An advanced middle school program in history, politics, and philosophy, designed to equip students with knowledge and understanding of the historical, cultural and intellectual context for European, western, and global development.
Through deep immersion in the history of Ancient Greece, students will gain knowledge of the foundations for all western thought and culture and their influence on the world.
By studying the governments and societies of the Greek ascendency, students will come to comprehend western development as well as draw historical parallels with other phases of history and with the modern day. Alongside historical study, students will learn about the political and philosophical developments that set the Greeks apart from other civilisations, and which have influenced every part of western life, in literature, culture, art, religion and government, for over two thousand years.
Students will look principally at original sources and attempt to understand the contexts for and causes of the tensions and conflicts that led to the ideas and events that shaped the world.
Semester One
Week 1
Overview of Greek History - examine a timeline starting from Minoan Civilisation through to the fall of Athens at the end of the Peloponnesian War
Week 2
The great Bronze Age Civilisations (part one) - the Minoans
Week 3
The great Bronze Age Civilisations (part two) - the Mycenaeans
Week 4
Greek Dark Ages: the Trojan War
Week 5
Greek Dark Ages: Homer
Week 6
The rise of the city states (part one): Sparta and Athens
Week 7
The rise of the city states (part two): Sparta and Athens: compare and contrast these two societies and their constitutions
Week 8
Political Reform in Athens: Solon
Week 9
Political Reform in Athens: Cleisthenes
Week 10
Reading excerpts from Aristotle's Constitution of the Athenians (part one)
Week 11
Reading excerpts from Aristotle's Constitution of the Athenians (part two)
Week 12
First Persian War
Week 13
Second Persian War
Week 14
Revision and preparation for presentations
Week 15
End of semester presentations
Semester Two
Week 1
Close reading of Herodotus's accounts of the Persian Wars
Week 2
Excerpts from Aeschylus's play Persae
Week 3
Overview of Classical Athenian Civilisation: Art
Week 4
Overview of Classical Athenian Civilisation: Architecture
Week 5
Overview of Classical Athenian Civilisation: Literature and Philosophy part one
Week 6
Overview of Classical Athenian Civilisation: Literature and Philosophy part two
Week 7
The Peloponnesian War, Part One
Week 8
The Peloponnesian War, Part Two
Week 9
The Peloponnesian War, Part Three: Why did Sparta win the war?
Week 10
Greece's relationship with Rome, Part one
Week 11
Greece's relationship with Rome, Part Two
Week 12
Greece and Rome: Legacy Part One
Week 13
Greece and Rome: Legacy Part Two
Week 14
Revision and preparation for presentations
Week 15
End of semester presentations
