
Classics
04. Capitals
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:- the first word of every sentence
- proper nouns, i.e. individuals' names, place names, languages, days of the week, months of the year, festivals (e.g. Saturnalia, Lupercalia, Whitsun, Ramadan, Diwali) and holy days; names of books (e.g. the Satires, the Odes)
- the numbers of books (e.g. Book One or Book 1)
- the personal pronoun ‘I’
- Roman numerals, e.g. XIV, IV, MCLXVII
Events: Many events in the classical world are capitalised:
- the Second Persian War
- the Peleponnesian War
- King Priam, but the king
- the King of Athens, but the king
- Queen Penelope, but the queen
- the Ancient Agora, but the agora
- the Persian Empire, but the empire
- the Battle of Marathon, but the battle
- the Roman Republic, but the republic
- Glasgow University, but the university
- the Theory of Forms, but the theory
- the senate or the Senate
- senators or Senators
- the Acropolis or the acropolis
- the enlightenment or the Enlightenment
- the middle ages or the Middle Ages
In titles of books, journals, articles or on websites, the following should be capitalised:
- the initial letters of the first word
- all nouns (naming words)
- pronouns (I, you, her, him, it, us, etc.) but NOT the word 'that'
- adjectives (words that describe nouns, e.g. the brown dog)
- verbs (doing words)
- adverbs (words describing verbs, or describing any other word apart from nouns)
- subordinate conjunctions (e.g. after, although, as, because, before, since, than, though, etc.)
- the first word after a colon (this rule only applies in titles)
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:
- the Western Roman Empire, but west of Rome
- North America, but northern Britain
- Western Europe, but western Gaul
- South Africa, but the south of Scotland
Task | Task Type | Difficulty |
---|---|---|
Task 1 | Word click | Moderate |
Task 2 | Word click | Moderate |
Task 3 | Word click | Moderate |
Task 4 | Word click | Easier |
Task 5 | Word click | Easier |
Task 6 | Word click | Easier |
Task 7 | Free text | More Challenging |
Task 8 | Word click | More Challenging |