HSC Classical Greek Continuers case studies
HSC Classical Greek Continuers · Put your knowledge to work in context.
The HSC Classical Greek Continuers examination is a New South Wales credential for senior secondary students who have studied Ancient Greek as a second language and can read adapted and authentic texts with the help of a dictionary and commentary conventions. It suits candidates who want a formal record of their ability to translate Greek prose and verse, explain grammar and syntax, and discuss prescribed texts as literature in their historical setting. The HSC Classical Greek Continuers case studies are 5 cases and about 2,085 words.
1The Particle That Turns a Speech
A student translating a set of speeches from a prescribed Athenian courtroom text meets this sentence: 'ἀλλ᾽ ἐγὼ μὲν οἶμαι δεῖν ὑμᾶς οὐ τούτῳ πιστεῦσαι, ὦ ἄνδρες δικασταί, ἀλλ᾽ ἐκ τῶν ἔργων σκοπεῖν.' She renders it: 'But I think you should not believe this man, gentlemen of the jury, but examine the facts.' Her teacher marks it 'accurate but flat' and asks her to justify the adversative force of the opening ἀλλά, the enclitic μήν-less μέν, and the deictic τούτῳ. The class has been debating whether the speaker is conceding anything.
500 words, about 3 min2Reading a Choral Ode Without the Notes
She has no commentary, only a lexicon and her grammar. The passage contains a gnomic aorist (ἔτλα), a postponed δέ, an unexpressed subject, and a metaphor of a boundary or limit (ἀπέσχετο) whose object is withheld.
409 words, about 2 min3The Genitive Absolute That Changes the Verdict
A student is parsing a sentence from a prescribed speech: 'τούτων δὲ τοιούτων ὄντων, τί χρὴ ποιεῖν;' She has identified τούτων as genitive plural and ὄντων as a present participle, but is unsure whether the construction is a genitive absolute, a partitive genitive with a verb of being, or a genitive of cause. Her teacher asks her to decide in 10 minutes and to show what difference the choice makes to the English.
423 words, about 2 min4Filling a Lacuna in a Prescribed Text
καὶ τοὺς μὲν [lacuna of about six letters] ἔπεμψεν, τοὺς δὲ κατέσχεν.' The apparatus suggests either ἀδελφούς or ἑταίρους. The student must translate the passage for an assessment and cannot simply ignore the gap.
375 words, about 2 min5When the Unseen Prose Resists Literal Rendering
δέ pairs nested inside each other. Her first draft runs to 60 English words in one sentence and is barely intelligible.
378 words, about 2 min