Issue 87 | Autumn 2022
News from Bablake
A Classic Trip!
B
ablake and King Henry’s Classics departments embarked on a successful 50 pupil strong trip to Greece during October half term, visiting important sites, from Mycenae to Athens. We landed in Athens to visit our first site, the Temple of Poseidon, which had been destroyed by the Persians in around 480 BC, and we had a perfect opportunity to take photos.
After lunch, we watched the changing of the guards at the Presidential Mansion and at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. The procedure was not too dissimilar to that at Buckingham Palace here in the UK, but was strange nonetheless to many pupils. We then visited the 1896 Olympic Stadium where pupils took part in races, culminating in standing on the rostrum for more photos.
Finally, on Wednesday we visited Mycenae, founded in around 1350 BC, where we saw the Lion Gate and key important artefacts of one of the oldest ancient sites in Greece. One thing which caught my eye in particular were the Mycenaean tombs which were the home of the Mask of Agamemnon and the five golden masks. After lunch in the coastal town of Nafplio, we visited the amazing theatre of Epidavros and tested the acoustics, discovering that it was indeed possible for those on the back row to hear a coin being dropped in the orchestra.
On day three of the week-long trip, we travelled to Delphi where we visited the Archaeological Museum, which covers over a thousand years from the Mycenaean era to the Greco-Roman times. The Our final day arrived all too quickly, fine weather which we enjoyed all week but before we headed back to Athens we On Saturday morning, we enjoyed created some incredible views. visited the city of Corinth and those with a busy and bustling Athens, where a head for heights gazed down into the we then tackled a steep hill to discover the On Monday, we travelled to see the Temple Corinth Canal. Acropolis, complete with its awe-inspiring of Apollo and the Temple of Zeus in temples to Athene and its theatres. Olympia. It was a great opportunity to see We had all enjoyed a great week discovering key ancient Greek figures, familiar to many Greek culture and learning more about studying Classical Civilisation. Those who many of the ancient Gods we are studying. were more energetic competed in a 100m sprint race on the actual Olympic track. Joshua Pilling
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