Classical Latin facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Classical Latin
LINGVA LATINA, lingua latina
Latin inscription in the Colosseum
Native to	Roman Republic, Roman Empire
Region	Mare Nostrum region
Era	75 BC to AD 3rd century, when it developed into Late Latin
Language family	Indo-European Italic Latino-Faliscan Latin Classical Latin
Early forms:	Old Latin Classical Latin
Writing system	Classical Latin alphabet
Official status
Official language in	Roman Republic, Roman Empire
Regulated by	Schools of grammar and rhetoric
Linguist List	lat-cla
Linguasphere	51-AAB-aaa
The range of Latin, AD 60

Classical Latin is the form of Latin that was used by the ancient Romans in official Roman record-keeping, the Roman military, and Latin literature. Its use helped the Golden Age of Latin literature during the 1st century BC and the early 1st century AD.

Classical Latin is a dead language, as is Vulgar Latin, the common speech of citizens in the Roman Empire. It is not spoken as a first language anymore. However, it is still spoken by church officials in the Vatican, where it is the official language.

Images for kids

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  David Ruhnken

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  Wilhelm Sigismund Teuffel

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  At Maecenas' Reception, oil, Stefan Bakałowicz, 1890. An artist's view of the classical. Maecenas knew and entertained everyone literary in the Golden Age, especially Augustus.

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  Marcus Tullius Cicero, after whom Teuffel named his Ciceronian period of the Golden Age

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  Julius Caesar

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  The frowning second emperor, Tiberius, limited free speech, precipitating the rise of Silver Latin, with its emphasis on mannerism rather than on solid content, according to Teuffel's model

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  Marcus Aurelius, emperor over the last generation of classicists and himself a classicist.

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  Germanicus Caesar

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  Ancient bust of Seneca, part of a double herm (Antikensammlung Berlin)

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  Sketch of Apuleius