Orbis Sensualium Pictus Graeco-Latinus (1820) new

John Amos Comenius (Wikipedia) was a travelling scholar, bishop of the persecuted Moravian church, who lived from 1592 - 1670. He used the modern picture method of the popular Rosetta Stone software to teach students Latin and other classical languages. The Orbis Sensualium Pictus (World in Pictures) (1657), was probably the most renowned and most widely circulated of school textbooks in the beginning of the Early Modern Period (1500's-ca. 1750). The Orbis Sensualium Pictus was a vocabulary book and introduction to the Latin language. He wrote a number of subsequent books which were based upon Orbis Senualium Pictus . While mastering the vocabulary, his students were introduced to a world of educational literature which prepared them for reading classical texts. Animal husbandry, metalurgy, viniculture, philosophy, education, agrigulture, industry, science and other topics were all part of "Comenius' Visible World." His books were like a Richard Scarry picture book for the Early Modern Period.

Comenius' books were used into the mid 1800's, at which point the traditional grammar-translation method overtook most of Greek pedagogy. His books were only intended to teach Latin, but some of his books were given a parallel Greek translation. In modern-day terms, one would classify his books (his Visible World especially) as teaching words in the same semantic domains. Since this is a fun and very instructive way to learn vocabulary, I am goint to try and translate some of Comenius' Latin chapters of Visilble World into Koine Greek (The Greek of 300 B.C. to 500 A.D.).

Comenius' method was one of side-by-side translations of Latin along with the parallel Primary Language of his students (Hungarian, German, French, etc.). Many still find this a very useful way to learn language.

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Louis Sorenson