Over the years, the generosity and support of the JBS Parents' Council has enabled us to acquire a small but choice collection of ancient coins. This has been supplemented by the late Eric Newman (JBS class of 1928), philanthropist and renowned numismatist, who donated numerous coins to us. Our coins range from an Athenian "owl" (right), to a debased denarius struck by a desperate Marc Antony immediately prior to the battle of Actium, to coins representing the Seleucid dynasty, to Roman imperial coins struck in Egypt. This is a teaching collection; rather than lock them up where they cannot be seen, we display as many as we feasibly can, and we bring the coins to class. Students can therefore practice their familiarity with capital Greek letters, learn about the conventions of Roman imperial titulature, and feel the heft of ancient silver. In a world-civilization textbook the name Ptolemy I Soter may seem like...just another ancient name; but to see his image on a coin can make him come alive.

Over the years the Department has developed a considerable library. Ongoing support from the school's administration has made this possible, as has the generosity of the family of the late Earl Dille (grandfather of Devon and Tori, both Latin students while at JBS); the latter donated to us numerous volumes, particularly texts and commentaries on ancient authors, some of them long out of print and very difficult to find. Every year many ninth graders choose, for their major term paper in World Civilizations I, a topic related to the ancient world, and we are happy to lend them resources from our library to enhance their research.

Visit the Classics suite on the third floor of the Brauer building and you will find the walls covered with teaching aids of one kind or another; the same is true of our classrooms (301, 304, 306). Can't recall who Helen's sister was? Consult our enormous family tree of mythological characters. When we read about Delphi, which Quintus visits in Part 3 of the Oxford Latin Course, students take a field trip to the hall to look a spectacular, bird's-eye view of the site. Do the battles of Philippi, Aegispotami, Salamis, Lake Trasimene, and Issus all blend into a geographical miasma? Consulting the maps adorning our walls can orient us to what happened where. And doesn't it help, when trying to work one's way through a thorny passage from the Commentaries of the Gallic War, to look up and see the author gazing benevolently down upon you?