Live from Ancient Olympia!IntroductionIf television had existed in the time of the ancient Greek athletes Milo of Kroton, Diagoras of Rhodes, Melankomas of Caria, Polydamas of Skotoussa, and Theagenes of Thasos, no doubt their triumphs in the ancient Olympic Games would have been the subject of numerous live broadcast interviews. In this lesson, students will have an opportunity to develop such "live interviews" with ancient athletes; working in small groups, they will produce a script based on the results of their research and they will perform the interview for other students in the class.To prepare meaningful scripts of questions and responses for their interviewers and athletes, student groups will draw upon resources of an online exhibit, "The Ancient Olympics" , developed for the EDSITEment-reviewed Perseus Project. Designed especially for students, this exhibit includes sections on ancient and modern sports, the site of Olympia as it looks today, the cultural and historical context of the Games, and athletes who were famous in ancient times. Whether they access the site themselves or are provided with reprints by their teacher, students will find ample resources on "The Ancient Olympics" with which to construct interviews that reflect their understanding of some of the values and beliefs underlying the ancient Olympic Games. This lesson can be taught either by itself or in conjunction with the more extensive lesson unit, "It Came From Greek Mythology" , which offers several activities for teaching about the mythology of ancient Greece and Rome, as well as the ancient concept of the hero. Although designed for students in grades 3 through 5, much of "It Came From Greek Mythology" is adaptable for older students, and serves as a useful compendium of EDSITEment resources on Greek mythology and culture.
1 ��
Introduce students to the cultural context of the ancient Olympic Games. Point
out that the ancient, unlike the modern, Olympiad was a religious festival. Draw
on the online essay, "The
Greek City-States and the Religious Festival," for images and text that will
help you introduce students to the religious aspects of the ancient Olympics (the
essay is part of "The Ancient
Olympics" exhibit). Tell students how Olympia, the setting of the ancient
Games, was home to the Altis, the great Sanctuary of Zeus, and how the worship
of the gods was an integral part of the ancient Olympic Games. You can make such
details more vivid by showing students photographs of the physical remains of
ancient Olympia, which is permeated by reminders of the gods; these images can
be viewed as part of "Tour
Olympia," also part of the online Olympics exhibit at the Perseus
Project. You can find links to illustrations of and texts about Greek gods
and goddesses, including Zeus, listed in the lesson plan "It
Came From Greek Mythology." As you present new material on the ancient Olympics, ask students to discuss differences or similarities with the modern Olympic games (a discussion which is aided by the general emphasis of the exhibit on comparing the ancient and modern Games). For example, you will read that champions received a crown of wild olive leaves that honored them, their family, and their city. Ask students how such prizes and compare with the rewards for Olympic athletes today. You can find a section devoted to modern-day Olympic Heroes on the official site of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), a link from the EDSITEment-reviewed Internet Public Library. 2 �� Divide the class into small groups, providing each group with copies of one of the "Athletes' stories" from the Perseus Project exhibit. Tell students that each group will designate one student to play the part of their assigned athlete, and another to play an imaginary journalist who will interview that athlete for a "live television audience." As a group, they will write a brief script telling other students who that athlete is and what his* experience can tell us about the beliefs and values reflected in the ancient Olympics (designate a third student, someone other than the athlete and the interviewer, to transcribe the groups' ideas). At the end of the class period, each pair (interviewer and athlete) will perform their scripted interview for the rest of the class. A prize--perhaps the nearest equivalent of a crown of wild olive--will be awarded according to the vote of the entire polis (the whole class). (*Only men competed in the ancient Olympics.) Also at the outset of this activity, tell students that interviews should be brief, no more than five minutes, and should reflect what they have learned about the values and beliefs that were important to the ancient Olympic Games. While students cannot change the basic facts of an athlete's life (invent medals or honors or change the dates of birth and death, etc.), they may invent minor personal details that are consistent with the circumstances of ancient Greece and with what we know about the athlete's life. Note: As always, you should thoroughly review all material before distributing it to classes or sending students to websites. Ancient Greek athletes competed in the nude, as is reflected in some of the illustrations on the online Olympics exhibit of the Perseus Project. 3 ��span class="content">Give each group time to read through its assigned story. Next, provide students with "Write a Script!", a handout of questions and guidelines, available here as a downloadable pdf file. If each student group has access to the online exhibit, it will be able to research answers on its own. If this is not the case, students will need to be provided with reprints. (For example, to answer question #1, students will need to be familiar with some of the images provided in the "Tour of Olympia.") The questions on the handout are just a guide, and students may, when they write their scripts, invent questions besides those suggested in the handout. They may also ask the questions in any order they like. The idea here is to be creative and to develop a portrait of an ancient athlete that reflects some of the values and beliefs of the ancient Olympic Games. Students may need additional help to answer some of the items, especially if they do not have direct online access to the Perseus exhibit. Some resources you may wish to share with them are
4 �� Have each student group perform its interview for the class. To help students remember them, write the names of athletes being interviewed on the board (use the resources of Perseus for help in coming up with imagined names for interviewers. After each group's interview is over, have the interviewer say, "Now let's take some questions from our audience." At this stage, anyone in the group, not just the person playing the athlete, can answer questions from other students. After all the interviews are over, return to the subject of ancient versus modern Olympic Games, and discuss with students some of the differences that emerged in this exercise. Did anyone, for example, treat the aspect of religious worship that was so much a part of the ancient Games? You might want to create two columns on the board, juxtaposing ancient and modern Olympic elements. Further background for you and your students is available on "The Context of the Games and the Olympic Spirit." Extending the Lesson
Other InformationStandards Alignment
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