Myth and Religion

Key ideas (hiera, polytheism, anthropomorphism, epithets), the twelve Olympians with roles and iconography, the Homeric Hymn to Demeter, and how Rome inherited the gods — Greece and Rome, with comparison sections and flashcards.

Birth and early life, the twelve labours, Heracles and Olympia, the Roman sources (Virgil's Hercules and Cacus; Ovid's Achelous and the death of Hercules), and Greece/Rome comparison — with flashcards.

Sanctuaries and temples, the prescribed buildings (Parthenon, Temple of Zeus, Temple of Portunus, the Pantheon), temple decoration, priests and religious officials, and blood sacrifice — Greece and Rome, with comparison sections and flashcards.

The naming of Athens (Athena and Poseidon), Theseus (birth, the labours on the kylix, and his reforms), Aeneas, Romulus and Remus, and the sources Livy and Plutarch — Greece and Rome, with comparison sections and flashcards.

The Great Panathenaia and the City Dionysia (Greece), the Lupercalia and the Saturnalia (Rome) — origins, officials, programmes, and sacrifice, with comparison sections and flashcards.

How the Greeks used myths to celebrate civilisation over barbarism — the Centauromachy on the Parthenon south metopes and the Amazonomachy on the Temple of Apollo at Bassae.

The Centauromachy and Amazonomachy on the Parthenon and at Bassae (Greece), and how Augustus used the Prima Porta and Ara Pacis to express imperial power (Rome) — with comparison sections and flashcards.

Preparation of the body, the funeral procession, burial and cremation, grave stelai, and the festivals of the dead. 14 pages · 10 sections · exercises throughout.

Roman burial practices, the role of the familia, tombstone evidence, and a comparison of Greek and Roman attitudes to death and remembrance.

Two 8-mark practice questions, one on Greek and one on Roman death and burial practices.

The funerary process, festivals, sources and remembrance — Greece and Rome, with comparison sections and flashcards. Use this after the booklets.

The myth of Persephone and Demeter as told in the Homeric Hymn to Demeter — plot, characters, the underworld, and what the text reveals about ancient Greek beliefs.

The myth of Orpheus and Eurydice as told in Ovid's Metamorphoses — plot, characters, the underworld in Roman belief, and how the two cultures saw what waits below.

Plot, characters, the underworld, ancient culture, and Greece vs Rome comparison — with flashcards. Use this after the booklets.