Art and Greek Myth

Lesson Plan - Get It!

Audio:

Images create powerful and compelling stories.

Often, all you need is one snapshot to tell a complete story, especially if the audience is already familiar with the story.

Think for a moment about three of your favorite stories or movies of all time. Write down a description of an image that you would use to represent each. When you are done writing, consider the following questions.

• What is the summary of each story?
• Why did you choose the image that you did for each?
• How much prior knowledge of the story is needed for the image you selected to make sense?

Now try it in reverse. Take a look at the images below.

• Which of these images seem familiar to you?

Write a paragraph to summarize the story behind each of the images you recognize. Write down as much as you know about each story.

When you have finished, click below to reveal information about each image.

Compare your writing to what you just revealed and answer these questions.

• What information is actually contained in the image?
• What information about the image did you already know, and how much information did you need to know for the image to make sense?
• How can images like these make people feel like they belong to a group? Can you think of any examples?

People in the ancient world didn't have films to tell extended stories. They used other ways of telling stories, like epic poetry or theatrical drama. They used artistic images, including painting and sculpture, to trigger the movies in people's imaginations!

In the Got It? section, take a look at some mythic images and see how much information you can gather from them.