What is the 'Classical World' - An introduction to Ancient Greece (& Rome)

This lesson is designed to be the first lesson for students who have no prior knowledge of Classics/Classical Civilisation/ The Classical world. It will work well as the first lesson for students who are studying Classical Civilisation at GCSE. it is designed to give students a real sense of period so that they can contextualise their learning in subsequent lessons. All worksheets referred to below are included as whole slides in the .pptx file and are located at the specific point in the lesson when they are designed to be used.

The lesson begins with a discussion surrounding what ‘civilisation’ means. This is followed by a worksheet to be printed A5 size (pictured) which introduces students to the Geography of the area. It is deliberately more visual than ‘wordy’ in nature as students can stick it in and refer back to it when they need to know where Italy/Greece are in relation to the UK.

A discussion surrounding BC/BCE and AD/CE then follows in terms of interpreting dates. A timeline with empty boxes is then included for students to fill in in their books. On this timeline is already printed some famous events in history that students will probably have some prior knowledge of. The point of this excercise is to see how BC/BCE dates work (backwards) and to show the Greeks and Romans existed a long time before anything else they will have studied in History lessons. It also allows students to see that the Greeks preceded the Romans at their peak.

Another gap-fill exercise follows (with answers) which introduces students to basic information about Ancient Greece (There is no further information on Rome in this lesson as it is assumed students will progress onto a thematic study of Ancient Greece following this lesson). A video link explaining democracy is also included as a final thought for the lesson with student coming up with their own definition of democracy at the end. This will help them analyse Athens’ democracy in later lessons.