LC Ancient Greek case studies

LC Ancient Greek · Put your knowledge to work in context.

Leaving Certificate Ancient Greek is a written examination sat by students in Ireland as a subject in the Leaving Certificate programme. It is a classical-language qualification: candidates read real Greek authors in the original, and are assessed on their ability to translate, to explain grammar and syntax, and to discuss the prescribed texts and their background. The LC Ancient Greek case studies are 5 cases and about 2,866 words.

Unseen Prose: Partitive Genitive and Genitive Absolute Under Time Pressure

Time-check: 8 minutes left in the unseen prose section. You have a five-line passage about a council of war, a glossary that gives στρατηγός 'general', λοχαγός 'captain', and σιωπάω 'be silent', and the instruction 'translate into clear English'.

613 words, about 3 min 2

Prescribed Homer: Separating Quarrel, Plague and Divine Agency in Iliad 1

Revision session on a prescribed Homeric passage. You are asked to comment on Iliad 1.8–12, printed with a facing vocabulary.

612 words, about 3 min 3

Optative Condition: Diagnosing a Future Less Vivid Sentence

A student translates a short adapted passage: εἰ μὲν ὁ βασιλεὺς ἔλθοι, πάντες ἂν χαίροιμεν· εἰ δὲ μή, οὐκ ἂν πείθοιμεν τοὺς συμμάχους. The glossary gives βασιλεύς 'king', σύμμαχος 'ally', χαίρω 'rejoice'.

534 words, about 3 min 4

Proem Style: Arguing from Word Order and Enjambment in Iliad 1

Style commentary practice. You are given the opening of Iliad 1 in Greek: μῆνιν ἄειδε θεὰ Πηληϊάδεω Ἀχιλῆος / οὐλομένην, ἣ μυρί' Ἀχαιοῖς ἄλγε' ἔθηκε, / πολλὰς δ' ἰφθίμους ψυχὰς Ἄϊδι προΐαψεν / ἡρώων, αὐτοὺς δὲ ἑλώρια τεῦχε κύνεσσιν / οἰωνοῖσί τε πᾶσι.

484 words, about 2 min 5

Timed Essay: Choosing a Defensible Thesis on Divine Morality

You have 45 minutes to write 600–800 words on the statement: 'In the Greek texts you have studied, the gods are less moral than the humans they judge.' Your class has studied two prescribed passages: a Homeric scene in which a god intervenes to deceive a mortal, and a Platonic passage in which Socrates argues that the gods cannot be the source of evil. You have one page of notes, no texts, and a choice of three plans: (A) defend the statement using both passages; (B) qualify it by distinguishing divine power from divine morality; (C) reject it by arguing that the texts judge humans, not gods.

623 words, about 3 min