MATSEC IM Classical Studies study plan

Build a dated timeline from 800 BCE to 323 BCE with at least 30 entries, marking Solon, Cleisthenes, the Persian War battles, and the four phases of the Peloponnesian War.

Explain in writing how Athenian democratic institutions actually worked - ekklesia, boule, dikasteria, strategoi, sortition and ostracism - and state precisely who was excluded from citizenship.

Compare Spartan and Athenian systems across four criteria (citizenship, education, military organisation, decision-making) and justify which source evidence supports each point.

Distinguish the agendas of Herodotus, Thucydides and Xenophon as historical sources, noting one structural bias in each.

Map the Roman cursus honorum and explain the mutual checks between consuls, Senate, tribunes and the assemblies, including veto and provocatio.

Trace the Republic-to-Principate transition through the Gracchi, Marius, Sulla, Pompey, Caesar and Augustus, naming one constitutional consequence of each.

Compare Roman provincial governance with Athenian handling of allied states in the Delian League, using at least two concrete examples.

Summarise the political weight of patron-client networks, the army and slavery in late Republican politics.

Outline the structure of the Iliad and Odyssey book by book at one line each, flagging ring composition, extended similes and divine intervention.

Evaluate how Homer builds heroism through kleos and timē using three named episodes with short quoted support.

CompareVirgil's Aeneid with Homer on pietas versus individual glory, citing two passages from each.

Explain how Herodotus and Thucydides differ in causation, use of speeches and treatment of the divine, citing one passage each.

Apply the conventions of Greek tragedy - chorus, messenger speech, masks, offstage violence, festival context - to one play each by Aeschylus, Sophocles and Euripides.

Explain Aristophanes' comic machinery (parabasis, obscenity, political satire, fantasy plot) and contrast Old Comedy with Menander's New Comedy.

Weigh fate against character as the driver of Oedipus Tyrannus and Medea, arguing a position with textual evidence.

Identify the staging resources of the Theatre of Dionysus and explain how they shaped dramatic technique.

Label a plan of the Athenian Acropolis from memory, identifying the Parthenon, Propylaia, Erechtheion and Temple of Athena Nike, and state the differences between the Doric and Ionic orders.

Sequence Greek sculpture from Archaic kouros through Severe style to Classical and Hellenistic, naming one work per phase and its diagnostic features (stance, drapery, expression, carving technique).

Classify the main Greek vase shapes and the black-figure and red-figure techniques, linking each to function and date range.

Assess what Roman copies and literary descriptions do to our knowledge of lost Greek originals.

Explain Roman structural innovation - opus caementicium, the arch, vault and dome - using the Pantheon, Colosseum and aqueducts as cases.

Interpret Pompeii and Herculaneum as archaeological evidence (town planning, atrium houses, frescoes, graffiti, cavity casts) and critique the biases of excavation and publication.

Match the twelve Olympians to their domains, attributes and one major sanctuary or festival each.

Explain Greek and Roman religious practice: sacrifice, votive offerings, oracles, mystery cults and the imperial cult, noting what each reveals about civic life.

Compare variant versions of three myths (succession myth, Demeter and Persephone, Aeneas' journey) and attribute each version to its source - Hesiod, Homeric Hymn, Ovid, Virgil.

Explain how Augustus deployed myth and monument (Ara Pacis, Forum Augustum, Aeneid) for political legitimation, with two pieces of evidence.

Judge the reliability of inscriptions, coins, papyri and later epitomes as evidence, using three case studies where they contradict the literary tradition.

Identify one modern reception of a classical figure across three media, stating what each era alters and why.

Condense Domains 1 to 4 into a single revision sheet of dates, technical terms and names, and test yourself on it until recall is fluent.

Evaluate anachronism in two modern receptions (for example a film and a novel), naming what is misrepresented and why the misrepresentation matters.

Explain how classical texts survived transmission and what that means for the reliability of what we read today.

Rehearse exam technique: command words, timing per section, and using named evidence in every paragraph.