PALAIA

Promoting Ancient Languages in Academia

PALAIA is an initiative of MALS: the Macquarie Ancient Languages School.

As both MALS tutors and Macquarie University students, we aim to encourage and support learners of ancient languages with our programs at Macquarie.

Who we are

PALAIA grew out of study groups run by Macquarie University undergrads in 2020. Initially an attempt to overcome the many obstacles to learning imposed by COVID, the group continued to meet after the pandemic and expanded in both its membership and set of languages.

Today, the PALAIA team includes undergrads, postgrads and those from outside the academy with a passion for ancient languages. We have many goals for the future, the foremost of which is to help more students in language learning and expand how many languages we work with.

What we do

We encourage and support the study of ancient language at Macquarie University both as a community and through the various free activities we regularly hold on campus:

Our ancient language reading groups are run throughout the teaching session at Macquarie. There’s no prerequisite for joining and anyone with an interest is welcome!

Check out our language workshops covering techniques and approaches for learning the ancient languages offered at Macquarie University.

UPCOMING

Check out the events running in 2025

  • Weird Greek

    Join us in Session 1, 2025 as we dive into often overlooked Ancient Greek texts. Tackling a new text each week, the group works back in time from through the texts of the Postclassical period.

    Find out more

  • Reading Latin

    Running fortnightly in session 1 of 2025, offering guided readings of a selection of unique Latin texts.

    Find out more

  • Languages of Ancient Anatolia: Phrygian Workshop

    All are welcome to come along to an all-day workshop in our series on the languages of Ancient Anatolia, running on Monday the 14th of April. Join us as we dive into the fascinating Phrygian language, Ancient Greek’s linguistic cousin.

    Sign-Up

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