OCR Classical Civilisation GCSE Route 1: Myth and Religion

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The ideal preparation for the final examinations, all content is presented by experts and experienced teachers in a clear and accessible narrative. Ancient literary and visual sources are described and analysed, with supporting images and examples of non-prescribed sources. Helpful student features include study questions, activities, further reading, and boxes focusing in on key people, events and terms. Practice questions and exam guidance prepare students for assessment. This textbook is endorsed by OCR and supports the specification for GCSE Classical Civilisation (first teaching September 2017). It covers the Thematic Study Component 11 and all three Literature and Culture options (Components 21–23): AIE resources illustrate the relevance of ancient Athenian inscriptions, especially those of the classical period (the fifth and fourth centuries BC, c. 500-300 BC), to pre-18 education in the UK and beyond. They aim to support teachers who wish to introduce inscriptions into their teaching as a way of captivating their students’ imagination and fostering enthusiasm for the ancient Greek world. Do you want to immerse yourself in the captivating stories of gods and heroes, unravel the mysteries of ancient civilizations, and analyze the profound impact they had on art, literature, politics, and philosophy?

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the Battle of Thermopylae. For the historian Herodotus, the Battle of Thermopylae was the defining clash between East and West: “The Persians fell in their scores, for the officers stood behind lashing them forward, forward all the time. Many fell into the sea and were drowned, many more were trampled to death by their comrades ... The Greeks knew they were doomed now the Persians had discovered a way round the hill, and put forth their last ounce of strength, utterly desperate, utterly unsparing of their lives. (King) Leonidas fell in this battle. He had proved himself a great and brave man”.A force of three hundred free Spartans and their King had stood and fallen before an invading army of three million, led by a brutal tyrant. Or so the story goes – such was their courage and its association with freedom that, nearly two and a half thousand years later, William Golding wrote, “A little of Leonidas lies in the fact that I can go where I like and write what I like. He contributed to setting us free”.How important are the Greek/Persian wars to the story of democracy? Was the West and its values really so far removed from life in the Persian Empire?With Tom Holland, historian and author of Persian Fire; Simon Goldhill, Professor in Greek Literature and Culture at King’s College, Cambridge; Edith Hall, Leverhulme Professor of Greek Cultural History at the University of Durham and author of Inventing the Barbarian: Greek Self-Definition through Tragedy. The Battle of Salamis

General qualifications

This book guides GCSE students to a greater understanding of such issues. The opening chapter examines the lives of women in Greece and Rome, and also focuses on women in myth and legend. The following three chapters invite readers to explore the culture of the Mycenaeans, city life in the Roman world, and ancient Greek and Roman warfare, focusing both on aspects of ancient society and on related literature. Why does Greek and Roman mythology remain so popular today? Why is the hero Odysseus such an interesting character? What was it like to watch a gladiatorial fight? Why was the Roman army so successful?