WELLINGTON School students joined thousands worldwide to celebrate classical literature in the European Iliad Reading.

Year Ten and sixth-form students studying Latin, Classical Civilisation or Greek gathered in the Chapel – some classically attired – to read Homer’s Iliad.

Across the world, thousands of students read Homer’s Iliad in public at the same time.

They read Iliad Book 16, a crucial turning point in the battle for Troy, featuring the deaths of the great hero Sarpedon, son of Zeus, and the Greek hero Patroklos, killed by Hektor.

The passages were full of the involvement of the gods, dramatic battle scenes and poignant deaths.

The students’ reading skilfully conveyed the contrast between the glory that a hero could win in battle, with the horror and suffering of war.