NCEA L2 Classical Studies case studies
NCEA L2 Classical Studies · Put your knowledge to work in context.
This page is an independent study resource for candidates preparing for NCEA Level 2 Classical Studies, a subject within New Zealand's National Certificate of Educational Achievement framework administered by the New Zealand Qualifications Authority (NZQA). The qualification itself, its achievement standards, and all assessment arrangements belong to NZQA; this platform is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or operated by NZQA, and nothing here should be treated as an official statement of requirements. The NCEA L2 Classical Studies case studies are 5 cases and about 2,554 words.
1The Mytilenean Debate: Does a Broken Inscription Confirm Thucydides?
You are preparing an internally assessed report on the Mytilenean Debate of 427 BCE. Your teacher has supplied three extracts.
525 words, about 3 min2A Julio-Claudian Portrait Head: Livia or Someone Else?
Your school museum has borrowed a marble portrait head (loan 2019.14) for an exhibition on Roman imperial women. The label drafted by a volunteer reads: 'Livia, wife of Augustus.
514 words, about 3 min3Pompeii's Election Notices: Who Really Participated?
You are analysing twelve painted election notices (programmata) from Pompeii, all recorded in Regio IX and dated to the final decades before 79 CE. Seven name candidates for duovir or aedile.
499 words, about 2 min4The Parthenon Frieze: Record or Idealised Self-Image?
A class is preparing a four-minute presentation on the Parthenon frieze. The teacher provides the following facts, with no images allowed: the frieze ran about 160 m around the cella; it shows roughly 378 humans and 226 animals, including cavalry, chariots, sacrificial beasts, and gods; no ancient text explicitly describes its subject; Pausanias (2nd century CE) describes the Parthenon but does not mention the frieze; an inscription (IG I³ 364) records payments for the Panathenaic procession; and a modern scholar argues that the frieze represents 'the Athenian self-image' rather than a record of the procession.
504 words, about 3 min5The Herms and the Mysteries: Whose Account of 415 BCE?
You are investigating the events of 415 BCE, when Alcibiades was accused of profaning the Eleusinian Mysteries and mutilating the Herms. You have three sources: Thucydides 6.27–29 and 6.53–61 (brief, focused on the expedition and the oligarchic plot); Andocides, On the Mysteries (a defence speech delivered c.
512 words, about 3 min