7 Hero Myths Explained | Engaging Mythology Guide for Middle and High School ELA

Not every hero is the same. Some are born to be heroic — like Perseus, while others are deeply flawed, yet they completed amazing feats, like Heracles, Bellerophon and Sisyphus. Teach seven myths of the hero from ancient Greek and Roman sources with your middle and high school English Language Arts students with our tested-in-the-classroom-five-week unit. Note — each lesson comes equipped with print or digital options: PDF and Google Workspace

SEVEN Myths of the Hero:

• Heracles — "The Original Strongman"
• The Story of Perseus — "The Argive Hero"
• Bellerophon and Pegasus — "The Flawed Hero"
  • with additional reading passages

• The Labors of Theseus — "The Attic Hero"
• Theseus and the Minotaur — A Story of Crete
• Jason "The Leader of the Argonauts"
• Atalanta "The Swift Runner"
• Orion — "The Hunter"
• The Trickster Hero Sisyphus — "The Original Rolling Stone"
• Achilles "Fated Hero"
• Bonus:
  • The Hero's Journey Anchor Chart
  • Unit Standards Alignment Chart

I recommend using the myths of the hero unit to teach the hero's journey, characteristics of the hero, fatal flaws, a bellerophonic letter, herculean strength — and more!

• On characteristics of the epic hero (and as a lead up to The Iliad, The Odyssey, or Gilgamesh.
• Use these resources as a stand-alone unit or pair it with Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief, Robert Graves's Greek Myths, Edith Hamilton's Mythology, or Bernard Evslin's Heroes, Gods, and Monsters.

For resources similar to this one, see my:

• Teaching the Industrial Revolution with William Blake's "London"
• and my popular Plato's Cave lesson!

Note — mythology resources from Stones of Erasmus do not contain copyrighted material. A special thank you to the New York Public Library digital collections for providing access to a massive depository of public domain content.

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