War and warfare literature revision

• Classical Civilisation
• Upper Secondary (Key Stage 4)
• GCSE

War and warfare

Literature: revision

When you are given a question about a passage of text for the literature section of the paper (i.e. how is this passage exciting, dramatic, etc.) what must you ALWAYS do? What types of evidence should you look to include?

Similes

Dynamic verbs

Powerful adjectives

Senses

Direct speech

What is an epithet?

Define the terms kleos, timē and aidos.

• kleos (glory): essentially glorious reputation. In other words, the hero will be well spoken of and their memory will live on long after they have died
• timē (honour): Homeric heroes win honour by being awarded highly valued possessions as trophies of excellence e.g. enemy’s armour or treasure from a conquered city
• aidos (shame/respect) – the idea that people around you show you respect and choose to give you the trophies, but ‘shame’ being showing humility and respect in the face of someone with great timē

Give three precise details about the duel between Hector and Achilles in Book 22.

Who is Priam and what important role does he play in Book 24 of the Iliad?

What interactions do we see Diomedes having with the gods in Books 5 and 6 of the Iliad?

Helped by Athene

Wounds Aphrodite

Wants to go at Apollo, despite Athene telling him not to

Who are Andromache and Hecuba?

What key thing happens to Aeneas in the plot of the Iliad?

How is Paris characterised in the Iliad? Use one specific piece of evidence from the text to support this.

Who is Pandarus? What significance did he have to the plot of the Iliad and why was he considered cowardly?

Which Greek value does Glaucus most epitomise in Book 6 and how does he do this?

Xenia with Diomedes

What is pietas? Give one example in the Aeneid where Aeneas demonstrates this.

Anchises (father), Creusa (wife), Ascanius (son).

Outline the death of Priam. Who kills him and what makes this particularly poignant?

Who are Anchises, Ascanius and Creusa?

Who is Pyrrhus?

How is Helen characterised when Aeneas sees her in the Aeneid? Is this justified?

What help does Venus give in the Aeneid?

Where was Tyrtaeus from and what are the key themes of his poem?

Sparta - patriotism, comradeship, youth vs age, bravery/cowardice

Who was Horace writing for and what are the key messages of his poem?

Romans

Stanzas 1-4: Young Romans from the highest social classes should undergo tough military training so they can fight bravely to the death against Rome’s enemies.

Stanzas 5-6: Courage learnt in the military will be useful for civilian life. Some men are examples of this. Do not derive your sense of importance from political status but from your conduct – if you do so you will be among the gods.

Stanzas 7-8: Everyone can serve the Roman state through loyalty and discretion. If you fail to do so, you will be punished.