Part Sixty--Heroes Quest: Mount Olympus and the Guardians of the Flame, part 4

THE EUMENIDES and CLOSING DAY

It has been said that Athens left the world two masterpieces of surpassing beauty: the Parthenon and the Oresteia, (Aeschylus' trilogy which concludes with The Eumenides).

THE EUMENIDES 
or The Kindly Ones

Our Latin class performed an abridged version of The Eumenides, which is the most consequential of all Greek plays. Why? because it lays out Western civilization's court system for determining the innocence or guilt of someone charged with a crime.

Our class learned the story ofThe Oresteia trilogy. The first two plays are Agamemnon and The Libation Bearers. J.K. Rowling quotes The Libation Bearers in the preface to Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.

We chose parts and practiced our play after Latin class every week. 

I worked a lot with the students, most of whom had never acted on stage. 

MURDER TRIAL

I thought it might be a good preparation for our play to attend a real murder trial. It was sad and educational. This was the first time any of them had been in a courthouse.

OUR PERFORMANCE

One of my students put together our program. 

DRAMATIS PERSONAE

Priestess at Delphi............................................................Katy 

Apollo...............................................................................Bradley

Orestes, son of Agamemnon and Clytemnestra............Michelangelo 

Clytemnestra as a ghost................................................Katy 

Hellish Fury......................................................................Giselle 

Horrid Fury.......................................................................Lorenzo and Katy

Hideous Fury....................................................................Zech

Athena..............................................................................Larissa

Athenian citizens............................................................Lorenzo

In the Eumenides, Orestes is tormented by the Furies as punishment for killing his mother Clytemnestra, which he did to avenge her murder of his father, Agamemnon, leader of the Achaean forces against Troy. The furies want to enact the ancient punishment of retribution.

The Hellish Fury, the Horrid Fury, and the Hideous Fury. Giselle was the Hellish Fury! 

Hounded by the furies, Orestes makes his way to Athena's temple to beg asylum.

Athena presents a new form of justice, a trial by peers. Orestes receives a trial on the Areopagus (the Mars Hill in Acts 17), with Athena as judge and twelve Athenian men as jury.

The prosecution, the Furies, speak first. Fury Giselle tells why Orestes should be punished. 

Apollo explains that Orestes deserves to be purged of guilt since Orestes killed Clytemnestra at his command to avenge his father's death. 

 After the arguments are heard, Athena tells the jury that they preside over the first ever murder trial in Athens. She urges them to be honest. She says that ever after this, Athens will be a beacon of civilization and justice, obliterating the eye for an eye system.

The votes are counted while Orestes awaits the verdict.

Orestes is acquitted. But the furies complain that the ancient justice system has been thwarted. They threaten to take revenge upon the city. Athena urges them to join her as patron goddesses of Athens, whom the people will worship and adore for their clemency. The Furies accept and bless the city, and thus become the Eumenides, the Kindly Ones.

 The students gave an entertaining performance, and they had a great time.

Afterwards the students enjoyed a Krispies treat temple I made for them.

CLOSING NIGHT

We ended school the same way we began, at our Greek temple. It was beautiful and balmy.
Our lovely moms all contributed much to our great year.

 A few parents and I performed a shortened version of the Greek tragedy, Antigone, doomed daughter of Oedipus. Antigone esteems her duty to God more than duty to a tyrant who disregards God's laws. I played Antigone and roped these parents into performing with me:

In my experience students like to watch their parents perform for them sometimes!

We sang our school song one last time.

Several dads dressed up for parts they were playing at various times that night. One of them asked Hal why he wasn't in costume, and he said that he had paid his dues many times. He should have had this photo to show them (John and Abigail Adams).

Giselle and the other students fulfilled the requirements to receive the American Heritage Award. Each mother customized the award for her children. Giselle memorized the first major section of the Declaration of Independence, etc., and earned a sword from me...

...as if she didn't have enough weapons. Her smile says it all!

I presented tee shirts to my Latin students which read: "Sure I could translate this for you, but then I'd have to kill you."

Later we wore these to Scandia for an end of year party.

Our Guardians of the Flame. An ancient "Greek" came forward to hand a torch with the flame of liberty to the "Roman," on the right. He passed it to the "Founding Father" on the left, who lighted all the students' torches (their own small flashlights), and gave them the charge to guard the flame of liberty! 

This was an amazing year! Giselle said it was her favorite year so far!

We learned the truth of the words of William Faulkner, 

"The past is not dead., it's not even past."

Part Fifty-nine--Heroes Quest: Mount Olympus and the Guardians of the Flame, part 3

 FIELD TRIPS and VISITORS

MATEO ACADEMY OF SELF-DEFENSE 

The students received lessons in combat and weapons. 

I couldn't be there, but Giselle seemed to enjoy it, since she liked weapons so much!

JOSEPH AND THE AMAZING TECHNICOLOR DREAMCOAT

This play at Riverside City College might have been stretching to fit our theme!

SHAKESPEARE'S PERICLES, PRINCE OF TYRE
We love the Cedar City Shakespeare festival. This fit right in. I like the scene where the character, Marina stands up for herself and for the right.

HUNTINGTON LIBRARY AND GARDENS

My excuse for going to the Huntington was to see this 19th century rendition of Achille's shield, which Homer describes in detail. Our Latin class had just finished reading the Iliad. 

At the entrance to the actual library we talked about this classic statue of George Washington. He stands in the style of the Roman hero, Cincinnatus, with his left hand on the fasces and his right hand on the plow.

Cincinnatus and Washington relinquished the fasces bundle, symbol of power, and returned to their plows.

We saw some other neoclassical works of art, including the garden statues.

QUALITY WEST WING

One of the great things about collaborating with other parents is benefiting from their connections, knowledge, and expertise. One of our mothers set up a visit to a replica of the White House's West Wing. During this field trip students learned about the day in the life the president of the United States.

Students could write a bill, balance the budget, nominate judges for the Supreme Court, do a press conference, etc. They also learned more about the Founding Fathers. The highlight of our tour was going into the Oval Office and seeing the Resolute desk!

COVINA FOREST LAWN

On the way home our Latin class stopped at Covina Forest Lawn. Three statues grace the entrance to this cemetery: 

The Prophet Jeremiah, who is holding the Law

Venus de Milo

The Roman soldier, Saint George

The three pillars of Western Civilization--the Hebrews, the Greeks, and the Romans.

This Forest Lawn also contains the Chapel of our Heritage which was modeled after a church in Virginia where President James Monroe worshipped. George Washington also served there as a vestryman, and the nation’s first naval hero, John Paul Jones, worshipped there. 

BOWERS MUSEUM

The Bowers museum had a great traveling exhibit on Benjamin Franklin. 

The students had an interactive learning experience.

Through all Giselle's school years with me, especially in Latin and other high school subjects, she was an eager learner and a great student, even though her mom was her teacher!  

I think the kids liked being shocked by the electrical experiment the best. 

KNOTT'S BERRY FARM INDEPENDENCE HALL

After this we headed to Knott's Berry Farm to see Independence Hall. We watched a multimedia presentation about the founding fathers and the Declaration of Independence. I've been there many times, but had never seen that presentation.

LOS ANGELES FEDERAL RESERVE BUILDING

I took my Latin class on a field trip to the Federal Reserve--the Los Angeles branch of the San Francisco bank. It was a great field trip. We saw a huge room filled from floor to ceiling with millions of dollars. We had a little economics class to help us understand how to spend our money wisely. I made sure we talked about Jekyll Isle and the creation of the Fed also.

We all received a souvenir of genuine, shredded U.S. currency.

GLENDALE FOREST LAWN

On the way home from Los Angeles we stopped at Glendale Forest Lawn. 

This Court of Liberty features a tile version of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. It is three times the size of the original work and composed of 700,000 pieces of Venetian tile.

There is so much to see that we only could visit a few of my favorite places. These are exact replicas of San Giovanni's baptistry doors. The founder of Forest Lawn went to Florence in the 1940's so that he could make a copy. He told the Italians that the doors were really gold, as mentioned by Michelangelo, and not bronze as they seemed to be. The Italians cleaned the doors and found that they were indeed gold. Michelangelo dubbed them the 'gates of paradise.' Each square contains a vingette of an Old Testament story.

This was a beautiful ending to a beautiful day--another adventure with Giselle and friends!

PI DAY

Some of our moms were very passionate about PI day, March 14th. 

They held an event at a home with games and information.

We ate pie of course!

LOCAL REPUBLICAN HEADQUARTERS

I had never been to any political party headquarters, and this one so close to our Latin class. 

CAL EARTH

 Cal Earth teaches people worldwide to make homes from dirt and cement. Our topic was Roman architecture, and Cal Earth uses many Roman arches in the building of structures.

The kids got to climb all over the buildings, and learned the process for making them. Structurally, they are some of the soundest buildings in terms of earthquakes, which is why they are built in places all over the world--they're also pretty cheap to make.

This home had all the amenities of a modern home, but at a fraction of the cost.

Giselle and a few boys used an arch frame to make their Roman arch, just from bricks and a few pebbles. Giselle said it was one of the best field trips she'd been on. The Roman arch is the strongest form in architecture and has been used in building for thousands of years. 

This brick dome was like a little Roman Pantheon, complete with an oculus. A dome is an arch rotated 180 degrees. 

GETTY VILLA

This villa overlooks the beach at Malibu. The weather was so beautiful that day. Giselle liked being older and exploring museums without mom around! 

I saw an ancient tablet engraven with a portion of Homer's Iliad. That was even more exciting since I had reread the Iliad for school this year. This field trip was set up mostly for my Latin class, but a few others came in the 15 passenger van, including my friend Joan. (Another carload came too, but from another city).

The Getty Villa is modeled after a first-century Roman country house, the Villa dei Papiri in Herculaneum, Italy. 

I loved homeschooling near the LA basin because of access to places like this! After the villa we stopped at the beach long enough for the kids to get wet and sandy. What a great field trip!

 VISITORS
PYTHAGORAS AND ARTEMIS

Pythagoras came to visit our school. He first spoke to us from behind some curtains, then he drew in the sand some of his formulas and ideas, just like Pythagoras did thousands of years ago.

I love having our temple for field trips. It's a great place to gather.

ARCHERY

A few days later we gathered again at the temple for an archery class. One father in our group is an archery buff. He is the one who helped Giselle get a bow when the school year.

Some of us, including me, hit the temple instead of the target! But Giselle was good!

His class was very fun--the kids said it was the best field trip. 

We were having a great time in the classical world!