GCSE Ancient History: Are there prescribed sources for The Persian Empire and The Foundations of Rome period studies?

The Persian Empire and The Foundations of Rome period studies do not have prescribed sources that you must study with you students. 

When designing the two GCSE Ancient History period studies we deliberately decided not to have prescribed sources.  This was done for a number of reasons, the main one was to make sure that these period studies could be taught in the available time. Due to the time frames that the period studies cover we felt that it would result in too much content to be covered if the traditional approach of studying everything from ancient sources was adopted. Therefore students need to be taught about the content as listed within the specification and what the sources say happened.

It is worth noting that especially in the Roman longer period study, you will need to consider what we can actually learn from the material available about the history of the foundations of Rome (linking into the fourth sub-theme within this study looking at separating myth and reality).  However in order to do this you may refer to particular extracts or exciting stories told by Livy in the Roman longer period study or extracts from Herodotus or Persian inscriptions for the Persian period study, but this doesn't need to be done throughout all the course - only where you think it is necessary.  

To help support teachers, we have produced planning guides. The Persian Empire and The Foundations of Rome planning guides contain references to where you can find information in the ancient sources about the events that need to be studied.  We have also indicated in these documents potential sources which we think it would be beneficial to study with your students.