Leaving Certificate Classics - A Student's Guide

In this episode we continue the action and see Medea put her terrible plan into action.

In this episode we meet Medea in person and we see a character very different to what has been described to us. She is intimidating, scary and fully in control - planning revenge and chaos.

In this episode I introduce you to the backstory and characters of Medea. We then begin the play and see our tragic character as she deals with being left by her husband for a younger woman and is being forced to leave her home.

In this episode I introduce Strand 2 - Greek Drama and Roman spectacle. I then discuss the background to Greek Drama - what we will study, how it originated and how it spread across the Hellenic World.

In Books 10-12 we see the end of the epic. Aeneas fights Turnus for the right to marry Lavinia and rule the Kingdom. There can only be one winner, who have the Gods ordained?

In Books 7-9 of the Aeneid we see The Trojans fighting for their new Kingdom in Italy. We meet Turnus, the great hero that Aeneas was prophesied to fight against, and we see comparisons with Homer's first great epic, The Iliad.

In Books 4-6 of the Aeneid we see the tragic death of Dido and further travels of Aeneas. He journeys to The Underworld and eventually lands in Italy, where he learns of the future difficulties he will have to overcome.

In Books 1-3 of the Aeneid we meet are our hero, we see him heroically leave Troy and learn of his wanderings in an account that strongly reflects Odysseus.

In this short episode I take a pause between The Odyssey and The Aeneid to discuss what we need to be looking at as we study the epics. I also give a little background information about the authorship of both - who wrote them and why.

In Books 21-24 we see the culmination of this great epic. Odysseus battles with the suitors, wins back his Kingdom and strategizes over how to calm the situation after slaying all the high born young men.

In Books 17-20 we see Odysseus finally arrive at his palace where he carefully plots the destruction of the suitors. We see tensions build and Homer puts everything in place for the big finale.

In Books 13-16 we see Odysseus finally arrive home to Ithaca and Telemachus also return home. There is an emotional meeting between father and son and they plan the showdown they are going to have with the suitors.

In books 9-12 we hear from Odysseus as he narrates his wanderings from Troy to the land of the Phaeacians. We hear of some of the most famous characters in literature, Polyphemus the Cyclops and The Sirens. We also develop our understanding and opinion of Odysseus as he makes decisions that ultimately see's the destruction of all his ships and his entire crew.

In books 5-8 we finally meet our protagonist and see him in action first hand. We begin to develop our opinion of him as a character, a hero and a leader. We also learn more about Ancient Greek life and traditions such as the importance of hospitality, oral poetry and games.

In this episode I very quickly introduce you to what is on the course and then, in order to give some context before reading any texts, I go through the Greek and Roman Gods with you.

In this episode we are looking at Strand 1 and The Odyssey - we begin with a brief introduction to the epic and then look at books 1-4