LESSON MODULE on ANCIENT GREECE
By Nicholas Dollak
Dr. Jack Pesda
“The Glory of Greece”/Ancient Greece
December 2, 2000
LESSON: Literature: Students will create their own “Greek-style” myth.
GRADE LEVEL: Middle school (6th – 8th grades), but can be adapted for younger or older students. As far as “classified” students go, that really depends on their abilities. I’ve taught “special ed” students who were more organized and displayed more intelligence than most “mainstream” students, and who could do this assignment with ease. I’ve also dealt with high-school-age “mainstream” students who would waste an entire period ranting about child-labor laws or sitting in the principal’s office instead of just doing the assignment! (Can they do the work? They have not demonstrated such abilities.)
OBJECTIVE: Students will learn basic information about Greek mythology, its place in Greek culture and how it has influenced our own culture. They will read some representative samples of myths. Then they will create and illustrate their own “Greek-style” myths, based on one of the three categories covered (Creation / Origin; Pre-Trojan; Post-Trojan) and read them aloud in class.
This lesson should take one or two weeks to complete, depending on the time available and the students’ abilities.
MATERIALS NEEDED: I’ve included a number of handouts to be distributed and discussed. Students will also need copies of Edith Hamilton’s Mythology (©1940 and onward, ‘til the end of time) or several good children’s adaptations (such as can be found in Greek Myths, ©1993 by Geraldine McCaughrean, illus. By Emma Chichester Clark) of the following stories:
• Prometheus Steals Fire from the Gods
• Pandora’s Box
• Midas
• Perseus
• Atalanta
• Theseus and the Minotaur
• The Odyssey
• If there are two weeks available, the class could watch Clash of the Titans (1981, two hours). This is not only a very good adaptation of the Perseus story, but it demonstrates many of the aspects of Greek heroic myths (divine intervention / retribution; the personality of Zeus; the hero’s quest). Andromeda is updated to be more active, which is a good thing (although she doesn’t get to do much); and Perseus displays a resourcefulness and nobility of character sadly lacking in most action movies these days. Also, Ray Harryhausen’s special effects are still quite good in many instances – and the movie really is a lot of fun to watch!
The final assignment will require lined paper, pencils and pens, drawing paper and coloring material, and of course good ol’ imagination (most important!).
If the gods wish it, we might be able to arrange to have Theseus as a guest speaker, or get the Muse Calliope to come in and give the students a little pep talk.
Handout #1
WHAT ARE THE GREEK MYTHS?
Simply put, a myth is a story which is not factual but which may contain a grain of truth within it. Myths are those stories that define a culture and influence the way its members think, feel and behave. The Greek myths are stories created by the people who lived in the country of Greece in ancient times. The stories are very old – nobody really knows exactly how old – and were originally told instead of written down. The oldest known example of a written myth dates from about 750 BC – about 2,750 years ago! And the man who wrote it, a storyteller named Homer, was not the first one to tell the story. That particular story, The Iliad, may be at least 500 years older than Homer!
Myths served many purposes, and the storytellers were considered to be among the most important people in town (or in the country, or in the village). There was no television back then, certainly no video games or movies, no radio – not even books, for the most part! Most people could not read or write. Back then, though, most writing was merely business records – keeping track of what was sold. It took a long time before writing came to represent language, and even longer for people to start using writing to record their favorite stories. So the storytellers, for thousands of years, were a chief source of entertainment. They would tell their stories, usually in the form of poems, to everyone who wanted to hear them. Poor people and rich people alike enjoyed hearing tales of where the flowers came from, or how a man rode a flying horse and slew a terrible dragon, or how their forefathers fought against another country and won. The myths told people how things began, or how men should behave, or how cleverness and resourcefulness can be a powerful weapon against bullies. And, unlike TV reruns, people listened to the same stories over and over, for a tale well-told never grows old.
Did the Ancient Greeks think the myths were true? That is a difficult question to answer, because we have to keep in mind that truth and fact are not always the same thing, there were many kinds of Greeks, and the stories were told and re-told over the centuries, during which there were many changes in how people think. We have no information on whether the “average” Greek ever truly believed that the Sun was actually a flaming chariot driven by Apollo, or if the idea of Apollo’s chariot simply gave some meaning to everyday life, in the absence of a more scientific explanation of what the Sun is. What we do know is that enough Greeks loved and respected the myths to keep them alive, and now we can enjoy them today.
The myths were so respected, in fact, that the hero stories came to be regarded as part of the national history, called the “Heroic Age.” This was a romantic vision of the Glorious Past – sort of like the picture of Washington crossing the Delaware, in which the father of our country is shown standing in the bow (Very dangerous!) and looking properly heroic, with the (inaccurate) flag flying behind him. (It looks better than a picture of Washington crouching low and sneaking across in the darkness, hoping he doesn’t get spotted by the British troops.) Royal families would often boast of connections with the Heroic Age by claiming that certain famous heroes (such as Herakles or Theseus) were their ancestors, or by finding old Mycenæan tombs (which predated the Trojan War and so belonged to the Heroic Age) and burying their dead in them, or by publicly offering religious sacrifices at places associated with mythological heroes.
Handout #2
The Ancient Greeks were the great myth-makers of Europe. They even gave us the name by which we refer today to the amazing stories told about gods, heroes, men and animals. Around 400 BC the Athenian philosopher Plato coined the word mythologia in order to distinguish between imaginative accounts of divine actions and factual descriptions of events, supernatural or otherwise.
As Greeks living before and after Plato evidently understood, myths were fictitious stories that illustrated truth.
– The Encyclopedia of Mythology, Arthur Cotterell, ©1996
One important thing to remember is that myths are still with us today. They are alive and well. They continue to be told and re-told, and new myths are born all the time. Hercules lives on in a TV series. Star Wars, Star Trek, and The X-Files are all examples of modern myths. Sometimes a “new” story we hear or movie we see is actually a very updated retelling of an ancient myth.
When myths are re-told or updated, they mutate. The oldest known stories of Herakles (Hercules) are about a man who is very strong but unbelievably thoughtless and cruel. Over the centuries, he was made more sympathetic, and his story was refined into a coherent saga. In his current TV incarnation, he’s no less muscular and ready for action, but he’s sensitive, polite and intelligent as well! Is the new version wrong? Is it unfaithful to the original? I say no, and I’ll tell you why: We don’t know which story is the “original,” because the stories were told for centuries before anyone wrote them down. Also, Herakles has always been regarded as a hero and a symbol of the glory of Greece. His behavior in the stories reflects how people thought a strong hero should behave. It is only fitting that in our retelling of his myth, he should reflect 20th Century attitudes of heroism.
… The world is a confusing and contradictory place, and it would be nice to know that there’s some sort of structure holding it all together – be it black-clad men, a guy in a blue and red suit, a man in a starship representing a vision of the future in which we are harmonious, or a divine being overseeing the entire mess.
And as for me, all I can think of is that 6-year-old Ariel looked a little disappointed as they rolled the closing credits for [Disney’s] Hercules. I said, “What’s wrong, honey?” And she looked up, a bit confused, and said, “Why wasn’t Xena in it?”
And so the legend continues.
– Peter David, “But I Digress,” printed August 22, 1997
Here’s a brief rundown of the sort of characters you’ll find in Greek mythology, from the earliest to the most recent.
Ouranos and Gaea: The Sky and the Earth, respectively. There is no story of their origin; they are supposed to have always existed.
The First Creatures: Three of these were giants with fifty heads and a hundred hands. Along with some other gigantic monsters (whose description I don’t have), they shaped the earth into hills, mountains, rivers and seas. Three other giants were the Cyclopes, who each had a single eye in their heads. (In later stories, there are a lot more Cyclopes.) All of these monsters were the children of Ouranos and Gaea.
The Titans: Other powerful giants, also born from Ouranos and Gaea. These included Kronos (the oldest) and Prometheus (who would later help mankind in many ways). Kronos seized control of the universe by wounding or killing his father Ouranos. From his father’s blood sprang a race of smaller giants and the Erinyes, or Furies, whose job it is to punish sinners. With the help of the other Titans, Kronos killed all the lesser giants. He then proceeded to rule the universe with his sister / wife Rhea.
The Gods: These are divided into two sets: the Olympians and the Lesser Gods. The Olympians are twelve in number and live on Mount Olympus; the others live elsewhere. The first five of the Twelve Olympians were eaten at birth by their father Kronos, who feared that a child of his might overthrow him as he had his own father. Rhea saved the sixth, Zeus, by hiding him on the island of Crete and feeding Kronos a stone wrapped in cloth instead. Later, when Zeus was old enough, he fed Kronos some bitter-tasting substance that made him vomit up first the stone, then his five siblings. Together, and with some help from some of the First Creatures, these gods defeated Kronos and his allies and took over. The Twelve Olympians are as follows: Zeus (the king), Poseidon (god of the sea), Hades (god of the Underworld), Hestia (goddess of home & hearth), Hera (the queen), Ares (god of war), Athena (goddess of wisdom, war & crafts), Apollo (the sun god), Aphrodite (goddess of love), Hermes (the messenger), Artemis (goddess of the hunt and the moon) and Hephæstus (god of the forge). The Lesser Gods are too numerous to list here, but the most well-known are Eros (the Greek Cupid!), the Three Graces, the Nine Muses, Morpheus (god of dreams), Pan (god of the forests), Dionysos (god of wine) and Æolus (god of the winds).
Spirits of Earth and Air: The forests were filled with maidenly nymphs, who were sort of spirits who represented certain things: the Oreads (nymphs of the mountains), the Dryads (nymphs of the trees) and the Naiads (nymphs of the streams), to name a few.
The Monsters: These are numerous, and they nearly always represent discord, disorder or fear of the unknown. With the sole exceptions of Pegasus, the winged horse, and Chiron, the wise Centaur, there were no good monsters in Greek mythology. Monsters were at best trouble, at worst something to be destroyed. They are nearly always combinations of existing creatures, fused together in some strange horrible way.
Satyrs: looked like men, but with goats’ legs and horns. The good god Pan looked like a satyr; both he and the satyrs were notorious for chasing women.
Centaurs: looked like horses, but where the heads should be they were men from the waist up. They were good archers, but liked to get drunk, chase women and fight.
Sirens: sometimes described as mermaids, but also described as birds with women’s heads. They would sing sweetly to passing ships, causing the sailors to get distracted and crash on the rocks. Then the sirens would eat them.
Gorgons: three sisters, once very beautiful, who were turned into horrible monsters for offending the gods. They had scaly skin, bronze wings, and hissing snakes for hair. They were so ugly that anyone who looked them in the face would turn to stone. The hero Perseus cut off the head of Medusa, the only gorgon who wasn’t immortal, with the help of a sharp sword and a mirrored shield, in which he could see her reflection.
The Chimæra: a fire-breathing dragon with three heads. It looked like a lion, but had the hind legs of a goat and a goat’s head protruding from its back; its tail was a serpent. It was killed by the early hero Bellerophon, who got the drop on it with the help of the winged horse Pegasus. Unfortunately, Bellerophon thought this gave him the right to keep Pegasus forever, and Zeus struck him down for his pridefulness.
The Minotaur: The son of Pasiphæ, Queen of Crete, and a prize bull, the Minotaur was a man with a bull’s head and an appetite for human flesh. He was finally killed by Theseus.
The Hydra: a giant, multi-headed water serpent killed by Herakles. Each time he cut off one of its heads, two or three more grew back in its place. Finally, he added a torch to his arsenal and burned the stumps to prevent re-growth.
The Sphinx: It had the body of a lion, the wings of an eagle and the head of a woman. She plagued the city of Thebes, devouring anyone who tried to leave or enter without answering her riddle. Finally Œdipus answered her riddle correctly. The Sphinx, being a sore loser, killed herself.
Cerberus: the original dog to beware of. This was a large, three-headed dog which guarded the gates of the Underworld. He let dead souls enter, but would attack them if they tried to leave.
Amazons: These are not monstrous to us; they were a race of warrior women. However, to Greek men, who preferred women to be docile and subservient, Amazons seemed pretty frightening.
And there were a number of dragons, sea serpents, wild boars and wild bulls as well.
Demigods: From time to time, a god or goddess, usually Zeus, would fall in love with a mortal. Children resulting from this were considered demigods, or half-gods. They were usually immortal, possessed awesome powers and were heroes.
Mortals: Not all heroes were demigods. Some, like Odysseus, were ordinary folks like you or me. In Greek myths, most women were merely housewives; but some were queens, some were loved by Zeus, and at least one, Atalanta, was a heroine who could outdo most men at almost anything!
However, most of the heroes in the myths were men. Usually, they were kings or princes. These kings didn’t live in huge castles or spend their days sitting on thrones like kings of the Middle Ages did. The most powerful of them lived in houses about as large as a big suburban house, and even then they didn’t have a lot of “stuff” cluttering up their lives. In fact, since nearly everyone had to provide their own food, even kings had to work on their own farms once in a while! They were more like “gentlemen farmers” than the absolute monarchs of nearby Persia and the Roman emperors to come later.
Wars broke out frequently. Usually these were short fights, but some of them dragged on for weeks, months or even years. Originally, interestingly enough, the soldiers were all noblemen. That’s because the wars were usually personal disputes between royal households, and because weapons and armor were so expensive. The heroes in Homer’s Iliad fight to demonstrate their “heroic manliness.” By the time Greece became an empire and could afford to arm its citizens in large numbers, it was felt, the Age of Heroes was long over. Monuments were erected to honor men who died in battle, but nobody made myths about them anymore. Heroic poems were written about athletes who won in the Olympic Games, but the closest we get to myths about them are some tall tales about Milo and Phayllus of Croton: Milo was a wrestler who won at six Olympic Games and had a voracious appetite; supposedly he ate an impossible forty pounds of meat and bread at a sitting and washed it down with eight quarts of wine, and paraded around the stadium with a bull on his shoulders, which he then slaughtered and ate. Phayllus is credited with doing a triple long-jump totaling 55 feet, a distance never equaled until the 1960s; since athletes in Ancient Greece were not professionals, and were generally shorter than today’s, this amazing long-jump seems unlikely.
What made a man a hero, according to Greek mythology? Much of that depends on your audience. As I mentioned in handout #2, the Herakles myth evolved over the centuries from a story about a strong brute to a story about a strong gentleman. We would find the “original” Herakles to be seriously psychotic; likewise, the people who first heard the Herakles stories would find today’s TV version to be intolerably clean-cut, sober and, well… nice. Most heroes were of noble blood, and thus commanded respect from the get-go. They would never think of stealing another man’s wife; anyone who did that was a villain. However, they did not regard women as equals, and thought nothing of taking women as trophies in battle or selling them as slaves. Many heroes were somehow favored by a god or goddess, blessed with immortality, invulnerability, magic weapons or great strength. But some were simply very resourceful, like Bellerophon or Odysseus. And some were what are called “tragic heroes,” doing what they think is the right thing to do, but unable to escape the unpleasant fates that await them. Tragic heroes are found mostly in the plays about the royal families, which we won’t be covering in this lesson.
Were there any child heroes? Yes, but usually they went on to become adult heroes, so their childhood heroics were just a prelude for later, greater deeds. Sadly, most stories about youthful antics are cautionary tales that end with the death of the young hot-shot. There’s Phæton, son of Apollo, who went joy-riding in his father’s sun-chariot and nearly burned the world up because he couldn’t control it. Zeus had to kill him with a lightning-bolt in order to stop the mayhem. And there’s Icarus, son of the great inventor Dædalus; they escaped from Crete using wings his father invented. But as they flew over the sea toward home, Icarus forgot his father’s warning to stay nearby and flew too close to the sun. The wax holding his wings together melted, they fell apart, and poor Icarus plummeted to his death. The moral of these stories? When Mom & Dad give you instructions, it’s for your own good, and you’d better heed them.
What about old heroes? Usually, a hero’s story ends while he’s still in the prime of life. Either he dies in action, or he marries the girl and lives happily ever after in a sort of retirement. There’s the seed of a great idea there, though, one that would make a fine myth: an aging hero who does one last heroic deed; or an old man or woman who, through a simple or clever act, accomplishes what a brash young heroic-type cannot. I know of no Greek myths that follow these lines of thought; but there seems to be no reason for such stories not to have been told.
Handout #4
For the purposes of this assignment, I’ve classified some of the Greek myths into three different categories. There are other myths, ones that do not fall neatly into these categories, but I’ve decided not to go into those at this time. Edith Hamilton did an excellent and more thorough job of this in her Mythology; I’ve merely used her research as a means of creating the tidy little chart below.
When you write your myth, please decide which category you would put it into: Creation / Origin, Pre-Trojan or Post-Trojan.
Prometheus, Pandora, Perseus, Atalanta, Odysseus*
Midas, Narcissus Theseus
Main characters are usually First human heroes. VERY human
divine (cosmic forces, titans, They are usually demi- hero! Receives
gods), or just not human. gods, and “magic” plays little or no help
Human characters are usually a part in their success. from the gods.
not heroes. they often have lofty Relies on wits.
goals. Very simple
goals.
Hints: Choose a plant, animal Hint: Give your hero an Hint: Think of
or other natural thing with an obstacle or goal. Hero Jaws or Jurassic
interesting characteristic. must be resourceful, but Park: Who saves
How did it get this way? may need help from a the day? The old
Is the characteristic a god or goddess. It’s up sailor? The shark
punishment? A reward? to the hero to use the expert? The rich
Or, you could teach a help properly. man in charge?
human character a lesson No! It’s the
in morality or good sense. ordinary guy
who uses his
noodle.
Handout #7
MYTH!
Using what you’ve learned about Greek mythology this week, and with some help of your good ol’ imagination, create your own story in the style of a Greek myth.
Be sure to choose a category for your story to belong to: Creation / Origin, Pre-Trojan or Post-Trojan. This will help you keep focus, so the story doesn’t become a mish-mosh.
Your story may be only two pages long, or it may be a ten-page epic. It’s up to you! Remember, it must have a beginning, middle and end.
Because it is in the Greek style, your characters must have Greek-style names. Feel free to take names from the mythology books. I don’t want to see names like Joe or Picachu or Nickolai in your story, unless there’s a very, VERY good reason for it! Also, keep in mind that the Ancient Greeks knew only of Greece, the water and islands around them, the land to their immediate north and east (Macedonia and Persia) and the northeast coast of Africa (Libya and Egypt). They did not know much of Italy, since the water in that direction was controlled by the Carthaginians (of Libya); and they certainly did not know of northern Europe, Asia, India, Australia or the Americas. (They also did not celebrate Christmas, Hanukkah or Kwanzaa.)
If you have questions, please consult the handouts first, then ask me if you still have a question. It is better to ask a question and do the job correctly, than to wing it and mess it up.
WHEN YOU ARE DONE: Please draw at least one full-page illustration for your story, preferably in color, on a separate sheet of paper. Be sure to sign your work!
Stories and pictures will be presented orally in class on Friday. Good luck, and may the gods grant you favor in your task! J
Handout #5
Map of Ancient Greece
Sources
Cotterell, Arthur. The Encyclopedia of Mythology, ©1996 by Anness Publishing Ltd.
David, Peter. “But I Digress,” editorial column on the heroic motif printed in the Comics Buyer’s Guide, August 22, 1997
Dollak, Stefan. Answers to questions I posed to him; he took a college course on Greek history and Classical Mythology. Not much in the way of new data, but he furnished an interesting perspective.
Frost, Frank J. Greek Society, ©1997 by the Houghton Mifflin Co.
Hamilton, Edith. Mythology, ©1942 by Little, Brown & Co. Illustrations by Steele Savage (I kid you not).
Kebric, Robert B. Greek People, ©2001 by the Mayfield Publishing Co.
McCaughrean, Geraldine. Greek Myths, ©1993 by Margaret K. McElderry Books, New York. Illustrations by Emma Chichester Clark.
McInerney, Jeremy. “Homer’s Heroes as Models of Male Behavior in Ancient Greece,” lecture given October 11, 2000.
Dr. Pesda, Jack. Lecture series The Glory of Greece, September – December 2000.
Handout #6
This handout isn’t vital to your completing the assignment; I just found it to be an interesting side-item. It also helps give an idea of how old the myths were before they were written down. The dates for the fall of the Mycenæan and Minoan civilizations and the Trojan War are based on archaeological findings; the Greeks gave no exact dates for anything. Keep in mind that all dates are approximate!
When the stories are said to have taken place
BC
1900 1800 1700 1600 1500 1400 1300 1200 1100 1000
|
1400 – 1200 Widespread destruction of sites on Crete and in Greece. |
1250 – Trojan War. |
Perseus & Andromeda Atalanta Jason & the Herakles, The Iliad The Odyssey
(Their son Electryon becomes (Her son Argonauts Theseus,
Herakles’ grandfather!) Parthenopæus Dædalus
Fights against
Thebes in 1300)
When they were written down (oldest known copies)
BC AD
1000 900 800 700 600 500 400 300 200 100 100 200
|
750 –Iliad &Odyssey (Homer) |
Atalanta (Hesiod) |
Herakles (Euripedes, Sophocles, Pindar) |
|
Theseus (Ovid & Plutarch) |
|
Further factoids: The oldest known copy of the anonymous Sumerian epic Gilgamesh dates from 2,500 BC. Some 1,750 years later, in 750 BC, Homer wrote the Iliad and the Odyssey. Some 1,750 years later, in 1000 AD, the oldest known copy of the anonymous Saxon epic Beowulf was written!
* Bellerophon and Dædalus also fit into this category, even though they predate the Trojan War.
