Classical Greek

Assessment

Language lessons focus on building your confidence in tackling a range of Greek authors. Reading both prose and poetry will also constitute a broad survey of Attic literature, taking in history, rhetoric and drama. You will be encouraged to translate from English into Greek to grasp more firmly the mechanics of the language, though this is never compulsory in the final examinations. Prose literature includes: • Herodotus, Book 1: In the opening to the first narrative history in Western literature, Herodotus explores the origins of the conflict between Greece and Persia and tells some colourful tales of the early kings of Lydia along the way. • Plato, Republic: In Plato’s hugely influential work, Socrates and his companions discuss the nature of justice: is it anything other than ‘the interest of the stronger?’. Verse literature includes: • Homer Iliad XVI: Patroclus persuades Achilles to lend him his armour, then fights a doomed battle before the walls of Troy. • Euripides Hippolytus: Aphrodite spins a terrible web for Hippolytus, whose rejection of the goddess sets in motion a catastrophic chain of events. Assessment is by examinations (50% language and 50% literature) with no coursework.