Report by the Director and Director of Studies on the JACT Greek Summer School, held at Bryanston School 29 July - 11 August 2007.

This 40th Greek Summer School was the largest ever, with 314 students. 25 of these were undergraduate or postgraduate university students (including two from the Charles University in Prague), and one was in full-time employment. The remainder were at school or had just left. The student body included people educated in various European countries, the USA and Hong Kong; and 66 from maintained schools in the UK.

There were 81 Beginners in eleven groups, 58 Intermediates (pre-GCSE) in eight groups, and 175 Advanced students (from just post-GCSE to university level) in twenty groups. No group was larger than ten, and the Beginners’ groups were kept to a maximum of eight thanks to a special grant from the Cambridge Classics Faculty. The Beginners’ and Intermediate groups studied appropriate sections of the Reading Greek course (the new edition, trialled at last year’s Summer School, was made available by CUP just ahead of official publication) and its continuation volumes. Favoured authors and texts among Advanced groups this year were: of the books of Homer, Iliad 3 and Odyssey 9; of prose authors, Herodotus, Lysias and Plato; of the tragedians Euripides was dominant, with the Medea the favourite choice out of the nine of his plays which were read.

There were 39 tutors, including fourteen from universities (Cambridge, Glasgow, Oxford and Swansea) and four teaching at the Summer School for the first time. One tutorship was again generously sponsored by Trinity College, Cambridge. Jean Pollard was once more our matron, endlessly supportive and generous as always. Sam Withnall and Fizzy Emmett were wonderfully lively and reliable Director’s Assistants. Visiting lecturers were Bettany Hughes on Helen of Troy, Patrick Finglass on the Iliad, Peter Parsons on Oxyrhynchus, Tom Harrison on Herodotus and Pat Easterling on Sophocles’ Oedipus at Colonus, with the home team represented by Anthony Bowen on Greek Music, Nick Denyer on the Origins of Justice, John Taylor on Aristophanes’ Frogs and John Penney on evidence for the pronunciation of Greek. There was an unprecedentedly rich and varied programme of twelve afternoon seminars on subjects ranging from Linear B to Byzantine churches, and from scansion to vase-painting. Classical and general knowledge (and lateral thinking) were tested in a lively quiz devised by Philip de May.

Of the 83 questionnaires returned by students, almost all were hugely positive. Of these, 56 said that they had made more progress with Greek than they had expected, and another 20 as much as they had hoped. Once again the student responses bore out the feeling that this was another hard-working summer school, with 76 of them saying that they had done more than three hours of independent study a day, 53 over four hours, and 23 over five hours (and several considerably more). 79 said that they found the pace challenging but rewarding, 78 that they found the teaching clear and the environment supportive. Almost all attended a very high proportion of the lectures and at least some of the seminars. 49 had attended all the lectures. It was the second year of the Potential Teachers’ Scheme supported by Friends of Classics, under which we were pleased to welcome Mary Staniforth and Yuddi Gershon.

Our 40th year was marked over the middle weekend: on the Saturday the tutors were pleased to welcome to a celebratory dinner a number of guests associated with the history of the Summer School, including its first and longest-serving Director David Raeburn; and on the Sunday everyone enjoyed a barbecue before an exuberant and inventive performance in English of Aristophanes’ Frogs, translated and directed by Adrienne Gould with the assistance of Matthew Shoults. A few days later the anniversary was marked once more by a superb gala concert directed by Emily Bowden and Jo Willmott, the programme including nostalgic favourites from earlier days.

On the last night of the course we gathered in the outdoor Greek theatre for a magical performance of Sophocles’ Oedipus at Colonus, never previously tackled at the Summer School. Cressida Ryan masterminded the production and tactfully shortened the text, and Keith Maclennan trained the chorus. The Greek was clear throughout, and a realistic grove and fine costumes were provided by Clare Sharp and her team of helpers.

We gratefully acknowledge support from the Cambridge Classics Faculty, the Oxford Faculty Board of Classics, the Craven Committee (Oxford), the Jowett Copyright Trust, Trinity College Cambridge, the Society for the Promotion of Hellenic Studies, the Gilbert Murray Trust, the Cromer Trust, the Classical Association, the JACT Greek Project and JACT itself. We are also indebted to several private donors for generous financial assistance.

The Summer School is as always very grateful to Bryanston School, whose administrative staff are unfailingly helpful and whose magnificent facilities are so suited to our needs. Above all we owe an enormous debt to Elizabeth Warren as Secretary, who has an almost year-round job in setting the Summer School in train: distributing publicity, handling applications, and making all arrangements with Bryanston School.

John Taylor, Director
Chris Burnand, Director of Studies