits.
Here are some of the most important reasons you should consider enrolling:
1. Become familiar with such myths and stories as those of Hercules, Perseus, Theseus, Jason and the Argonauts, the Trojan War and the founding of the city of Rome under Romulus.
2. Learn about the daily life of Romans, including their food, dress, marriage customs, residences, religion, entertainment, and more.
3. Improve familiarity with English vocabulary and acquire a clearer comprehension of grammar by interacting abstractly with grammatical concepts via a complex ancient language.*
I.e., it's much easier to understand English grammar when you can isolate it by viewing it from the perspective of a grammatically distinct language.
* words in blue are derived directly or indirectly from Latin (some words like "grammar" are Greek in origin but came into English via Latin).
"English grammar is abstract and invisible because of its lack of structure and inflection. But Latin grammar is concrete and visible because of its structure and inflection."
4. Discover great literary works, like Vergil's Aeneid and Caesar's Gallic Wars, in their original language.
5. Facilitate further language acquisition. Latin is the basis for most of the vocabulary found in French, Spanish and Italian, and it shares elements of its grammatical structure in common with many other European languages, including German and Russian.
6. Take a subject that, even if you only study it for a couple of years, will benefit you in other classes at school. The knowledge derived from studying ancient Roman history, culture, geography, grammar and vocabulary will directly benefit students in classes such as English, etymology, history, geography and anatomy.
7. Put yourself at an advantage for law and medical school admission and study:
"Given that anatomy is a foundational field in a lot of medicine in general, I have found that Latin is exceptionally important for any of those individuals who wish to pursue upper level degrees in the anatomical sciences". Margaret McNulty, Assistant Professor of Anatomy and Cell Biology at Indiana University Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qprsZ4FpzOM&feature=youtu.be (Accessed January 15, 2018).
"The law school applicants with the highest grade point averages and LSAT scores studied the classics in college, according to a recent analysis of data from the Law School Admissions Council by Derek Muller, associate professor at Pepperdine University School of Law."
8. Learn about Rome's early monarchy and the republican form of government that followed it, and about the stresses and strains that led to its demise, giving birth to one of the most expansive and influential empires in history.
Topics include early Republican heroes like Horatius Cocles and Cincinnatus, the Carthaginian general Hannibal and his nemesis Scipio, and the fall of the republic in the age of Pompey, Mark Anthony and Julius Caesar.
9. Gain an appreciation for the great influence of the classical heritage on the arts and literature
"Familiarity with these myths is a basic element of cultural literacy and enables students to appreciate the myriad works of art, literature, and music that reveal classical influences" Bonnie A. Catto, Latina Mythica, vii.