Free to use, replicate, and alter — Provided credit is given where it is due.
Alphabet Explorer
The 23-letter classical Latin alphabet in order — click any letter for pronunciation, classical notes, and example words.
Alphabet — 23 letters · A through Z in classical order
Roman Numerals
Roman numerals from I to the largest classical values — grouped by magnitude. Click any section to expand.
Core Rules
IV, IXSubtractive rule — a smaller symbol before a larger one is subtracted (IV = 4, IX = 9).
VIIIAdditive rule — symbols in descending order are added together (VIII = 8).
IIIIRepetition — a symbol may be repeated up to three times; four in a row is avoided (use IV instead).
V̄, X̄Vinculum (overbar) — a bar over a numeral multiplies its value by 1,000.
Vita Ab Initio
Life, From the Beginning
You will not study Latin. You will live it. Configure your Roman persona below, enter the world, and acquire the language the only way it has ever truly been learned — through life itself.
Configure Your Roman Persona
Gender
Time Period
City
Social Class
Your Roman Persona
Stage of LifeAccuracy: —
Your story awaits. Press Begin Scene to enter the world.
Optional — leave blank for your selected AI model to randomly pick words based on its internal preferences
Flashcard Quiz
Flip the card to reveal the answer, then mark whether you got it right.
Category
Order
Direction
Mode
Vocab Category
Nouns, Verbs, Adjectives and Phrases are built-in sets — available offline, no setup needed.
Words generates a fresh AI-powered set on any topic — requires A.I set up.
Difficulty
Topic
Custom Topic
Configure options above and click Generate to create AI flashcards.
Click to reveal
1 / 23
Score: 0 correct, 0 missed
1 / 23
Score: 0 correct, 0 missed
Sentence Generator
Generate authentic classical Latin passages tuned to your level, style, and length.
Difficulty
Style
Length — 1 sentence
1 lineShort ¶Medium ¶Long text
Topic — optional
Press Generate to create a Latin passage.
Content quality varies depending on which AI model you use. Consider verifying with a Latin scholar.
A
Classical
Ecclesiastical
Example Word
AI Settings
Connect an AI model to power sentence and word generation.
API Key
Your key is saved only in your browser. It never leaves your device. Consider this when using on a shared or public device.
Model
Service Tier
Flex
Lower cost, best-effort processing — may be slower
Expand/Observe the bar on the left then select API keys from the menu.
3
Press Create new secret key, give it any name, and copy the key — it starts with sk-. Save it somewhere safe if you want to copy it again as after you create it you won't be able to view it again.
4
Add a small amount of credit under Billing — even $5 will run thousands of scenes at Flex tier pricing.
5
Paste the key above and press Test & Load Models. I recommend gpt-5.1 — it's the fastest and least restricted model I've found, though this is your call. The best results of all come from a fine-tuned personal model run through Ollama, though that requires technical knowledge and a powerful machine.
Server URL
Model
Generation Behaviour
PreciseInventive
Higher = less repetition in output
How to set up Ollama
1
Download and install Ollama from ollama.com. It runs locally on your machine — no account needed, no cost. Though a powerful machine is required to run the more capable models.
2
Open a terminal and pull a model or download it from the Ollama app — for example: ollama pull llama3.
3
Ollama blocks browser requests by default. Restart it with CORS enabled — in your terminal run: OLLAMA_ORIGINS=* ollama serve
4
On Windows, use: set OLLAMA_ORIGINS=* && ollama serve in Command Prompt instead.
5
Leave the Server URL as http://localhost:11434 and press Load to connect and see your models. For the best possible results, a fine-tuned language model run locally through Ollama will outperform any cloud model — though this requires real technical knowledge and a powerful computer to set up.
Keyboard Shortcuts
Navigation
Home1
Alphabet2
Numbers3
Flashcards4
Sentences5
Keyboard shortcuts?
Flashcards
Flip cardSpaceorEnter
Got it right↑orG
Got it wrong↓orM
Next card→
Multiple choice 1–41–4
Sentences
Generate sentenceCtrl+Enter
Toggle translationT
Words Learned
Latin vocabulary from your scenes
Clear History?
This will erase all scene text. Your persona and stage progress are kept.
Start Over?
This will permanently delete your persona and all conversation history.
Are you sure? Consider exporting your history first — once reset, it cannot be recovered.
Saved Personas
Your preserved Roman lives
How It Works
Behind the scenes of Vita Ab Initio
What is happening when you press Begin?
Each time a scene starts, the app sends a single message to an AI model — your chosen OpenAI model or a local Ollama model. That message contains everything needed in one go: who you are, where you are, what stage of life you're at, and strict rules about how the scene must be written. The AI replies with a short JSON object containing the scene text, a question, the answer options, and a glossary of Latin words used.
Why is it cheap?
There is no ongoing conversation sent back and forth. Each request is self-contained — the app sends one message, gets one reply, and that's it. The scene summary (one sentence) is included in the next request to maintain continuity, but the full scene text is never re-sent. This keeps every call very short. At Flex tier pricing, a full session of 10–15 scenes typically costs a fraction of a cent.
What is sent to the AI — exactly?
Every request contains three layers:
1. Your persona — name, birth year, family background, era, city, class. 2. Scene conditions — a randomly drawn time of day, location, characters present, and situation type. 3. Stage rules — strict instructions about language ratio (how much Latin vs English), scene length, narration in second person ("you"), no macrons, and what kind of question to generate. 4. Anti-repeat instruction — tells the AI not to reuse vocabulary or situations from earlier beats. 5. Learned words list — the words you've already encountered, so they aren't made the focus again.
The stage rules, word for word
These are the exact instructions sent to the AI for each stage of life:
Your data
Nothing is stored on any server. Your API key, your persona, your scene history, and your learned words all live only in your browser's local storage. The only data that ever leaves your device is the prompt sent to OpenAI or your local Ollama model.