Classical Civilisation - Post GCSE

First Task – consider this question: What makes a hero?

Watch this clip from the film Troy. Achilles (a Greek warrior) is fighting Hector (a Trojan warrior). Achilles wants revenge because Hector killed his best friend Patroclus in the battle the day before. Achilles is considered the ultimate hero in the Homeric epics but notice he is not saving the day or preventing some major catastrophe. He is a warrior in a war driven by anger and revenge

As we read The Iliad and the Aeneid we will be considering what a hero was to the Greeks and the Romans. Here is an introduction to those thoughts.

The other thing that we will look at is the role of the gods within The Iliad and then in Greek Religion.

Now look at the passages found [Download from here] which describe various actions of some gods.

Next question: What are your impressions of them from these passages? Is this what you expect of gods?

The Iliad is highly descriptive. Look at these two descriptions and considered how you would depict them in a film or in a piece of art.

The Death of Harpalion

Harpalion now came close and stabbed with his spear in the centre of Menelaos’ shield, but could not drive the bronze right through, and shrank back into the mass of his companions to avoid destruction, looking sharply all around him, so that no-one should find his flesh with their bronze. But Meriones sent a bronze-tipped arrow at him as he retreated, and struck him in the right-buttock: the arrow passed on through under the bone and into his bladder. He sank down where he was, in the arms of his dear companions, the life breathing from him, and lay there curled on the earth like a worm: and the dark blood ran from him, soaking the ground.

Paris arms himself

Paris did not dally long in his high house, but once he had put on his glorious armour of intricate bronze, he dashed through the city, sure of the speed of his legs. As when some stalled horse who has fed full at the manger breaks his halter and gallops thudding across the plain, eager for his usual bathe in the lovely flow of the river, and glorying as he runs. He holds his head high, and the mane streams back along his shoulders: sure of his own magnificence, his legs carry him lightly to the haunts where the mares are at pasture. So Paris, son of Priam, came down from the height of Pergamos, bright in his armour like the beaming sun, and laughing as he came, his quick legs carrying him on. Then he soon came up to godlike Hektor, his brother.

Create a storyboard or piece of art if you have the time.

The Aeneid was a poem written to celebrate Aeneas, the founding father of Rome and the Roman people. He was a Trojan warrior who left Troy after the Greeks destroyed the city and headed to Italy with the other survivors. He has similarities to the Greek heroes but his overriding characteristic is pietas – devotion to family, state and gods.

Next task:

How do you think this is different from a Greek hero?

The Aeneid is also a significant piece of literature because the first Roman emperor Augustus commissioned it because he styled himself after Aeneas, claiming to have refounded Rome after years of Civil war. The Imperial Image unit is all about how he styled himself and used propaganda to establish his rule. Here is an introduction to Augustus.

Now consider what kind of techniques you would use in propaganda if you were the new ruler of an empire?

A really significant statue of Augustus was found in the house of his wife Livia. It is called the Prima Porta statue and is a clear piece of propaganda. Watch this video about the statue