Myth and Religion - Unit 4, Lesson 3: Founding of Rome, from Aeneas to Romulus

KS4 lesson for Unit 4: Founding of Rome, from Aeneas to Romulus in Component 1: Myth and Religion, of the OCR Classical Civilisation GCSE. The lesson objective is to study the prescribed literary source of Livy’s Early History of Rome, considering accuracy and reliability, in the myth of Rome’s founding from Aeneas and the fall of Troy to Romulus’ birth and ascendancy.

Accessible for all ability groups and the resources are easily differentiated for more and less academically able students.

This lesson includes…

• ISM starter crossword, recapping Theseus and Athens.
• Introduction to Aeneas, the fall of Troy and wider geographical context of the Hellenic world at this point in mythological history, with video resource to support learning.
• Introduction to Livy, with worksheet, focusing on his reliability and accuracy.
• In-depth study of the prescribed chapters of Livy’s Early History of Rome, focusing on Aeneas’ journey, with practice exam-style comprehension questions for each chapter.
• Timeline of Aeneas’ journey activity, with timeline resource.
• In-depth study of the prescribed chapters of Livy’s Early History of Rome, focusing on birth of Romulus and subsequent ascendancy, with practice exam-style comprehension questions for each chapter and a video resource to support learning.
• Timeline of Romulus’ life activity, with timeline resource. This chronology expands beyond the life of Romulus to connect Rome’s founding king with Livy’s contemporary audience.
• Comparison activity looking at the lives of Aeneas and Romulus to determine the more impressive man.
• Study of the Forum of Augustus to help determine the significance of this foundation story for the people of Rome.
• Exit pass discussion activity focusing on whose journey would be preferable to complete.

Please note: The OCR prescribed literary sources booklet is required to access this lesson. This can be downloaded from the OCR GCSE Classical Civilisation webpage.