Classics department trip to Greece

From Friday 31 March to Tuesday 4 April, Classics department teachers and students enjoyed a trip to Greece, at the beginning of the Easter holidays. The group spent a day in Athens touring the Acropolis and Agora, finishing the day with a visit to the New Acropolis Museum to view the sculpture and statues originally on the site and understand what it would have been like in classical Athens. Students learnt how to distinguish Doric and Ionic orders and could appreciate the enormous size and elaborate decoration of the Parthenon. The girls also explored the very different sanctuaries at Delphi and Olympia (including holding an Olympic running race of their own), sat in the theatre of Epidauros and imagined being in the audience of an ancient play, and put their learning about the Trojan War into context with a visit to Agamemnon’s city, Mycenae. The girls all had a great time recalling their mythological knowledge and relating it to the sites and temples they saw and, of course, eating Greek salad, souvlaki and ice cream!