General Thoughts: Ancient History (2 Viewers)

[Rafy]

Share your thoughts here

 

[Dabest]

Fucking easy, finished with an hour left.

 

[pakman_au]

gg rekt

 

[alex4nder]

Am I the only one thinking the CSSA Trial was suspiciously like the exam? For Spartan Society, 19 marks of the HSC were identical to what was in their trial

 

[sheldogge]

Pompeii - very easy
Greek world 500-440 - decent
Caesar - decent
Sparta - shit - 4 marks on Alcman, 15 on women, fucking stupid

 

[Swaan]

Am I the only one who didn't have a clue what the Alcman poems were?? Thank god it was only 4 marks. Everything else was ok except Section 4, I hate new kingdom egypt. Hatshepsut was my favourite, I could've kept writing forever but then I realised I only had 25mins for section 4 lolz

 

[Queenroot]

Am I the only one who didn't have a clue what the Alcman poems were?? Thank god it was only 4 marks. Everything else was ok except Section 4, I hate new kingdom egypt. Hatshepsut was my favourite, I could've kept writing forever but then I realised I only had 25mins for section 4 lolz

Ditto

Alcman poems I believe are literature that the Spartans had. Songs and stuff. It's been a whole year.

 

[pakman_au]

i left out section 2 can i still get band 6?

 

[Swaan]

Ditto

Alcman poems I believe are literature that the Spartans had. Songs and stuff. It's been a whole year.

Yes it's been a whole year yet I've failed to come across it, like I have literally never seen that word the entire year :S well my fault for not refining my notes

But thankfully I did write something about their form of literature

 

[Chocolatebubble]

Fuck I forgot my conclusion for historical period I stopped to finish off sparta but then I completely dun goofed and forgot to write a conclusion

how fucked am i?

 

[Morrigan]

Yes it's been a whole year yet I've failed to come across it, like I have literally never seen that word the entire year :S well my fault for not refining my notes

But thankfully I did write something about their form of literature

Basically Alcman illustrates a view of Sparta pre-Lycurgus and that it was one similar to other city-states as opposed to being a military state with shit all in the way of nice culture or whatever. He also describes the Peloponnese in relation to geography??

idk this exam rekt me hello like band 2 thanks to my greek world essay- studied for 10 hours straight and finished two shitty pages for it

 

[Chocolatebubble]

Basically Alcman illustrates a view of Sparta pre-Lycurgus and that it was one similar to other city-states as opposed to being a military state with shit all in the way of nice culture or whatever. He also describes the Peloponnese in relation to geography??

idk this exam rekt me hello like band 2 thanks to my greek world essay- studied for 10 hours straight and finished two shitty pages for it

well shit I wrote that he wrote stuff that wasnt military related showing a different side of sparta, and he was significant because that was ~speshul~

also a bit on how he gave a little more geographical context for sparta

 

[louielouiee]

Alcman was more or less a poet who wrote songs used for various spartan festivals, as well as some hymns and love songs that described a different side of Spartan society such as the gods, women and nature- not everything was about war and courage! He is important because all the poems that he wrote that were recovered actually reflect the archeological evidence very nicely.

Moving on, can people tell me what the Julius Caesar and Fall of the Roman Republic questions were?

 

[sheldogge]

What would constitute 4 marks for 'significance of Alcmans poets?'

Basically I wrote that:

- hes a choral poet, earliest works we have avaliable
- may have been from Sardis
- provides care free perspective of 7thc Sparta
- describes natural features
- mentions we wealth disparities before Lycourgun reforms
- mentions female pedastry

Do you think that would constitute enough 'significance'? Anyone? Thanks

 

[louielouiee]

What would constitute 4 marks for 'significance of Alcmans poets?'

Basically I wrote that:

- hes a choral poet, earliest works we have avaliable
- may have been from Sardis
- provides care free perspective of 7thc Sparta
- describes natural features
- mentions we wealth disparities before Lycourgun reforms
- mentions female pedastry

Do you think that would constitute enough 'significance'? Anyone? Thanks

I'd say 3/4 marks. Depends what your writing style was like considering that was only a summary. You are correct about him being from Sardis, being a choral poet, talking about nature, females and reforms.
To get those full marks, I would have said you would need to back up what you said with a quote from one of Alcman's poems that signified everything he was about. That would have separated you from the other students very well- most people don't go an look up his poem fragments and tailor them to the HSC syllabus.

Nevertheless, good job!

 

[Champouf]

well ouch
I wrote that Alcman's poetry spoke about nature and true love. Said nature was significant for Sparta as it encouraged being healthy and fit. Said true love was insignificant and contradicted the Spartan view of marriage and all that shit
mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmwow
That question shouldn't have been on there, jesus.
Didn't really study Alcman as you could tell. I don't think we even spoke about him in class since following the exam like 3/4 of my class were asking, 'who's Alcman?'

 

[sheldogge]

I'd say 3/4 marks. Depends what your writing style was like considering that was only a summary. You are correct about him being from Sardis, being a choral poet, talking about nature, females and reforms.
To get those full marks, I would have said you would need to back up what you said with a quote from one of Alcman's poems that signified everything he was about. That would have separated you from the other students very well- most people don't go an look up his poem fragments and tailor them to the HSC syllabus.

Nevertheless, good job!

Thoughts on 'role of gerousia' - ones again, the role

I can basically re write my para:

The Gerousia was the primary legislative body of the Spartan Govenment. Plutarch attests it was the greatest of the Lycurguan reforms, acting as 'just like the ballast weight' of a ship, providing a balance between tyranny and democracy. This is clear, as the gerousia removed the absolute monarchy system of the constitution, placing it in the hands of an oligarchy, in a grou[ of 30 men in which the kings were two. The Gerousia tried serious court cases and prepared bills for the Ekllesia, and could subsequently veto their descion, perhaps suggesting the power they enjoyed. Paul Cartledge indeed describes the gerousia as acting 'like the a supreme court.' The significance of their role is further corroborated by Pluatarch, who claims the men were the 'best and most deserving.'

Anyone once again? Sorry to be an annoyance, once again I just thought i may have left it a little short on 'role' for a four marker...

 

[louielouiee]

I was fortunate enough to be the very last name drawn out of a hat to do an ancient assignment where the whole class had to pick a topic from a list.
Being the last person, the last topic available was a huge assignment on Alcman and Tyrtaeus.

Annnnnnnnnd what do you know, 4 mark question on Tyrtaeus in the 2012 HSC.

You have to ensure you cover EVERYTHING.

Anyway.

Good job everybody, it's all over now!

 

[Verify]

Pompeii - Simple
Greece during Pericles - Simple EXCEPT the 4 marker on the myth of the birth of Athena. I didn't know what to write.
Akhenaten - I may have completely answered a) wrong and legacy was difficult I thought but I managed to pull out a few pages.
Egypt - Easy.

 

[acidsushi]

Pompeii and Herculaneum: 90% good, I hated the Contributions question though, it was the one topic I was shaky with

Section II Sparta: For the significance of Alcman, I wrote that his 'Maiden Songs' provided an alternate perspective on the Spartan way of life - one that wasn't idealised and war-driven. Pretty decent, the role of the gerousia kinda screwed me up though. The 15 marker was great, I did it in my mid-years.

Section III Xerxes: Both questions were great, they both tied in with one another and were really easy to write about.

And the Section IV Greek World 500-440 essay was fucking perfect, did part a on Themistocles and Leonidas - for the first time ever in Ancient I managed to write more than 5 pages in an essay.

All in all, a pretty damn good test considering how stressful studying for it was.