BERNADINE EVARISTO - TEACHERS' NOTES

Text taken from: 'Zuleika's Trip to the Amphitheatre', a chapter in The Emperor's Babe

Download the original text pdf file of 'Zuleika's Trip to the Amphitheatre' from The Emperor's Babe.

About the book

'Zuleika’s Trip to the Amphitheatre' is one of the chapters of The Emperor’s Babe, a novel-in-verse which tells the story of a girl of Sudanese parents who grows up in Roman London 1800 years ago. Zuleika is married to a rich Roman while still a child. Felix, the husband, is always away, and Zuleika has an affair with the Roman Emperor Septimius Severus on his visit to Britain.

Aims

These notes written, by Claudia Ferradas Moi, are aimed at teachers of English as a second or foreign language working with young adults whose level of English is upper intermediate or advanced. They are designed to provide ideas for class work, but some of the activities, particularly those under 'extension', can be used as homework. 

Notes for Teachers 

Before reading

• Activity 1
  Encourage students to do research and help them visualise the city.

• Activity 2
  Encourage students to be creative and have a try not only at writing the text but at designing the artwork for the brochure as well. Focus on the contrast between the time the students are supposed to be living in and the language of modern advertising. What is the effect of this anachronism? 

• Activity 3
  Greenwich is twenty minutes away from Central London, on the river Thames. It is renowned for its architecture, the magnificent views across London and its naval history: the Old Royal Naval College, the National Maritime Museum and the Cutty Sark. Greenwich also hosts the Royal Observatory, the home of Greenwich Mean Time, the source of the Primer Meridian that divides the East from the West. Maritime Greenwich is now a World Heritage Site. The remains of a Roman temple built to worship the Gods were discovered in Greenwich Park in 1902. A small section of one of the floors can still be seen and some of the relics found at the site are now at the Greenwich Heritage Centre in Woolwich.

• Activity 4
  Lucius Severus was made a Senator in 172 AD by emperor Marcus Aurelius. In 190 he became consul, and in the following year received from the emperor Commodus  (successor to Marcus Aurelius) the command of the legions in Pannonia. In 193, the troops proclaimed Severus Emperor. The former emperor, Didius Iulianus,  was condemned to death by the Senate and killed, and Severus took possession of  Rome without opposition.Starting from 208 Severus undertook a number of military actions in defence of  Roman Britain against barbarian incursions and started the reconstruction of Hadrian's Wall before falling ill in Eburacum (today’s York). He died there on 4 February 211. Upon his death, Severus was deified by the Senate and succeeded by his two sons, Caracalla and Geta. The stability he had achieved for the Empire was soon lost.

• Activities 5, 6 and 7: Open answers

Read in detail

• Activity 1
  Open answers

• Activity 2
  See lines 13 - 30

• Activity 3
  See lines 61 – 70 and 110 – 116

• Activity 4
  Accept any choices adequately supported with textual evidence.

• Activity 5
  Words such as invisibilis, Illa Bella Negreeta, expedition, Improbe amor, quid non mortalia pectoral, etc. contrasts with guy, snog, bloody harpy, wolf-whitsle, chicks, Mops, Pops, taboo language and explicit references to sex. The effect is humorous, but it also throws light on the fact that Zuleika’s feelings, dreams and conflicts are as strong today as they must have been in the days of the Roman Empire.

• Activity 6                                                                                  
  The description of the harpist in a pastel-pink micro mini clashes with her 'Vestal Virgin' expression. Zuleika looks like a 'water nymph' wearing a 'silver Valentino'. Again, this double temporal perspective points to what the world of the past and the reader’s world have in common, to the way in which love, greed, prejudice, jealousy and other human emotions remain unaltered through time.

After reading

• Activity 1
  Open answers

• Activity 2
  This is the opening poem in section VII. The book has a total of X sections and an epilogue. Unfortunately, when Zuleika feels she can finally achieve happiness, the Emperor dies. Zuleika’s husband leaves for York to attend the funeral, locks her up and has her poisoned gradually with 'arsenicum hidden in spicy sauces'.

Extension

• Activity 1 and 2: Open answers