Virtual Reality meets Classical Civilisation

On Monday 3 October, a mini-bus crammed full of enthusiastic Classics students in Year 11-13 travelled to Badminton School to listen to a talk hosted by the Classical Association on the role of Greek Oracles and the Virtual Reality Oracle (VRO)

This exciting new resource has been funded by the UK Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) and is led by Professor Esther Eidenow from the University of Bristol, in partnership with The University of Bath and Kings College London. It is the culmination of years of academic research with leading academics in the field of Classics, Psychology and Technology with the aim to help people in 21^st century understand the religious experience of the mystery cult at Dodona, centred around its sacred oak.

Our students learned about the stories of several pilgrims who visited the oracle of Zeus at Dodona in northwest Greece circa 465 BCE and how the archaeological research, such as the votive offerings and lead tablets with oracular questions found around the site have helped develop this new Virtual Reality experience. We discovered how these scholars have gone about reconstructing the experiences of visitors to Dodona and could sample the interactive experience using VR technology for ourselves. The creators have been at great pains to reconstruct the sounds and sights of the oracle, complete with aulos music and ensuring topographical accuracy. The talk brought to life the fears and concerns of people two and a half thousand years ago, many not so dissimilar to our own, although perhaps we are less likely to seeks answers via a sacred oak tree and its whispering branches. It was especially interesting to see that both women and slaves participated in this Mystery Cult, as we have relatively few primary sources from such groups of people.

In a week that highlighted ‘Different Learning Styles’, this talk certainly helped show how the ancient world can be brought alive via new technology and showed just how many different academic subjects Classical Civilisation touches upon, including ICT, Psychology, Geography, Music, Religion and Philosophy.

The talk was especially useful for students studying the Greek Religion module of A Level Classical Civilisation and Joely Baker in Year 13 commented that:

The Virtual Reality Oracle experience was rich with not only intellectual content that I know will prove useful for my Classics A Level studies, but a platform to discuss how modern day technology can be used to help us understand and interpret the ancient world on a vivid, substantial level. It was surprising to see how the team had managed to blend contemporary intellect so perfectly with ideas of the ancient world, and all the mysteries that still lie within it. While we still have so many questions to explore, the VRO experience uncovers a new side of Classical Civilisation – to discover what it was truly like to live amongst the gods, how much religion influenced their daily lives, all at the tips of our fingers and before our very own eyes.