List of Active-Language Classicists
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
This page lists classicists who have devoted significant professional effort into speaking Classical languages in an active way, for conversation, teaching, and other spontaneous verbal communication.[1][2][3][4][5]
![](#/media/File:"Latin_Spoken_Here"_button,_in_Latin.png)
Many of these individuals have careers in academia, but not all of them. They work as scholars, instructors, organizers, authors, or academic researchers.
The listed individuals are distinctive because the majority of Classics scholars in modern times devote little effort to speaking Classical languages. In fact they frequently discourage this activity as mostly a waste of time.[6][7][8] The individuals listed here are notable exceptions.
For the purpose of this list, we use the same definition of "Classical languages" as is used at Classics departments major European and North American universities, and indeed the same definition used at the Wikipedia Classics page: Latin and Ancient Greek.
However, specialists in other classical languages can also be listed here, provided that their professional activity is the same: The active use of one or several ancient and probably dead classical languages as spoken, conversational languages.
Individuals
| Name | Lifespan | Professional description | Institutional affiliation(s) | Location(s) | Language(s) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Arcadius Avellanus | 1851-1935 | scholar, teacher, editor, organizer | Professor at St. John's College in Brooklyn | Hungary; U.S. | Latin |
| John Stuart Blackie | 1809-1895 | classical scholar and man of letters | Prof. of Greek at Edinburgh U; Prof. of Humanities at U. of Aberdeen | Scotland | Ancient Greek, Latin |
| Jean Capelle (politician) | 1909-1983 | politician | First international congress for living Latin (Avignon, 1956); French Ministry of National Education | France | Latin |
| Carlo Egger | 1914-2003 | Catholic abbott; classicist | Latinitas Foundation; Vatican Secretariat of State | South Tyrol, Italy; Rome, Italy | Latin |
| Reginald Foster | 1939-2020 | Catholic priest; renowned teacher of spoken Latin | Vatican Secretariat of State; Gregorian University | Rome, Italy; Wisconsin, U.S. | Latin |
| Alexis Hellmer | 1984- | classicist | Founder of Studium Angelopolitanum; Rusticatio Virginiana; Conventiculum Bostoniense | Mexico | Latin |
| Stephen Hill | classicist, teacher | Wyoming Catholic College;[9] Polis Institute[9] | U.S. | Ancient Greek, Latin | |
| Eduard Johnson | 1840-1903 | classicist, teacher, author, journalist and local historian | Plauen Gymnasium; Chemnitz Gymnasium; Vogtländische Anzeiger (local German newspaper) | Saxony, Germany | Ancient Greek, Latin |
| Leni Ribeiro Leite | classicist | Federal University of Espírito Santo;[4] U. of Kentucky;[10] Conventiculum Lexingtoniense | Kentucky, U.S.; Brazil | Latin | |
| Tatiana Marvina | teacher | Polis Institute[11][12] | Jerusalem, Israel | Ancient Greek | |
| Milena Minkova | classicist, author | Pontifical Gregorian University;[4] Pontifical Salesian University;[4] U. of Kentucky;[4] Academia Latinitati Fovendae (ALF);[13] Conventiculum Lexingtoniense[5] | Kentucky, U.S.; Rome, Italy | Latin | |
| Luigi Miraglia | 1965- | teacher, classicist | Founder of the Accademia Vivarium Novum; Academia Latinitati Fovendae (ALF);[13] Pontifical Academy for Latin | Rome, Italy | Latin |
| Luke Amadeus Ranieri | teacher, author, prolific YouTuber[14] | Ancient Language Institute;[15] Paideia Institute;[16][17] Polis Institute[18] | U.S. | Latin, Ancient Greek | |
| Christophe Rico | classicist, author, dean | Dean of the Polis Institute;[19][20] University of Strasbourg[19] | Jerusalem, Israel | Ancient Greek, Latin (and others) | |
| W. H. D. Rouse | 1863-1950 | teacher, translator, author, headmaster | Cambridge University; Association for the Reform of Latin Teaching; Loeb Classical Library editor; Rugby School; The Perse School (headmaster)[21] | U.K. | Latin |
| Wilfried Stroh | 1939-2025 | philologist, academic | U. of Munich; Academia Latinitati Fovendae (ALF)[13] | Munich, Germany | Latin |
| Jenny Teichmann | teacher, organizer, YouTuber[22] | Argos Didaskei;[23] Paideia Institute;[24] Τρίοδος Trivium[22] | Germany | Ancient Greek | |
| John Traupman | 1923-2019 | classicist, author | Saint Joseph's University | Philadelphia, U.S. | Latin |
| Terence Tunberg | 1950- | classicist, author | U. of Kentucky; Academia Latinitati Fovendae (ALF);[13] Conventiculum Lexingtoniense[5] | Kentucky, U.S. | Latin |
| Karl Heinrich Ulrichs | 1825-1895 | lawyer, jurist, journalist, writer, early gay rights activist | district court of Hildesheim; Accademia Pontaniana (Naples, Italy) | Germany; Italy | Latin |
See also
- Classics
- Latin
- Ancient Greek
- Attic Greek
- Koine Greek
- Modern Use
- Experimental Ancient Greek wiki:
- Κυρία Δέλτος (main page) (wiki incubator)
- Index of pages (wiki incubator)
- Language revitalization
- Erasmus of Rotterdam