BBC Teach > Primary > KS2 History > Ancient Greece
City-states > Gods > Culture > Olympic Games > Legacy of Ancient Greece
The Olympians > Prometheus/Pandora > Midas > Demeter/Persephone > Odyssey
We meet the female philosopher Arete of Cyrene, who explains how so many aspects of Ancient Greek civilisation are still relevant to us today.
The video
5. Theories, thoughts, language and law
Synopsis
We meet the philosopher Arete of Cyrene, who explains how so many aspects of Ancient Greek civilisation are still relevant to us today. The topics she covers includes architecture, philosophy, science, mathematics, medicine and democracy.
Arete indicates how many of the most important buildings in the present day copy the features of Ancient Greek architecture. She shows how Ancient Greek letters and symbols have been adopted by modern science; how Ancient Greek astronomers were the first to postulate that the Earth moves around the sun; how Hippocrates was the first medic to presume that illness came from natural causes.
Teacher Notes
Taken from the complete Teacher Notes. See Resources.
Before watching the video
Over the course of the last few sessions children have been introduced to different aspects of Ancient Greek life. Which of them are still relevant? Are there any other elements of our way of life that they think may have come from Ancient Greece?
After watching the video
- Junior philosophers. Stage a class discussion entitled What does it mean to live a good life? What makes children feel content? Note down ideas and create a class action plan to help children lead a happy and fulfilled life. This could take the form of a list of tips or a weekly calendar of actions, such as reading to younger children every Monday.
- Democracy in action. As we know, the Ancient Greeks were governed by democracy, a form of government that allows people to vote on who should be in charge. Hold a class election in which children can put themselves forward for a particular role. This could be a role relevant to your school or, for example, a 'Happy Life Leader' who decides on a weekly action to help everyone lead a better life (see the previous activity). Candidates should prepare a speech and then each child has a ballot slip on which to cast their vote. A template is provided for this.
- Greek words. In the video we heard how many of the words we use today come from Ancient Greek. Using the cards provided, ask pairs of children to sort the words into those that come from Greek and those that don’t. (Note the only words that do not come from Greek are ‘medicine’, ‘play’, ‘dance’, ‘lizard’ and ‘honey’.) Then play a game in groups: children have 30 seconds to describe one of the words on the list without actually saying it and the others must guess which it is.
- Learn the alphabet! The Greek alphabet looks quite different to our own. Give children a copy of the Greek alphabet provided. Then give each child one of the 30 sentences provided to write in Greek. They must then swap their sentence with a friend to translate. (Sentences vary in length to allow for different attainment levels.) Who will translate their message first?
- Time for a quiz! Pupils will have learned a lot about Ancient Greek civilisation from this set of videos and activities and it’s time to put that new knowledge to the test. However, it’s up to the children to test one another. Challenge each child to write a question for a class quiz. Sort children into teams and invite each team to read out their questions to the other teams. You may wish to elect a spokesperson in each team to avoid lots of shouting out. Teams win a point for a correct answer but if nobody answers correctly, the team posing the question wins the point. The team with the highest number of points at the end wins.
Resources - Teacher Notes from Teachit
Once upon a time in Ancient Greece. documentOnce upon a time in Ancient Greece
Comprehensive Teacher Notes covering episodes 1 to 5, including worksheets and activities.
Comprehension questions. documentComprehension questions
Click to display the worksheet full-size or print it (taken from the Teacher Notes).
Ancient Greek alphabet. documentAncient Greek alphabet
Click to display the worksheet full-size or print it (taken from the Teacher Notes).
The Teacher Notes for this series have been prepared in partnership with Teachit.
Other resources
Episode transcript
Image showing Doric, Ionic and Corinthian pillars (from the video)
BBC Teach: Tales from Ancient Greece - audio versions of more popular Ancient Greek myths
BBC Teach > Primary > KS2 History > Ancient Greece
City-states > Gods > Culture > Olympic Games > Legacy of Ancient Greece
The Olympians > Prometheus/Pandora > Midas > Demeter/Persephone > Odyssey
