In some recent lessons, Miss Cohen introduced taught us how Pompeiians campaigned for leading positions in government. To our great joy, we were told that we would have an election campaign based on a Roman one, as would all the other Year 8 classes. As a class, we would be split up into groups to campaign for a particular candidate and then vote for who we thought would be best to fill the positions of either duovir or aedile of Pompeii. And so, for a whole 60 minutes, L14 would become Pompeii. The build-up to the event was spectacular. We were told we weren’t allowed monetary bribes, but small edible bribes were legal. We could make graffiti (just like the Pompeiians would have), posters and choose a backstory, personality and manifestos for one of the six candidates. We could even threaten Miss Cohen and the rest of the class (good-naturedly, of course) to vote for us. Of course, Miss Cohen had 30 votes of her own so that effort, not friends or sweets, decided the winner. On reflection, that approach made a lot of sense.

We spent the seven days we were allocated working hard, making eye-catching posters and graffiti with slogans (in Latin to secure those extra votes from Miss Cohen!) and coming up with reasonable threats and trying to add our own little unique thing to make our campaign efforts distinctive. The first group to go up to present were the group representing Vatia. They gave an excellent speech and some mouth-watering chocolate strawberries were handed out as bribes. Then went Verus and Secundus. Finally, it was our turn. We had to do this. For Proculus (our candidate), for Pompeii and for victory. We had come prepared. We had sweets galore and fake money to brandish. We had colourful posters, catchy slogans for graffiti and a vote-winning speech. We also threatened Miss Cohen to mark our work with red, not green, pen. We were bound to win, right? I mean, we had the most sweets, what else could the class wish for? But alas, in the end, our plebeian backers could not outweigh the votes of the patrician. Chocolate strawberries turned out to be Miss Cohen’s favourite food and it turns out even teachers can be bribed. After a week’s wait and some lobbying, Vatia was crowned the duovir for Pompeii.

However, winning is not everything. I got to enjoy the thrill of competition, trying to persuade my class, make posters, and eat tasty sugary foods. And I was able to learn about and campaign like a real Roman! My group and I had tried our best, learned a thing or two and had had a great time. We all stuck one of our fake coins on the fronts of our exercise books to remember an hour in Pompeii we would never forget.

Oh, and in next year’s elections, please do vote for Proculus!

Siddard (Year 8)