This study investigates how a teacher might purposefully use historical context to enhance GCSE Classical Greek or Latin students’ first reading experience with classical literature in the original language. I argue that students’ observed tendencies to use whatever pre-existing knowledge they have to comprehend a new text makes it expedient for a teacher to carefully plan what contextual knowledge students should bring to the text. When given the chance to apply a Meaningful Historical Context to their reading, students in this study showed an improved ability to respond to the text’s content and explain how it fitted into its genre.