The Core study. What the excavated towns reveal about Roman urban life, and how the evidence itself has been shaped by excavation, interpretation and conservation.
These are the statements the Ancient History syllabus makes about Core: Cities of Vesuvius - Pompeii and Herculaneum. Dux records each one against the questions you answer, so you can see which of them you have actually been tested on and which have never been asked.
The different classes of evidence available for the towns, and what each class can and cannot establish.
How excavation practice has changed, the conservation problems facing the sites, and the ethical questions raised by display and tourism.
Street layout, water supply, public buildings and the differences between the two towns, read from the physical remains.
Workshops, wine and oil production, the harbour, and what the artefacts reveal about how the towns made a living.
Housing, diet, household objects, graffiti and the evidence for the lives of women, children and enslaved people.
Magistracies, election notices, the role of the forum, and what the civic inscriptions reveal about local power.
Temples, household shrines, the cult of Isis and the evidence for belief and ritual practice.
The gap between what survives and what is claimed about the towns, including the effect of plaster casts and early excavation methods.
HSC Ancient History - Trial Paper Shape is 100 marks in 180 minutes. Questions on Core: Cities of Vesuvius - Pompeii and Herculaneum are not one shape repeated: the command word decides what the marker is looking for, and the mark value decides how much of it. These are the ones Ancient History uses.
Dux writes practice for this module in exactly these shapes, so the drill is the same task the paper sets — not a general knowledge quiz with the module name on it.
Core: Cities of Vesuvius - Pompeii and Herculaneum opens the Ancient History course. Students routinely lose marks because a question spans two modules, so the neighbouring modules are worth reading next to this one.
Dux diagnoses Ancient History dot point by dot point, then writes questions in the shape this course marks. Written answers come back marked against the bands.