← Classical Studies syllabus

ScotlandClassical Studies

Individual and Community

4 dot points across 4 inquiry questions. Click any dot point for a focused answer with worked past exam questions where available.

How did the ancient world understand freedom, and what were its limits?

Freedom and its limits: how Greeks and Romans understood liberty, the contrast between citizen and slave, and the limits that class, gender and status placed on who could be free.
How the ancient Greek and Roman world understood freedom: the prized status of the free citizen, the defining contrast with the slave, and the limits that class, gender and status placed on who could be free in practice.
12 min answer →

How did the ancient world understand justice and the rule of law in the community?

Justice, law and the community: how Greeks and Romans understood justice, the role of law in binding the community, and the contest between human law, divine law and personal right.
How the ancient Greek and Roman world understood justice and the rule of law: the role of law in holding the community together, ideas of what a just society is, and the contest between human law, divine law and personal right dramatised in the texts.
12 min answer →

How does ancient literature dramatise the individual who defies the community?

The claims of conscience against the community: how the texts dramatise the individual who defies the state out of conscience, family or divine duty, and where they locate sympathy.
How ancient literature dramatises the individual who defies the community: the conflict between civic obligation and conscience, family loyalty or divine duty, the consequences the texts attach, and where they locate the audience's sympathy.
12 min answer →

How did the ancient world understand the relationship between the individual and the state?

The individual and the state: the claims the community made on the citizen, the duty owed to the polis or res publica, and the tension when individual conscience conflicts with civic obligation.
How the ancient Greek and Roman world understood the relationship between the individual and the state: the duty owed to the community, the claims of citizenship, and the tension dramatised when conscience conflicts with civic obligation.
12 min answer →