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Oxford Cambridge and RSA Examinations GCEClassical CivilisationH408/11: The world of the hero A Level question paper with marking scheme (merged)£5.04
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Tuesday 16 May 2023 – Afternoon
A Level Classical Civilisation
H408/11 The World of the Hero
Time allowed: 2 hours 20 minutes
* 9 8 9 1 9 9 2 7 8 2 *
You must have:
• the OCR 12-page Answer Booklet
INSTRUCTIONS
• Use black ink.
• Write your answer to each question in the Answer Booklet. The question numbers must
be clearly shown.
• Fill in the boxes on the front of the Answer Booklet.
• This question paper has three sections:
Section A – Homer: Answer either all the questions on Iliad or all the questions on
Odyssey.
Section B – Virgil: Answer all the questions.
Section C – Homer and Virgil: Answer Question 7 and one question from Questions 8, 9
and 10.
INFORMATION
• The total mark for this paper is 100.
• The marks for each question are shown in brackets [ ].
• Quality of extended response will be assessed in questions marked with an asterisk (*).
• This document has 8 pages.
ADVICE
• Read each question carefully before you start your answer.
Answer all the questions on the text you have studied.
Homer’s Iliad
Choose one translation of the Iliad and answer the questions.
Passage A
Homer, Iliad, 3.384–420
Aphrodite found Helen on the high tower, surrounded by Trojan women. The goddess put
out her hand, tugged at her sweet-smelling robe and spoke to her in the disguise of an old
woman she was very fond of, a wool-worker who used to comb the wool for Helen when she
lived in Lacedaemon. Mimicking this woman, celestial Aphrodite spoke to her:
‘Come here! Paris wants you to go home to him. There he is in his bedroom, on the inlaid 5
bed, dazzling in looks and dress. You would never believe he had just come from a duel. You
would think he was going to a dance or had just stepped off the floor and sat down to rest.’
So she spoke, and her words went straight to Helen’s heart. But when she noticed the
superb neck, desirable breasts and sparkling eyes of the goddess, she was shocked and
spoke to her: 10
‘Mysterious goddess, why are you trying to lead me on like this? You are plotting, I suppose,
to carry me off to some still more distant town, in Phrygia or lovely Maeonia, to gratify some
other favourite of yours who may be living in those parts. Or is it that Menelaus has beaten
Paris and wants to take me back home, me, his loathsome wife – so now you have come to
try to lure me back to Paris? 15
‘No, go and sit with him yourself. Forget you are a goddess. Never set foot on Olympus
again but go and agonize over Paris, go and pamper him, and one day he may make you
his wife – or his concubine. I refuse to go and share this man’s bed again – it would be quite
wrong. There is not a woman in Troy who would not blame me if I did. I have enough trouble
to put up with already.’ 20
Enraged, celestial Aphrodite spoke to her:
‘Obstinate wretch! Don’t get the wrong side of me, or I may desert you in my anger and
detest you as vehemently as I have loved you up till now, and provoke Greeks and Trojans
alike to such hatred of you that you would come to a dreadful end.’
So she spoke, and Helen, child of Zeus, was terrified. She wrapped herself up in her shining 25
white robe and went off in silence.
She found her on the rampart, with a throng of Trojan women round her. So the goddess
stretched out her hand to pluck at Helen’s perfumed robes, and spoke to her, disguised as
an old and dearly loved wool-carder, who combed the fine wool for Helen when she lived in
Lacedaemon. ‘Come,’ cried the goddess, ‘Paris calls for you. He lies on his inlaid bed in his
room, radiant with beauty in his fine garments. You would never guess he had come from a 5
fight: rather that he was off to the dance or resting after dancing.’
Helen was roused by her words then struck with wonder, as the goddess revealed her lovely
neck and shoulders, and her bright eyes. She addressed her, saying: ‘Goddess, why choose
to deceive me so? Now Menelaus has beaten noble Paris, and wants to drag his shameful
wife home, would you have me follow you to some great city in Phrygia or sweet Maeonia, 10
destined for some other man dear to you? Is that why you come here full of guile? Go
yourself, and sit beside him, forget your deity, abandon Olympus, fret over him and pamper
him, be his wife then, or at least his slave. I shall not run, for shame, to share his bed again;
the Trojan women would scorn me if I did, and anyway my heart is full of sorrow.’
Fair Aphrodite turned on her, in anger: ‘Obstinate woman, provoke me to fury and I’ll desert 15
you, and hate you as deeply as I still love you yet, and bring on you the fierce enmity of
Trojan and Greek alike; then indeed would your fate be evil.’
Zeus-begotten Helen was gripped by fear, as she spoke, and wrapping herself in her bright
shining mantle, followed the goddess without a word.
Translation: A.S. Kline
1 Explain how Helen is presented in Passage A.
Use references to the passage to support your answer. [10]
2* Explain how a good mortal woman was expected to behave in the Iliad.
You may use Passage A as a starting point, and your knowledge of the Iliad in your answer. [20]
Choose one translation of the Odyssey and answer the questions.
Passage B
Homer, Odyssey, 18.242–274
Then Eurymachus said to Penelope: ‘Daughter of Icarius, wise Penelope, if all the Achaeans
in Ionian Argos could set eyes on you, even more Suitors would be feasting in your halls
tomorrow, for in loveliness of face and form, and in wisdom, you are supreme among women.’
‘Ah, Eurymachus,’ the prudent Penelope replied, ‘the gods destroyed my loveliness of
face and form and my pre-eminence when the Argives embarked for Ilium and my husband 5
Odysseus went with them. If he could return and devote himself to me, my good name would
indeed be embellished and enhanced. But I am left to my misery: a power above has heaped
so many troubles on my head. When he left this land of his, he gently took me by the wrist
of my right hand and said: “Wife, I do not think all the Achaean soldiers will return from Troy
unhurt. For they say the Trojans are good fighters too, both with javelin and bow, and as 10
charioteers, who can tip the scales in an evenly matched battle more quickly than anything.
So I cannot say whether the gods will let me come back or whether I shall fall there on the
Trojan soil. But I leave everything here in your charge. Look after my father and mother in the
house as you do now, or with even greater care when I am gone. And when you see a beard
on our boy’s chin, marry whom you want to and leave your home.” That is what he said; and 15
now it is all coming true. I see approaching me the night when I must accept a detestable
union. It will be the end of me; Zeus has destroyed my happiness.’
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