For the final Scholars’ Masterclass of the Spring Term, we welcomed Ms Victoria Stevens from the University of Reading’s Museum of English Rural Life. Ms Stevens delivered a fascinating Masterclass on Monday 18 March on Myths and Religion in the Ancient World – specifically in Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome.
Ms Stevens is a Lead Conservator in written heritage and art for the University of Reading and an accredited library and archive conservator. She is also a Fellow of the International Institute for Conservation of Historic and Artistic Works (IIC) and, additionally, is a Trustee of the National Manuscripts Conservation Trust.
In the first part of her Masterclass, Ms Stevens began by talking about the cultural dominance of Greece. At the time, there was a huge Greek influence across the Mediterranean and this was visibly noticeable. Everybody wanted to learn Greek as it was seen as the superior language, while Greece itself asserted its dominance in culture through the arts and theatre, philosophy, science, and maths.
This led to many nations and cities looking at Greece with envy, one of which was Rome. However, what Rome lacked in culture and heritage (at the time), it made up for with its physical dominance and military might. This in turn helped the Romans establish themselves as the new dominant force and, as Ms Stevens explained, there were three key events that allowed for this – the Battle of Corinth which marked the end of the Achaean War and the beginning of the period of Roman domination in Greek history; the Battle of Actium, and the rise and rule of Octavian, more commonly known as Julius Caesar, who was the founder of the Roman Empire. These decisive moments in history led to the foundation of Rome from Greek myths.
In the second part of her Masterclass, Ms Stevens delivered an A to Z on Greek and Roman gods. Given that the Roman Empire followed the Greek Empire, it is safe to say that many Roman gods are ‘borrowed’ from Greek gods but with different names and some different traits. Going through the gods and their differences across the two religions, Ms Stevens spoke about the Kings of the Gods – Zeus in Greek and Jupiter in Roman – as well as the Queens of the Gods – Hera and Juno respectively. Ms Stevens also spoke about Ares and Mars, the Gods of War, Athena and Minerva, the Goddesses of Wisdom, Dionysus and Bacchus, the Gods of Wine, as well as Artemis and Diana, the Goddesses of the Hunt. It was fascinating for our Scholars to hear about their differences across the two religions and to learn more about myths and stories that are perhaps not as well known to people.
Thank you to Ms Stevens for delivering an interesting Masterclass on Myths and Religion in the Ancient World. We’re sure that our pupils enjoyed learning more about a part of history they may not have explored in detail before.