Classical Languages

Classical languages, Latin & Classical Greek

You can study Latin and/or Greek as separate subjects to AS Level in one year and to A2 Level after a further year. The initial emphasis will be on developing your language skills to enable you to read and appreciate the works of a wide range of ancient authors in the original languages with increasing fluency and enjoyment. These works will be selected from various genres, including epic poetry, lyric poetry, tragic and comic drama, historical writing, oratory, philosophy and satire, from writers such as Virgil, Homer, Catullus, Ovid, Horace, Tacitus, Thucydides, Aristophanes, Plato and Juvenal.

All the time your knowledge of the literature, history, culture and ideas of the ancient peoples will be growing. You will be able to make connections between the ancient world and our own, and to understand how the classical tradition, flowing from writers such as Homer or Virgil, has influenced later literature in English and in other languages. By studying the classics we can see how the ancients, such as Plato, asked fundamental philosophical questions which still tax us today; we can detect bias in the writing of ancient historians, such as Tacitus, which may lead us to a more careful reading of contemporary history and newspapers; we can learn the dark arts of rhetoric and see how a brilliant lawyer like Cicero uses invective and innuendo to discredit his courtroom opponents; we can enjoy the erotic poetry of Ovid for its dazzling wit and the verses of Catullus and Horace for their artful expression of human emotions; we can be shocked and entertained by the biting social satire and scurrilous abuse of famous politicians in the pages of Aristophanes and Juvenal.

At both A2 and AS, around two thirds of your time will be spent reading such works; the other third is spent specifically on language work. At the same time you will learn to analyse your set texts critically, and to express your ideas with confidence and clarity in class discussion and on paper.

There is something for everyone in this wealth of literature. A love of language, a spirit of inquiry and a breadth of intellectual outlook are the hallmarks of a Sixth Form classicist.

And beyond?

In recent years many of those who have studied the classical languages at A Level at BGS have gone on to read classics at Oxford and Cambridge and other universities, or have chosen to combine classics or Latin with a modern language, English, ancient history or archaeology, as their university study. Others have branched out into a law or a philosophy degree. A recent survey showed that classicists have the best employment rate six months after graduating of all arts graduates. They are highly sought after. They go into the legal profession, industry and commerce, banking, computer programming, publishing, journalism, the media, administration, the civil service, teaching - the list is endless.

What will you study in the Sixth Form?

There is no coursework in Latin or classical Greek; AS/A2 literature modules are available in the January session. There is a defined vocabulary list for both languages at AS.

For details of Latin and classical Greek curriculum please visit www.ocr.org.uk