The Iliad

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. What is a myth? What roles do myths play in our society? What is a retelling of a myth?

Teaching Suggestion: Encourage students to think beyond myths as “cool stories” and to think critically about what they might reflect about a culture. This can also lead to a conversation about the role of retellings.

• “What is a Myth?” is an article on the companion website for the PBS series In Search of Myths & Heroes. The article discusses what a myth is and what myths have typically reflected. Links within the article point to additional resources.
• Xo Orpheus includes 50 retellings of classic myths that can be used to discuss what constitutes a retelling.

2. What does “oral tradition” mean? In what context have you heard this phrase?

Teaching Suggestion: Part of the experience of reading The Iliad is knowing that Troy will fall, that Achilles will ultimately die, and that Odysseus will take another ten years to return home to Ithaca. Encourage students to think about what it would be like to hear this story from a poet retelling it. This prompt also opens up conversations about authorship and who “Homer” is.

• The Iliad – Prelude to War – Extra Mythology #1 provides a useful introduction to the lead-up to the Trojan War.  

Short Activity: Telephone

In groups of 4 or 5, designate one person as the “storyteller.” That person should write down a 2-3 sentence story without showing the others. When the story is complete, sit in a circle, with the storyteller leaning to the person to their left and whispering their short story into that person’s ear. The listener should then whisper what they heard into the ear of the person next to them. Repeat this process until the storyteller hears the story from the last person in the group. The storyteller should then repeat for everyone the story they wrote down.

After the activity, discuss the following questions as a whole class:

• What was it like? What stayed the same? What changed about the story?
• How might this be like hearing a story from a poet?
• What does this activity tell us about how stories can change over time?

Teaching Suggestion: Students will likely be familiar with telephone, so encourage them to apply their experiences with this game to their understanding of what an oral tradition is.

• Icebreaker Ideas has sample sentences for Telephone.

Differentiation Suggestion: For students who are hard of hearing, this activity can be done by drawing, based roughly on the game Telestrations. Students should work in groups of 4. Each student should get a stapled packet of 4 numbered pages and a random object or activity to draw. They should then draw their item or activity and flip the page to the next sheet. After 30 seconds, they should pass it to the next person who looks back at the first page, then guesses. After 30 more seconds, that person should flip the page. The third person should look back at page 2 (where the previous person wrote their guess) and draw that item or activity. Finally, the fourth person should turn to page 4 and make their guess about what the item or activity is on page 3 before handing the packet back to its original owner. Students should continue alternating guessing and drawing until the packet returns to its original owner. Students should then flip through and show how their original contribution changed over the activity.

Personal Connection Prompt

This prompt can be used for in-class discussion, exploratory free-writing, or reflection homework before reading the story.

Do you believe in destiny? Would you do anything differently if you knew what your fate was? Would you want to know your fate?

Teaching Suggestion: Fate plays a major role in the decisions of the characters, particularly Achilles. Encourage students to reflect in ways that will help prepare them for study of this aspect of The Iliad.

Differentiation Suggestion: For English language learners, an alternative approach would be to have them write a list of the pros and cons of knowing what their fate is.