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Classical Studies

Unit 2 – Area of Study 2: Classics through time

Outcome 2

Evaluate the relationship between classical works and works from a later period.

Examples of learning activities

• Complete a detailed study of the Parthenon, investigating the sociohistoric context, ideas and techniques. Compare this to the sociohistoric context, ideas and techniques of the Shrine of Remembrance in Melbourne. Access the Shrine’s website for information. Visit it if you can.
• Study the development, function and place of the Colosseum in ancient Roman society and compare this to the development, function and place of a modern stadium such as the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) while examining the similarities and differences.
• Read and annotate sections of Plato’s Apology and research the life of Socrates. Use this to then evaluate the legacy of Socrates and the relevance of his teaching on contemporary society.

• 
  Read and annotate Pericles’s Funeral Oration from Book 2 of Thucydides’s history and study the ideas and techniques presented. Read and/or view other famous speeches and compare them.
• Explore Greek and/or Roman vases depicting slavery and compare these to modern views of slavery. Use this to conduct a class debate exploring whether slavery still exists today and in what form.
• Read and annotate Aristophanes’s Wasps. Focus on the concepts of demagogues and explore the sociohistorical context. Compare this to the political landscape today, especially populist politics via social media and political speeches.
• Examine examples of Greek and/or Roman classical sculpture and compare it to sculpture from the Renaissance period; for example, the Doryphoros by Polycleitos and Michaelangelo’s David. Prepare a research report or presentation to present your findings.
• Examine the influence of ancient Greek and Roman classical ideas, myths and legends on the Harry Potter series. Prepare a research report or presentation to present your findings.
• Investigate Homer’s description of Helen in his works. Compare this to Euripides’s description and then later artistic works throughout the ages. What image of Helen as ‘the face that launched a thousand ships’ has come down to us today? Debate whether this is an accurate image.

 

Detailed example

Comparison of ideas and techniques in classical works

In this exercise, students compare the ideas and techniques in Pericles’s Funeral Oration to other famous speeches. They complete the following activities:

1. Read and annotate Pericles’s Funeral Oration from Book 2 of Thucydides’s History of the Peloponnesian War. Annotations should cover: ideas and techniques presented, including how Pericles saw Athens as a city state; character of the people, their way of life, their values and principles, their power and possessions; form of government; rivals and enemies; economy; openness to foreigners and the world; monuments; intellectual and cultural life; treatment of women.
2. Read and/or listen to extracts from famous speeches, such as: Winston Churchill’s ‘This was their finest hour’, Martin Luther King’s ‘I have a dream’, Kevin Rudd’s ‘Apology’ and Barack Obama’s acceptance speech. Annotate them, examining them for the same/relevant ideas and techniques listed in (1) above, but apply these to the relevant sociohistorical details of each speech (i.e. the specific country, era and event/crisis).
3. Use a Venn diagram or table to compare the ideas and techniques in one or more of these speeches to Pericles’s speech and consider the similarities and differences.
4. Discuss the influence of the sociohistorical context of each speech and what the speaker believed was called for at the time.