British School at Athens Resources

The British School at Athens (BSA) have created a Resource Pack for GCSE Class Civ The Homeric World, collecting together a unique collection of images that come from the Archive of the BSA. The BSA is a research institute founded in 1886 that leads, co-ordinates and facilitates research in Greece and the surrounding lands. Much of this work is archaeological, and the BSA has been at the forefront of many important archaeological discoveries over the last 130 years.

Follow the link to explore this online treasure and to discover more about Greek myth and religion as the evidence was uncovered.

And new from the BSA, a collection of videos using unique material from the BSA archives. Enjoy!

Another video and activity that might be of interest is Dr Anna P. Judson speaking about her research at the British School at Athens on how the clay tablets, used to write records in the Linear B writing system in Bronze Age Greek palaces, were made. Suitable for use by teachers with the accompanying activity sheet for students to make and write their own Linear B tablet. Worksheet: How to make a Linear B tablet

ACE Teaching Resources

Here at WCN we are proud of our association with ACE (Advocating Classics Education) and are pleased to be able to host their teaching resources here on the WCN site.

As part of their Classical Civilisation Teachers Summer School, held at King’s College London, ACE has prepared a series of introductory talks, delivered by leading academics and tailored specifically for the GCSE and AS/A-level Classical Civilisation syllabi.

The resources here are divided according to syllabus, but you can find the complete teacher resources from ACE and their Class Civ Teachers events via this link. You can find out more about the remarkable work of ACE on their dedicated website.

Other resources: Prof Edith Hall PowerPoint

Resources created by Dr Ellen Adams - GCSE Homeric World Material Culture PowerPoint Handout Image Commentaries

The Trojan War

Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the Trojan War, one of the best known events of Greek mythology.
[Source: BBC Radio 4 - In Our Time]

According to the traditional version of the story, the war began when a Trojan prince, Paris, eloped with the Spartan queen Helen. A Greek army besieged Troy for ten years before the city was finally overrun and destroyed. Some of the most familiar names of Greek mythology are associated with the war, including Achilles and Hector, Odysseus and Helen of Troy - and it has also given us the story of the Trojan Horse.The war is the backdrop for Homer's epic poem The Iliad, and features in many other works from classical antiquity. For centuries it was assumed to be a mythical event. But in the nineteenth century a series of archaeological discoveries provided startling evidence that Troy might really have existed, leading some scholars to conclude that there could even be some truth behind the myth. So does the Trojan War story have any basis in fact? And why has it proved such an enduring legend?With:Edith HallProfessor of Classics at King's College LondonEllen AdamsLecturer in Classical Art and Archaeology at King's College LondonSusan SherrattLecturer in Archaeology at the University of SheffieldProducer: Thomas Morris.

The Iliad

[Source: BBC Radio 4 - In Our Time]

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the great epic poem attributed to Homer, telling the story of an intense episode in the Trojan War. It is framed by the wrath of the Greek hero Achilles, insulted by his leader Agamemnon and withdrawing from the battle that continued to rage, only returning when his close friend Patroclus is killed by the Trojan hero Hector. Achilles turns his anger from Agamemnon to Hector and the fated destruction of Troy comes ever closer. With Edith Hall, Professor of Classics at King's College London; Barbara Graziosi, Professor of Classics at Princeton University; and Paul Cartledge, A.G. Leventis Senior Research Fellow and Emeritus Professor of Greek Culture at Clare College, Cambridge.

The Odyssey

[Source: BBC Radio 4 - In Our Time]

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss The Odyssey by Homer, often claimed as the great founding work of Western Literature. It's an epic that has entertained its audience for nearly three thousand years: It has shipwrecks, Cyclops, brave heroes and seductive sex goddesses. But it’s also got revenge, true love and existential angst. The story follows on from Homer's Iliad, and tells of the Greek hero Odysseus and his long attempt to get home to Ithaca after the Trojan War. Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss what has given the Odyssey such a fundamental position in the history of western ideas, what are the meanings behind the trials and tribulations that befall Odysseus and how the Odyssey was composed and by whom. With Simon Goldhill, Professor of Greek at King's College, Cambridge; Edith Hall, Leverhulme Professor of Greek Cultural History at Durham University; Oliver Taplin, Classics Scholar and Translator at Oxford University.

The Bronze Age Collapse

[Source: BBC Radio 4 - In Our Time]

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss The Bronze Age Collapse, the name given by many historians to what appears to have been a sudden, uncontrolled destruction of dominant civilizations around 1200 BC in the Aegean, Eastern Mediterranean and Anatolia. Among other areas, there were great changes in Minoan Crete, Egypt, the Hittite Empire, Mycenaean Greece and Syria. The reasons for the changes, and the extent of those changes, are open to debate and include droughts, rebellions, the breakdown of trade as copper became less desirable, earthquakes, invasions, volcanoes and the mysterious Sea Peoples.

Article: Economic collapse: The real message of the fall of Troy

[Source: BBC News]

Interesting article on the fall of the Bronze Age Mycenaean world