Black Ships Before Troy

Use these questions or activities to help gauge students’ familiarity with and spark their interest in the context of the work, giving them an entry point into the text itself.

Short Answer

1. List the names of any Greek gods or goddesses that you know--or, if you know them by their Roman names, list those. What kinds of ideas come to mind when you think of the Ancient Greek gods, goddesses, and religion?

Teaching Suggestion and Helpful Links: As students share their knowledge and ideas about ancient Greek religion, clarify for them the Greek names and identities of the gods and goddesses who will be important in Black Ships Before Troy: Athene, Eris, Hera, Aphrodite, and Zeus. Offer students some insight into the importance of religion in Ancient Greece and how religion influenced ideas about The Roles of Mortal Women and Female Goddesses, The Importance of Honor, and Hubris: The Fatal Flaw.

• The Theoi Project’s introduction to the twelve Olympian gods.
• A National Geographic video that explains the central role that religion played in Ancient Greek life.

2. People who lived in Ancient Greece had very specific ideas about what makes a person a hero. Can you guess one or two differences between the way the Ancient Greeks thought of heroes and the way we think of heroes today?

Teaching Suggestion and Helpful Links: As students discuss their guesses about how heroes might have been seen differently in Ancient Greece, share an accurate description of beliefs about heroes in this time and place. Explain the heroic code and how beliefs about heroes were linked to The Importance of Honor, and Hubris: The Fatal Flaw. Introduce students to the particular heroes that will be important in Black Ships Before Troy: Paris, Odysseus, Hector, and Achilles.   

• An essay by Homer scholar Gregory Nagy on “Heroes and the Homeric Iliad.”
• An essay by N. De Carteret of Elizabeth College, discussing the heroic code and evaluating the heroes of the Iliad against this standard.

Short Activity

People in Ancient Greece lived lives that were very different from modern lives in some ways, and very similar in other ways. One of the things that was very different was the role of women. Use the information from The Penn Museum and History for Kids to help you understand how Ancient Greek women’s lives differed from modern Western women’s lives. Then, choose three typical moments in an Ancient Greek woman’s life to illustrate. Divide a piece of paper into three sections, and draw these three moments. Give each drawing a caption that tells what is happening.

Teaching Suggestion and Helpful Links: Ask students to share their drawings in small groups or by posting them where the whole class can look them over. Talk about how Ancient Greek women’s lives differed from modern Western women’s lives as well as what things were likely the same. Ask students to predict whether The Roles of Female Goddesses will be similar to or different from The Roles of Mortal Women.

• Students can see images of typical clothing of Ancient Greek women.
• Students can read a comparison of the lives of men and women in Ancient Greece.
• Students can watch a video about the Scythians, the real-life “Amazon” women.