Classics

04. Capitals

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Capitalisation in Classics can look very complicated. The main thing to remember is: BE CONSISTENT.

But there are also some rules:

The following words should always be capitalised:
God or god? God is capitalised when referring to the Christian, Jewish or Islamic God. It varies in other religions, but when referring to the Roman or Greek gods, do not capitalise the 'g'.

Events: Many events in the classical world are capitalised:
Some words are sometimes capitalised and sometimes not, according to how they are used. The rule is: if the word is being used as part of a title, capitalise. If not, even if it is referring to a named person, don't capitalise:
Other capitalisations change with fashion. We always write of the Renaissance and the Reformation, because these have come to be distinct entities, but we can have:
You must, however, BE CONSISTENT.

In titles of books, journals, articles or on websites, the following should be capitalised:

For example:
The Basic Works of Aristotle
Logicomix: An Epic Search for Truth
The Laws
Sparta and Lakonia: A Regional History
A History of the Classical Greek World
A History of My Time


Geographical capitals should be used as in the following examples, i.e. capitalise when the term is a title or a political division, but if a geographical descriptor, leave lower case. This is a sensible rule, brought in for the sake of clarity. So:
TaskTask TypeDifficulty
Task 1Word clickModerate
Task 2Word clickModerate
Task 3Word clickModerate
Task 4Word clickEasier
Task 5Word clickEasier
Task 6Word clickEasier
Task 7Free textMore Challenging
Task 8Word clickMore Challenging