Classical Mythology

I love mythology. From the time I heard my very first myth, I was hooked. I read every book on myths that our little neighborhood library had. I asked for others as gifts when all my friends were begging for Candie's shoes and Bonne Bell lip smackers. My very first elective in college was "Classical Mythology", taught by a professor from Athens!

Of course I knew as soon as I agreed to teach a high school class in Ancient World Studies, I was going to do my very best to ignite a passion in my students for the myths I hold so dearly. I designed the class as an English driven history study. I abhor textbooks, on the whole, but realize that the students needs some point of reference. I wanted to allow them to opportunity to research and write a great deal about topics that interest them within the historical context, and then teach each other.

That self-driven framework, loosely based around the book "A Short History of the World" by Alex Woolf, was an ideal fit to focus much of my instruction on writing skills and projects. I allowed the students to use the timeline as their guide, and let them run with their interests. It's been need to see the diversity of essay topics as we progress through ancient time.

It has also given me a great opportunity to share mythology of many ancient cultures. The kids were ripe for it! We explored the myths of ancient Egypt and Babylon. We did a great exercise to compare/contract the flood story in the Epic of Gilgamesh to the biblical story of the Great Flood found in Genesis. As we progressed through time, we focused not only on the historical event, but the common themes of the mythology of the culture we were studying.

I was thrilled that by the time we reached ancient greece, the class was as excited to learn about the classical myths as I was to teach them. They voted early on to take on extra reading at home to prepare for the National Mythology Exam at the end of this month. Sponsored by the American Classical League, we started with their recommended books "DAulaire's book of Greek Myths," and "Myths of Greece and Rome" by Guerber, but moved quickly to the more age appropriate offerings by Edith Hamilton and some online sources.

THe kids passion has been exciting as a teacher. Each week, they have not only done their additional work, but they clamour through the class so that we can have some time to play "Myth-ardy" (based on Jeopardy). We had a day of myth telling, where the students took the role of story teller to share a myth with the class. They've written and researched essays on various gods. They jumped into the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series, and are sharing books constantly.

***I read them all myself, and highly recommend them. They are quite entertaining, at an easy reading level, but give the reader a wonderful introduction to the myths, their major and minor players. These are not brain twinkies--all fluff and no substance. It liken them to chocolate zucchini cupcakes...the kids are still getting some veggies they can't even taste mixed in with the sweetness!

This week was the kicker, though. We were beginning the Iliad by Homer. There are so many translations of this masterful work. I know many opt for one of the narrative choices, but I am a purest. Homer wrote an epic poem, and the best way to experience the Iliad is by reading the poetic version. I chose Lombardo's translation, but worried when many of the kids came in groaning (A four hundred page poem!!!!) . This is a class of 13-15 year olds, and I worried that they may balk under the challenge.

I introduced the book, the historical context leading up to the story, and then asked them to listen. I read Chapter One aloud in class, dramatically. After twenty minutes, they were hooked!

For the next month, we will be analyzing and discussing it each week as they read through, culminating in the end with a few written essay response questions. Their enthusiasm has certainly made this my favorite class to teach!