The ClassicsNow festival had a very successful opening weekend! More info can be found by clicking the logo above.
Recordings of all the talks are available on the ClassicsNow Youtube channel HERE.
ClassicsNow: Natalie Haynes - On her books Pandora's Jar, A Thousand Ships, and Jocasta. Rewriting Myth and Women's place in Myth.
"Education is the kindling of a fire, not the filling of a vessel"
- Socrates
What is Classics ?
Natalie Haynes says "the house of western thought has many rooms, but only one basement". What sets Classics apart from other humanities subjects such as Philosophy, Law, History, Languages and Literature is that Classics clutches the fabric of their foundations to its breast. Whilst the other Humanities germinate, bloom and branch out from the classical seed, the Classics looks ever inwards to study every wondrous facet of that crystalline germ of western civilisation: the ancient Greek and Roman world.
Classics in the Curriculum
At present Junior and Leaving Certificates the Classics are split into three separate subjects Ancient Greek, Latin and Classical Studies. From September 2019, these courses have been replaced by the Junior Cycle in Classics. Students and teachers will have great depth of material and flexibility of delivery with this Junior Cycle Classics Specification, and in effect, will be continuing on in a Latin, Ancient Greek, or Classical Studies classroom (rather than a sampling of all three, as in Science). After Junior Cycle, students will be able to progress into one, two or three of the Leaving Certificate subjects: Ancient Greek, Latin and Classical Studies.
As of September 2018, the NCCA is in the final stages of the review of Leaving Certificate Classical Studies, and Classical Association of Ireland Teachers have asked that this be immediately followed on with a review of Leaving Certificate Ancient Greek and Latin.