Classics

Lectures/Events/Shows/Museums

TV:

Digging for Britain - various seasons available; a show about archaeology in general, with occasional episodes about Roman Britain.

QI: Available on various platforms. Not strictly "Classics" but frequently references Classical authors and the ancient world.

Adam Hart Davis is back on iPlayer! Mr Risdon is personally delighted about this. See Adam Hart Davis run up and down hills and get excited about stuff. There are only 6 episodes, half an hour each, and are thoroughly entertaining. Caveat: we do watch most of these in lessons, especially in Year 9, so you may end up seeing some episodes twice.... (Then again I've seen each episode at least 10 times and I still love them! - TMR)

Exhibitions:

The Mithraeum in Central London has some very cool stuff in it, including a tour of an old underground temple narrated by national treasure Joanna Lumley.

The National Gallery: A stone's throw away from Charing Cross Station, this gallery is packed with paintings with Ancient Greek or Roman themes, both mythical and historical.

The British Museum: There's nothing specific on a the moment, but the BM's full of ancient treasures.

The Museum of London has plenty of ancient Roman artefacts (47,000!) to peruse.

Live Shows:

Hadestown, a musical about the Greek myth of Orpheus and Eurydice runs until December. There are various clips like this one on YouTube so you can get an idea of it. It's an interesting take on the classic tale and gives a little more agency to Eurydice, which is refreshing to see.

Head to the Globe at any time: Shakespeare stuffs all his plays full of Classical references; for something specifically set in the Roman world, from August-September you can see Antony and Cleopatra. Get standing tickets for the best experience (and cheapest tickets!)

The Royal Opera House usually has something with a Classical theme, and this year is no exception: Ruination in late 2024 is a retelling of the Greek myth of Medea.

The National Theatre is showing Shakespeare's Coriolanus (a political tragedy set in the Roman world) and The Other Place, a retelling of the Greek Tragedy of Antigone.

Books (fiction)

These books are recommendations only; parental discretion is advised.

This list is by no means exhaustive!

Fiction based on or inspired by Greek and Roman history and mythology, in no particular order:

KS3

Percy Jackson & the Olympians series, Rick Riordan

The Heroes of Olympus series, Rick Riordan

The Trials of Apollo series, Rick Riordan

Many more books by Rick Riordan

The Roman Mysteries series, Caroline Lawrence

Myth-O-Mania series, Kate McMullan

Goddess Girls series, Joan Holub and Suzanne Williams:

The Olympians series of graphic novels, George O’Connor

The Mythic Misadventure series, Caroline Hennesy

Special mention: The Discworld series by Terry Pratchett is not directly related to the Greco-Roman world, but has a wide range of themes and references which are related to the Roman world.

KS4 and above

The Silver Pigs, Lindsey Davis (the first in a series)

Roman Blood, Steven Saylor (the first in a series)

The Mythos series, Stephen Fry

Girl Meets Boy, Ali Smith

Circe, Madeline Miller

The Silence of the Girls, Pat Barker

Stone Blind, Natalie Haynes

The Penelopiad, Margaret Atwood

Ariadne, Jennifer Saint

An Orchestra of Minorities, Chigozie Obioma

A Thousand Ships, Natalie Haynes

Song of Achilles, Madeline Miller

House of Names, Colm Toibin

Autobiography of Red, Anne Carson

Ulysses, James Joyce

The Secret History, Donna Tartt - Mr Risdon’s recommendation

The Maidens, Alex Michaelides

The Giant Dark, Sarvat Hasin

I, Claudius, Robert Graves

Books/Articles (non-fiction)

One of the best ways of discovering about Classics is to read Omnibus, the journal produced twice a year by the Joint Association of Classical Teachers specially for sixth-formers. Every issue contains a dozen or so short articles on aspects of Classics, written by those who teach in universities. It costs only £3 and both the current number and back-numbers are available from https://classicalassociation.org/publications/omnibus/ We also have a fairly large collection in the office, available for students to borrow on request.

There are countless books on the ancient world out there. We've selected a few, largely based on recommendations from the Classics department websites of Oxford and Cambridge Univerities:

SPQR. A History of Ancient Rome, Mary Beard, (2015)

Women and Power, Mary Beard (2018)

From the Gracchi to Nero: a history of Rome from 133 B.C. to A.D. 68., H. H. Scullard, (this has been published in many editions: the latest is by Routledge, 1998)

O. Murray, Early Greece (Fontana, 2nd ed. 1993)

Democracy and Classical Greece, J.K. Davies, (Fontana, 2nd ed. 1993)

Rubicon, Tom Holland

Persian Fire, Tom Holland

Pax, Tom Holland

Homer, R. B. Rutherford, (Greece & Rome New Surveys in the Classics, Oxford, 2nd Ed. 2013)

Homer on Life and Death, J. Griffin, (Oxford, 1980)

Homeric Soundings, O. Taplin, (Oxford, 1992)

The Cambridge Companion to Homer, R. Fowler, ed. (Cambridge, 2004)

Homer: the Iliad, W, Allan (Bristol, 2012)

Virgil, P. R. Hardie, (Greece & Rome New Surveys in the Classics, Oxford, 1998)

An Introduction to Virgil’s Aeneid, W. A. Camps, (paperback, Oxford 1969)

Further Voices in Vergil’s Aeneid, R. O. A. M. Lyne, (paperback, Oxford 1992)

The Cambridge Companion to Virgil, C. Martindale, ed. (Cambridge, 1997).

The Oxford History of the Ancient World, J. Boardman, J. Griffin and O. Murray (editors), (Oxford 1986; a paperback version has subsequently been published in two volumes, Greek and Roman).

Books (originals in translation)

The following are probably aimed at more advanced readers. There are many different translations available, and new ones coming out all the time: have a browse in a bookshop, or preview online, and pick your favourite.

Thucydides’ History of the Peloponnesian War (especially books 1–2) – Thucydides’ reflections on the problems of discovering what happened and working out why it happened have been immensely influential.

Plato Republic – an extraordinary work which makes clear the links between political actions, moral judgements and what it is to know something.

Tacitus Annals (especially books 1–4): a gripping analysis of the problems for an absolute ruler in securing elite and popular support to run an empire.

Plato, Symposium

Herodotus, The Histories

Suetonius, Lives of the Caesars

Seneca, Letters from a Stoic

Ovid, Metamorphoses

Homer, Odyssey

Homer, Iliad

Virgil, Aeneid