Classical Civilisation

Course details: Board and Specification: CLASSICAL CIVILISATION (H408)

Students in Year 12 will study:

• The compulsory World of the Hero module with focus on the Odyssey in Year 12

• The Greek Theatre module

Compulsory

• Acquire and read E.V. Rieu’s (Penguin’s) translation of Homer's Odyssey and read at least Books 1 and 5. Making brief book summaries is recommended. 

• Watch and note the youtube video - BBC Ancient Greece The Greatest Show On Earth part 1 of 3.

• Acquire and read the Penguin translation of Oedipus the King (in a version entitled The Theban Plays) translated by Robert Fagles with an introduction by Bernard Knox.

• Acquire and read the Cambridge Translations from Greek Drama edition of Euripides’ Bacchae.

Recommended

• Read some further Greek tragedy in translation, for example, Aeschylus' Oresteia, Euripides’ Medea, Sophocles’ Antigone and some Greek comedy - anything by Aristophanes.

• Watch the following lectures on the Massolit website: (in order to get access to all the Massolit lectures, go to www.massolit.io. (Judd has a school membership, register yourself on this website as a student, using your school email address): by Dr E Hauser on Orality in Homer: MASSOLIT – Homer | Video lecture by Dr Emily Hauser; and by Dr E Hall on the Odyssey: MASSOLIT – Homer: Odyssey | Video lecture by Prof. Edith Hall, and by Dr R Wyles on Greek Theatre: MASSOLIT – Greek Theatre | Video lecture by Dr Rosie Wyles,

The suggested reading list:

Classical Civilisation A Level

Textbooks (from the series OCR Classical Civilisation)

The World of the Hero: AS & A level Component 11

Greek Theatre and Imperial Image: AS & A Level Component 21 & 22

 World of the Hero

GRIFFIN, Jasper (2004) Homer: The Odyssey (A Student Guide)2nd ed. CUP
JONES, Peter (1988) Homer’s Odyssey Bristol Classical Press
JENKYNS, Richard (1992) Classical Epic Homer and Virgil Bristol Classical Press

Greek Theatre

Storey, I. C. and A. Allan,  A Guide to Ancient Greek Drama (Chichester: John Wiley & Sons, 2014), Chapters 1-4.
Cartledge, P., Aristophanes and His Theatre of the Absurd (London: Bloomsbury, 1990).
Morwood, J., The Plays of Euripides (London: Bloomsbury Academic, 2016), Chapter 17.
Baldock, M. (1980) Greek Tragedy An Introduction (Classical World Series, Bristol Classical Press).
Dugdale, E. (2008) Greek Theatre In Context (Cambridge University Press).