Panoply at the UCL Classics Fair

Today we’re busy getting ready to host a stall at tomorrow’s Classics Fair, which will be hosted by University College London in partnership with the Iris Project. The fair looks to educate and entertain London-based secondary-school students in response to the inspiring resurgence of interest in classics and classical studies. Around thirty academics, postgraduate students, actors, curators, and alumni are contributing with talks, performances and creative activities. The fair is intended to convey the vibrancy and importance of the classics to a new generation of state school pupils who attend institutions where classics and classical civilisation are not taught as part of the ordinary curriculum. The event forms part of a larger, growing classical outreach movement across London and the UK.

At the Panoply stall we’ll be showing our animations to pupils and teachers. We’ll be encouraging teachers to try the animations out in the classroom and giving tips on how to include them. Pupils and teachers will also be getting involved in the Every Soldier has a Story project: creating characters, designing shield decorations, and being filmed and photographed with their hoplites. Should be fun!

A photographic update - here's the Panoply stall, with Amazon playing in the background. Our thanks to UCL and the Iris Project for inviting us along, and thanks to all the brilliant people who checked out the stall and played the Every Soldier hoplite game.

Every Soldier Has a Story

This week sees the launch of our latest project, Every Soldier has a Story. Every Soldier aims to add a dose of individuality and creativity to learning about the ancient Greeks, their warfare, and their pottery.
The animation for the project will be called Hoplites! Greeks at War. It will feature major episodes in a hoplite’s life, based on this vase that shows scenes of hoplites training:


(Eubean lekanis vase, Ure Museum, 56.8.8)

A short film will accompany the animation and everyone has a chance to be in it. Based on the idea that the hoplite in the animation represents an ‘every-soldier’, people are invited to imagine who their version of the hoplite is: who he lives with, what he likes to do, what he thinks of the war he’s fighting in – whatever you want. A collection of one-line responses will be brought together in the short film and will form part of an exhibition at the Ure Museum this autumn, celebrating the release of the Hoplites! animation.

To make your Every Soldier contribution, download the activity sheet from the Every Soldier page: http://www.panoply.org.uk/everysoldier.html. It’s fun and easy and takes as long as you like – from 5 minutes to 50. The project page has all the info you’ll need, along with further drawing and story-boarding activities.

We’ll be taking the Every Soldier activities to all sorts of groups and organisations over the next few months to get them involved and get them thinking. Contact us if you’re in the London area and would like to arrange a workshop. In the meantime, download the activity sheet and start creating your hoplite’s story.