Announcing the Experrecta Series: Open Access Student Editions of Latin Texts Written by Women

Women have written a substantial amount of Latin literature, but there are very few editions of that literature geared to student use. The goal of the Experrecta Series is to create open access student editions of Latin texts written by women. The aim of each edition is to assist students in reading the works of these authors in the original Latin. To that end, each edition will include help with the author’s vocabulary and grammar, as well as an introduction to provide historical background on her life and works.

The name of the series comes from Vibia Perpetua, who was among the first women to write a surviving Latin work. In Perpetua’s narrative she recounts a series of visions, each of which ends with the phrase Et experrēcta sum (“And I awoke”). This series will be populated by texts that have long been slumbering and are now waking to a new dawn and a new readership in Latin classrooms.

Volume 1: The Passion of Perpetua

Volume 2: Isotta Nogarola’s Defense of Eve (out now!)

Volume 3: Select Letters of Eleanor of Aquitaine (expected June 2023)