A-LEVEL CLASSICAL CIVILISATION

Transcription

1 A-LEVEL CLASSICAL CIVILISATION CIV3B The Persian Wars Report on the Examination 2020 June 2015 Version: 1.0

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3 CIV3B The Persian Wars General Comments The examiners were pleased, once again, to see a substantial number of students for this unit. The standard of the best work was again high and there were some scripts of excellent quality. We noted a continuing recognition that this topic makes demands on the capacity to read its prescribed texts as evidence of early literary response to the events which underlie them, rather than treating them as the basis for an essentially military narrative. Aeschylus continued to be studied with care and attention and was integrated into answers, rather than treated as an appendix to Herodotus; this year Aeschylus gained more responses in the structured questions than Herodotus. The best answers reflected an excellent knowledge of the texts. The quality of writing was generally good, as was students ability to handle concepts and classical values. Section 1 Option A This option was significantly less popular than Option B, and in general responses were less wellanswered. Students who chose it were generally inclined in answers to Question 01 to identify the instigators of the investigative resolution as Athens or Sparta or both, rather than a conference of the Greek states who supported resistance to Persia. Most realised that its purpose was to find out about the proportion of cavalry to infantry in Xerxes army, and whether there was a significant naval force. Some answers to Question 02 were more informed about the embassy to Argos than that to Gelon (and too many thought that Gelon was a place rather than a ruler). Most answers, however, managed to give some attention to issues of power relations, geography, size, resources, and strategic choices including active and passive Medising as a factor in inter-state relationships. Good answers to Question 03 then built on this to discuss the extent to which the real sources of disunity, including different government systems, loyalties and ethnic groupings, were capable of being submerged for the common cause. Themistocles role in concentrating efforts at Salamis was given due attention. Option B Most answers to Questions 04 and 05 were able to identify the passage as part of the last sequence after the reactions of Darius and Atossa to the messenger speech, and the return of Xerxes in rags; the Chorus add to the emotional effect of his appearance, and he and they continue a joint lament. Most answers to Question 05 were then able to discuss Aeschylus presentation of Xerxes in the light of the Chorus early fears, echoed here, their earlier lament for the loss of Persia s youth, and the implications of Atossa s dream. Students were able to discuss the evident contrast with Darius, the messenger s presentation of his news before the Salamis account, the Salamis account itself, and the Chorus reaction. Darius and Atossa s views of Xerxes were given due weight, as was the impression provided by Xerxes own lament. 3 of 5

4 Better answers to Question 06 then looked at the role played by the Chorus, thinking in terms of their provision of at times prolonged poetic and presumably musical commentary, using both the Chorus alone and in dialogue with the characters on the events unfolded in the play. Stronger answers recognised that it works largely by reaction to narrative of events offstage but also maintains a formal role in a formal drama, and so also provides the bystander and audience voice, emotional commentary, collective character, and structural elements we should expect. The implied presentation of events from the (ostensibly) Persian point of view counts too. Weaker responses tried, not unusually, to divert attention from the Chorus to other aspects of Aeschylus dramaturgy. Section 2 Option C Question 07 was the less popular of the two in this section. Good answers recognised it as a question asking for consideration of dramaturgy and narrative construction. Both texts do lead to Salamis as a climax, with very different moods and views, obviously, of the outcome. Many students dealt with Aeschylus successfully, many had more difficulty with Herodotus, and tended to unsupported assertion, rather than a reasoned assessment of the place of Salamis in the narrative. Both texts present, in the space available, an extremely detailed version of the event itself, with a major concentration on it as a turning point in the war. Aeschylus leads the audience via, among other things, the Chorus sense that Persia has lost a generation, Atossa s dream and her related fears, the Messenger s dramatic arrival and his narrative of the battle, where he flags the losses first, and then builds it up via the actions of the participants, foregrounding the opposing fleets. We then see an aftermath, including Xerxes reaction, which will lead into choral laments, Darius ghost, and Xerxes own arrival. Herodotus has a bigger space in which to construct his narrative, but answers considered, among other approaches, the narrative in Book vii where, in the aftermath of Artemisium and the setback at Thermopylae, the Greek leaders confer at the Isthmus, and decide to corner the Persian fleet and fight at Salamis. We are given a narrative about the preliminaries of the battle, including Themistocles trick, and we then encounter the battle itself, which winds down again into the narrative of Xerxes retreat and the withdrawal of his land troops. Many answers picked up on the build-up towards it, and the way in which the audience or reader s buttons are pressed, emotionally and otherwise, with the uses of suspense, dialogue, cliff-hangers, treachery, and rhetoric. Option D More students chose to answer Option D than C; good answers showed a sense that in both texts oracles and the divine scheme of things have a part to play in the motivation and outcome of the events described, and in the author s structuring of their presentation. Weaker answers tended to show less evidence of that understanding, and resorted to descriptive treatment of a small number of examples in excessive detail. In Herodotus, oracles are used to persuade Xerxes to set out, and to build the boat bridge. Later the Athenians receive a prophecy of success at Salamis at Delphi; a prophecy before Thermopylae leads to Leonidas dismissal of troops; the wooden wall prophecy to the Athenians is advantageously interpreted by Themistocles. 4 of 5

5 In Herodotus, divine retribution appears in Artabanus dissuading speech; Xerxes has a sequence of dreams, there is an eclipse when the bridge is complete; we see a later loss of ships in the storm at Sepias, and other phenomena at Delphi. In Aeschylus joining of battle at Salamis is attributed to divinely-inspired madness, and so is Xerxes general behaviour. Darius refers to oracles which foretold disaster. In both texts hubris and its punishment is an implied and sometimes explicit theme, which contributes to the portrayal of Xerxes as a tragic figure. Mark Ranges and Award of Grades Grade boundaries and cumulative percentage grades are available on the Results Statistics page of the AQA Website. Converting Marks into UMS marks Convert raw marks into Uniform Mark Scale (UMS) marks by using the link below. UMS conversion calculator 5 of 5