Bringing the Romans to Life

Published on isbi School News dated Thursday 13th of July 2017

At Godolphin, we are passionate about the importance of Classics and are one of the only schools in the area to teach both Latin and Ancient Greek from age 11 through to A-level. We believe through studying these subjects, girls learn transferable skills such as perception, analysis, reasoning and assimilation which are valued by a range of professions such as Law, Journalism, Politics and Business We bring the Classics to life through trips to all the many wonderful ancient sites in both this country and aboard as well as theatre trips and experience days. One of the highlights is our Roman Morning, an off timetable event of all things Roman designed to engage, inspire and fire the imagination. This year, the Godolphin First and Second Years were joined by girls from Salisbury Cathedral School and Port Regis for a fun-packed range of activities from baking ‘hedgehog’ bread using a Roman recipe through to firing water balloons with a ballista (giant catapult) which was ingeniously made by one of our Classics teachers using a wooden frame and lacrosse stick. Girls dressed up in traditional togas with oak-leaf headdresses and took part in battle practice, learning various defensive formations. They made their own scutum (shield), gladius (stabbing sword) and pilum (spear) and put these to good use in the climax of the morning, the Battle of the Rubicon, which was fought on the Pitches. Here, girls from the Second Year formed a V formation similar to tactics used by the Romans and attempted to capture the mount guarded by the Celts (First Years). After a close fought battle, the Second Years triumphed to huge cheers and a spontaneous chorus of ‘We are the Champions!’ Speaking afterwards, girls from the Cathedral School were brimming with enthusiasm. Electra from Year 7 said, ‘It was a great morning – really good for team-building and very interactive. I particularly loved the water balloons and couldn’t believe that the Romans actually ate hedgehogs!’ Even the weather got into the Roman spirit, with temperatures of over 30 degrees mimicking a typical Italian day. ENDS