A casual observer may ask why the inscriptions at Theological Hall and the one at Kingston Hall were written in Latin. One answer would be that there was a time when knowledge of that ancient language was a prerequisite for admission to Queen’s, and it would have been understood that most of the students and many interested Kingston citizens could read these texts, maybe even to get the jokes, such as they were …
Bio:
Bernard Kavanagh is a professor of Classics at Queen’s University. His main areas of study and teaching are Roman history and Latin epigraphy, language, and literature.