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Contact Details
Melbourne, Australia

Telephone: (03) 9338 8993
Mobile: 0425 704 545
Email: historyupclose@iprimus.com.au
Webmaster: ginabrooks@iprimus.com.au

Display Packages
ANCIENT CULTURES
EGYPT, GREECE & ROME
Activities

Costume & Lifestyle

Costume and everyday items are used to contrast our modern life with the day to day lifestyle in the ancient period. Students are prompted to think about even the most basic functions from waking to going to bed. Hygiene, education, food preparation and preservation and other domestic items are discussed. Roman toiletry habits are highlighted with a “hands-on” brush with a reproduction Roman toiletry item.

Using replicas items such as a strigil (Greek & Roman hygiene tool), wax tablet (ancient palm pilot), drop spindle (for spinning yarn) and papyrus, students are prompted to explore everyday items using a hands-on approach.

Dressing volunteer students in reproduction clothing further helps participants understand and appreciate the differing political and economic structures as well as the roles which individuals in the ancient period populated.

(To see larger images see our photo gallery of school incursions)

               

Arms & Armour

The development of warfare in the ancient period is explored by looking at the ways that Ancient Egypt, Classical Greece and Imperial Rome waged war as a means of sustaining their political and economic systems. Beginning with New Kingdom Egypt through to Imperial Rome we show the developments in technology, military thinking as well as systems of motivation used by these ancient societies.

Students are asked to volunteer to play the role of warriors during the ancient period such as Egyptian infantry, Greek peltast or hoplite, and finally a Roman legionary. Reproduction armour, shields and equipment are used to display the differences between the three societies in their military approach and their sophistication. Handling and wearing the items gives students a first person appreciation for the very physical aspects of the experience of soldiering in the distant past. 

Participants almost always comment how the physical experience or hands-on aspect of this unit has changed their ideas on this aspect of history, movies or books usually having failed to convey this element or distort it completely.

Games

A fully participative and physical introduction to the use of sport and games by the Classical Greek and Roman societies. The primary focus is the Olympic Games of Greece, explored by allowing students to use bronze jumping weights, throw javelins and compete in a running race with unusual rules. All of these aspects differ from our modern experience of sport and allow the participants to explore the important role of sport in expressing the ideas and beliefs central to Classical Greek society.

Gladiatorial sports of Rome are then brought into perspective. Presenters model and display the equipment used by two popular classes of Roman gladiator, the myrmillo (fishman) and the retiarius (net thrower). This is followed by a demonstration of basic techniques used by both gladiators to show how each would use their different weapons and armour to defeat the other. The presenters use this display to prompt questions about the attitudes of Romans to this type of sport as a part of their society as well as risks and rewards that gladiators might expect.