Latin/Classics

Classics Department

Classics, that is to say Latin, Greek and Classical Studies, is taught by Mr M.H. Gracey.  A brief outline of what is taught is given below.

Classical Studies

In Year 7 pupils, using The Trojan War by P.N. Richardson and The Ancient Greece of Odysseus by P.Connolly, study the Greek gods, the marriage of Peleus and Thetis, the Judgement of Paris and the story of the Trojan War, which covers the dispute between Agamemnon and Achilles about their prizes, the strike of Achilles, the death of his friend Patroclus at the hands of Hector, the killing of Hector by Achilles, the story of the Wooden Horse and, finally, the fall of Troy.

They go on to study the Adventures of Odysseus, using Connolly's book cited above.  These include his visit to the cave of the dangerous monster with one eye, the Cyclops, and his meeting with the witch Circe, who turns visitors into wild animals.  Odysseus survives by the skin of his teeth only to find, when he returns to his homeland of Ithaca, that his palace is full of suitors for his wife's hand in marriage.  With the help of the goddess Athene and his son, he kills all the suitors and re-establishes himself as king.

All pupils in Year 8 continue to do Classical Studies for one lesson a week.  They begin with introductory topics, which link the world of Greek myth, studied in Year 7, with the wider world and the Romans.

Topics studied include Hercules and the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.  These are mainly studied with the aid of Departmental Worksheets.

Pupils go on to study the foundation and early history of Rome, the Republican system and the Roman Empire with the help again of worksheets and Steve Lancaster's The Roman Empire.  The focus is on individuals and exciting and gripping stories, like those of Romulus and Remus, Horatius, Gaius Fabricius and his clash with Pyrrhus of Epirus and Julius Caesar.  Later, in the Spring term, Augustus, Rome's first emperor, the Roman Army and the nature of the empire are studied.  Then, after pupils have gained an idea of the Roman background,life in Roman times, with particular reference to Pompeii, destroyed so dramatically by the eruption of the volcano Vesuvius, is examined. The main textbook is P.Connolly's Pompeii. If there is time, Roman Britain is briefly examined.

Latin

During Year 7 pupils choose to do two of four languages, one of which is Latin.  A group of pupils in Year 8 therefore does Latin as well as Classical Studies. They use the Cambridge Latin Course and get through Stage 1 during the year. This Stage introduces the language against the background of the life of a family in Pompeii just before the eruption of Vesuvius in AD 79.

During this year pupils are introduced to the basics of language and in particular to the present, imperfect and perfect tenses of verbs and to the three main noun declensions.

Year 9

Pupils study Stages 2A, which is set in Roman Britain, and 2B, set in Alexandria in Egypt, of the Cambridge Latin Course.  They deepen their knowledge of the language and, at the end of the year, make their final decision as to whether or not to continue with Latin to GCSE.

Year 10

Year 10 pupils continue with the Cambridge course, studying Stages 3A and 3B, set respectively in Roman Britain and Rome itself, and going on to Stages 4A and, if there is time, 4B, where their knowledge of the language and of Roman institutions and literature is deepened.

Side-by-side with the Cambridge course they also use N.R.R. Oulton's So You Really Want to Learn Latin (volumes I-III), which presents the grammar is a no-nonsense but accessible and amusing manner.

The points of grammar covered are outlined in the AQA Latin syllabus document (until 2006; from 2007 the syllabus will be that of OCR. There is a similar list of points of grammar in their syllabus.).

The Latin group usually makes a visit to the legionary fortress of Chester and its museums at the end of the summer term.

Year 11

Year 11 is spent in preparation for GCSE, in revising the necessary vocabulary, grammar and syntax and in particular in preparation of the Set Texts, written by Roman authors, which form the major element of the GCSE exam.

In 2005 60% of the Latin group gained an A grade at GCSE.

Latin AS and A2 (OCR)

For Latin AS pupils study three modules.  Units 1 and 2 test the candidate's knowledge of the chosen Set Texts.  In the first there are questions on the text; in the second there are passages for translation and an essay.  For 2006 the choice of Set Books includes Cicero's defence of a notorious gang-leader, part of the story of Aeneas, shell-shocked survivor of the destruction of Troy, after he arrives in Italy, the story of the defeat of Hannibal in Africa, after he had almost destroyed Rome, and a selection of poems by Rome's greatest lyric poet, Horace.

A2, studied in the second year, involves further study of the Set Texts (Units 4 and 5) and a comprehension on an unseen passage of Latin (Unit 6).

Classical Civilisation AS and A2 (AQA)

For Classical Civilisation pupils study two modules for AS, which are tested by exams, and a third, for which they write a piece of coursework. For Module 1 candidates have a choice of three topics.  The first is the study of the development of Athenian democracy.  The tiny city-state of Athens was ruled by a small group of nobles at the beginning of the sixth century BC.  Fearing revolution they agreed to reforms which gave less wealthy citizens a say in the city's government.  By the fifth century the citizens, buoyed up by the part they had played in the defeat of Persia, were running their city in an exceptionally democratic manner, far more democratically than Britain is run today.

The other options in Module 1 include the Life and Times of Cicero, Roman lawyer and politician, at the time of the disintegration of Roman rule of the Mediterranean in the armed conflicts of mighty Romans like Julius Caesar, and an examination of the Life of Women in Athens and Rome. The second module is a literary one.  Pupils can choose to study either the great epics of the Iliad, about the siege of Troy, or the Odyssey, about Odysseus' ten-year journey home to his palace, which he finds full of rivals for the hand of his wife.  The third choice is a study of the knock-about farces of the Roman writer of comedies, Plautus.

The third and final module for AS involves coursework on a topic of particular interest to the candidate, which may range from architecture, through Greek comedy, to Roman history.

The pattern for A2 is similar to that for AS.  For the fourth module the choice is between the astonishing defeat of the mighty Persian empire by a motley collection of Greek city-states, including in particular Athens and Sparta, the study of Greek sculpture and a selection of Greek tragedies, including that of Oedipus, who killed his father and married his mother.

The fifth module, like the fourth, is also tested by examination.  Pupils have a choice of three topics: the first is a study of Rome's oddball early emperors, the elderly Tiberius, Gaius, who went mad, the stammering Claudius and the corrupt Nero, a period immortalised by Robert Graves in his historical novels I, Claudius and Claudius the God.  The second is Roman Architecture and Town Planning and the third is Virgil's Aeneid, the Augustan epic of Aeneas' escape from Troy, his adventures en route and his fiercely-contested arrival in Italy.

Finally, in module 6, pupils write a second piece of coursework on topics ranging from biography, through philosophy and vase-painting to history.

Pupils who in recent years have gone on to pursue Classical Subjects at university include Richard Colebrook, who went to Newcastle University to study Ancient History and Archaeology, Philip Johnston, who went to Manchester to study Ancient History, and Edward Fisher, who also went to Newcastle, to study Archaeology