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Led by Publius Ovidius Naso Simulacrum
One of the two Thematic Study options of OCR GCSE Classical Civilisation (J199/11), taught by Ovid — whose Metamorphoses is a prescribed source and the greatest storehouse of classical myth. A comparative study of Greek and Roman myth and religion: temples and sacrifice, the foundation myths of Athens and Rome, Heracles/Hercules and myth as power, and death and the underworld — combining literary and material sources.
Led by Publius Ovidius Naso Simulacrum
The question
Before the stories, the stone. Ovid shows how a Greek or Roman temple actually worked — the cella where the god's image stood, the altar outside where the animal was sacrificed, the worshipper who never entered the holy room — and the purpose and conduct of sacrifice. Then the comparison the component turns on: the Greek priest, often any citizen for a year, against the Roman college of pontiffs, the Pontifex Maximus, the augurs and the Vestals who kept a fire that must never go out. The student uses prescribed temples (the Parthenon, the Pantheon) as evidence and draws out what the difference between a Greek priest and a Roman pontiff reveals about each society.
Outcome
The student can explain how a temple was laid out and used and how sacrifice was conducted, compare Greek and Roman priesthood, and use prescribed material sources as evidence.
Sub-units
Led by Publius Ovidius Naso Simulacrum
The question
A city's story about its own origin is never innocent. Athens said it was won by Athena, who gave the olive and beat Poseidon for the city's name — wisdom over brute force. Rome told a harder tale: Aeneas carrying his father from burning Troy, and Romulus killing his brother to found a city of asylum and arms. The student narrates both foundation myths, reads each for the civic self-image it encodes, undertakes the prescribed comparison of Theseus and Romulus through Plutarch, and uses the Theseus Kylix as visual evidence alongside Virgil's Aeneas — asking of each myth who the hero is, what the god does, and what the city wanted the story to say.
Outcome
The student can narrate the foundation myths of Athens and Rome, explain what each meant to its city, and compare Theseus and Romulus using Plutarch and the Theseus Kylix.
Sub-units
Led by Publius Ovidius Naso Simulacrum
The question
No hero crossed between the two worlds like Heracles — the Greek strong man who suffered and earned his place among the gods, remade by the Romans as Hercules, guarantor of victory and model for emperors. The student studies the prescribed treatments (Ovid's death of Hercules; the Homeric Hymn to Heracles) and the shift from Greek to Roman hero. Then the deeper theme: myth as power dressed as story. Augustus filled Rome with images tying his rule to the gods and to Aeneas — and the student reads the Augustus of Prima Porta and the Ara Pacis as political art, learning how the powerful put the old stories to work.
Outcome
The student can explain the importance of Heracles/Hercules in both worlds and the difference between them, and analyse how myth functioned as a symbol of power using the Augustus of Prima Porta and the Ara Pacis.
Sub-units
Led by Publius Ovidius Naso Simulacrum
The question
Nowhere is Ovid's law — everything changes, nothing is wholly lost — tested like death. The student studies first what the living did: how Greeks and Romans prepared the body, carried it out, buried or burned it, and tended the dead at the year's festivals (the Genesia; the Parentalia and Lemuria when the ghosts walked). Then the great myths of those who went down living and came back — Persephone in the Homeric Hymn to Demeter, and Ovid's own Orpheus, who lost Eurydice at the last step by looking. The student reads these not as fairy tales but as a culture thinking, in story, about the one thing none escapes — comparing Greek and Roman attitudes throughout.
Outcome
The student can explain and compare Greek and Roman death-and-burial practices, analyse the prescribed underworld myths, and explain how practice and myth together express a culture's view of death.
Sub-units