Classical Civilisation (Year 11)
Exam Board –
OCR
What will you study?
Myth and Religion
Gods: The roles, symbols, and artistic representations of Greek and Roman gods.
The Universal Hero: Heracles/Hercules – The myths and representations of Heracles (Greek) / Hercules (Roman).
Religion and the City: Temples – The structure and function of temples in Greek and Roman religion.
Myth and the City: Foundation Stories – How ancient Greeks and Romans explained the origins of Athens and Rome through myth.
Festivals – The purpose, rituals, and organisation of Greek and Roman religious festivals.
Myth and Symbols of Power – How myth was used to display authority and political power.
Death and Burial
Journeying to the Underworld – How myths describe journeys to the Underworld and reflect ancient beliefs about death.
Homeric World
Literary techniques and composition of the Odyssey
Themes of the Odyssey
The character of Odysseus
The portrayal of key characters of the Odyssey
Key Sites of Homeric Greece
Life in the Mycenaean age
Decorative arts of Homeric Greece
Tombs, graves and burial of Homeric Greece
What super curricular activities can KS4 students engage with at school?
- Spoken Latin/Drama Club – every week
- Ancient Greek – every week
- UKLO – Autumn Term
- Language Cabaret – Spring Term
- Trip to British Museum – Summer Term
- Trip to Sir John Soane Museum – Summer Term
- Trip to Italy/Greece – Biennial
Fiction set in the Ancient World
The “Roman Mysteries” children’s detective series by author Caroline Lawrence
The “Percy Jackson” books by Rick Riordan
“The Rotten Romans” and “The Groovy Greeks” by Terry Deary
The “Asterix” comic books by Goscinny and Uderzo are set in Roman times
Movies set in the Ancient World
Hercules (Disney)
Clash of the Titans
Spartacus (Original)
Agora
Cleopatra
Jason and the Argonauts
Fiction based on Greek Mythology (older readers)
- A Thousand Ships by Natalie Haynes
- The Children of Jocasta by Natalie Haynes
- Stone Blind by Natalie Haynes
- Pandora’s Jar by Natalie Haynes
- Medusa by Rosie Hewlett.
- Clytemnestra by Constanza Casati.
- Ariadne by Jennifer Saint.
- Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller
- Daughters of Sparta by Claire Heywoodl
Podcasts
Let’s talk about Myths, Baby
Partial Historians
In Our Time
Natalie Haynes Stands Up for the Classics
Primary Reading
Homer’s Iliad
Homer’s Odyssey
Plato’s Last Days of Socrates + Republic
Greek Tragedy – performances every year at Kings College London and UCL, as well as occasional professional productions
Herodotus (audiobook)
Virgil’s Aeneid
Ovid’s Metamorphoses
Secondary Reading
Mary Beard’s SPQR
Mary Beard and John Henderson’s Very Short Intro to Classics
Keith Hopkins’ A World Full Of Gods
Paul Cartledge’s Alexander
Ronald Syme’s Roman Revolution
Nigel Spivey’s Classical Civilization: Greeks & Romans in 10 Chapters
Alan Davidson’s Courtesans and Fishcakes
Robert Graves’ Greek Myths
Tom Holland’s Rubicon & Persian Fire
Morley’s Why Study Classics
Jones’ An Intelligent Person’s Guide to Classics
Fiction
I, Claudius, by Robert Graves is a brilliant overview of the first four Roman emperors in the medium of fiction
The “Imperium” series by Robert Harris gives a good introduction to the political turmoil of the late republic.
“Catullus’ Bedspread” by Daisy Dunn is part fiction, part biography, shining a light on Roman culture through the eyes of Catullus, the Roman love poet.
“The Song of Achilles” and “Circe” by Madeline Miller are enjoyable retellings of the Iliad and the Odyssey respectively through the eyes of characters who were minor in the original. Miller is a Classicist and teacher herself, and she explores themes of feminism and sexuality.
“The Silence of the Girls” by Pat Barker is a much grittier retelling of the Iliad, from the point of view of Briseis, one of the Trojan women captured by the Greeks. It doesn’t leave any stones unturned when it comes to the fates of women who become collateral damage in war.
“The Penelopiad” by Margaret Atwood flips the script on the Odyssey, telling it from the point of view of his wife, Penelope.
Stone Blind by Natalie Haynes. A retelling of the myth of Medusa.
Specialisms
Homer
GRIFFIN, J [1983]. Homer on life and death – OUP (883.07 GRI)
JENKYNS, R [1998]. Classical epic: Homer and Virgil – BCP (880.07 JEN)
NICHOLSON, A. (2015) The Mighty Dead: Why Homer Matters, William Collins
ALEXANDER, C. (2011) The War That Killed Achilles, Faber
Virgil
CAMPS, W. A. (1969) An Introduction to Virgil’s Aeneid, Oxford University Press
GRANSDEN, K. W. (2004) Virgil: The Aeneid (Landmarks of World Literature), Cambridge University Press
GRIFFIN, J. (2013) Virgil (Ancients in Action), Bloomsbury Martindale, C. (ed) (1997) The Cambridge Companion to Virgil, Cambridge University Press
HARDIE, P [1998]. Virgil: Greece and Rome (New surveys in the classics No 28) – OUP
Ancient philosophy:
Julia Annas, Ancient Philosophy. A Very Short Introduction (Oxford University Press, 2000).
Greek history:
Robin Osborne, Greek History: the Basics (Routledge, 2013)
Roman history
For insights into late-republican Rome and the Augustan period (our focus in Part IA):
Kathryn Tempest, Brutus: The Noble Conspirator (Yale University Press, 2017).
Andrew Wallace-Hadrill, Augustan Rome (Bloomsbury, 2018).
- H. Scullard, From the Gracchi to Nero: a history of Rome from 133 B.C. to A.D. 68
Pamela Bradley, Ancient Rome: Using Evidence
Greek and Roman art:
Robin Osborne, Archaic and Classical Greek Art (Oxford University Press, 1998).
Mary Beard and John Henderson, Classical Art: From Greece to Rome (Oxford University Press, 2001)
Linguistics:
- H. Matthews, Linguistics: A Very Short Introduction (Oxford University Press, 2003).
James Clackson Language and Society in the Greek and Roman Worlds (Cambridge, 2015)