Women have written a substantial amount of Latin literature, but there are very few editions of that literature geared towards student use. The goal of the Experrecta series is to create open access student editions of Latin texts written by women. The aim of each edition is to assist students in reading the works of these authors in the original Latin. To that end, each edition will include help with the author’s vocabulary and grammar, as well as an introduction to provide historical background on her life and works. Our primary focus will be those authors for whom there are no student editions available, though we will also produce editions of those few women authors whose works do exist in student editions if we feel that we can improve on those editions in some way. We have decided to start with Vibia Perpetua since she was among the first women to write a surviving Latin work. The name of the series comes from Perpetua herself. In Perpetua’s narrative she recounts a series of visions, each of which ends with the phrase Et experrēcta sum (“And I awoke”). This series will be populated by texts that have long been slumbering and are now waking to a new dawn and a new readership in Latin classrooms.
Volume 1: The Passion of Perpetua
Volume 2: Isotta Nogarola’s Defense of Eve
Volume 3: An Anthology of Women’s Letters in Latin, from the second century BCE to the sixth century CE (planned)
Volume 4: Select Letters of Eleanor of Aquitaine (planned)
Pixelia Publishing 