Classical Civilisation
Years 10 and 11 - optional GCSE
Sixth Form - optional AS and A2

GCSE (OCR) prescribes four topics for study.  We offer Greek Religion, Greek Theatrical and Athletic Festivals, Sophocles' Oedipus Tyrannus and Antigone, selections from Virgil's Aeneid.  One of these topics must be offered for coursework in addition to examination.

AS and A2 (OCR). This syllabus offers the detailed study of three topics.  For Greek and Roman Epic the set text for AS is Homer's Odyssey, one of the formative works of Western literature, full of exciting, fantastic stories, rich in character and action, and still among the best sellers of the modern world. Virgil's Aeneid, prescribed for the A2 course, tells one of Rome's foundation myths, the settlement of Trojans in Italy under the leadership of Aeneas. Tragic love, violent war and the wrath of gods make this an heroic struggle.

Greek Art and Architecture forms a two-part course for AS and A Level.  Our visual language is highly dependent on the amazing technical and artistic virtuosity of the Greeks whose masterpieces such as the Parthenon are still among the most popular and controversial works of Western art.  Their painting and sculpture introduces life and movement into art: as the poet Peter Porter put it, 'Instant Fish by Phidias! Add water and they swim'.

In Greek Tragedy, we study Euripides for AS and Aeschylus and Sophocles for A2. The prescribed plays deal with human emotions in extremis: the murder of children, husbands and parents, false accusations of rape, unwitting incest and parricide, defiance of state power in obedience to divine laws and much more. These plays have had a huge influence on western culture.