Athena and Marsyas with Apollo | Mythology Lessons for Middle & High School

What caused Athena to drop her flute? How did the satyr Marsyas come to find it? What horrific outcome came out of a musical contest between Marsyas and Apollo? Included in this lesson is a 2-day lesson plan that incorporates art and literature connections, a question bank, discussions, informational text, reading cards, and more.  

Includes both Digital + Print Versions (with Google Apps and Google Classroom)

2-Day Lesson Bundle Includes:

• 1 Teacher Two-day Lesson Calendar (with Teacher’s Notes)
• 1 Key Characters and Places Worksheet
  • Orient your learners by identifying the key characters and the geographical location associated with Phrygia and the area known today as modern-day Turkey (Anatolia).
• 7 Reading Cards:
  • Art & Literature Connection: Informational Text on the Athena and Marsyas Sculptural Group (held in the Gregorio Profano Museum in the Vatican City)
  • Entry on Marsyas (from the Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology
  • Commentary on the Story of Marsyas (ibid.)
  • Text of Athena, Marsyas, Apollo and the Flute Contest
  • Excerpt from Hyginus’s Fabulae (Roman Mythographer)
  • Informational Text on Apollo + Art & Literature Connection
  • Informational Text — “Apollo with a Knife About to Flay Marsyas”
• 14 Comprehension Questions & 10 Discussion Questions
  • Have students read various myths and stories related to Athena, Apollo, and Marsyas. Assess them with questions!
• 3-Box Note-taking Template
• Frayer Model Vocabulary Card Set (with student sample)
  • Frayer models are a way to get kids to think about vocabulary visually in a four-section square —- A square for meaning, one for examples, another for non-examples, and a sketch. It is amazing to see the work they produce. A great way to decorate your classroom to showcase your kids’ vocabulary-in-text understanding. The cards can be filled and customized with terms, geography, and challenging words (as well as contextual entries fit to the story.
• 2 Half Sheet 3-2-1 Exit Tickets
  • Exit tickets are a way to get data about your students’ understanding of the lesson right before the class is finished. Collect these exit tickets and quickly see what ideas your students picked up about the dispute between Athena and Poseidon. I also provide two different tickets to offer academic choice for students.
• 1 Further Reading List
  • Don’t disregard this further reading list if you think it is merely a bibliography. Share the list with your students or have them do projects based on the research that is available. Assign different sources to students and organize presentations that allow learning to delve deeper into the myth.
• Standards Alignment Chart
• Answer Keys for all student-facing documents
  • Teachers always ask for answer keys for my products so I made sure I gave you plenty of guidance on what to expect from students in their written and oral responses.

I created this resource with middle and high students in mind. It is designed for an English Language Arts Mythology unit —

• For any myth-related unit!
• On Athena!
• On a lesson on the origin of music in Greece and Phrygia
• Use this resource as a stand-alone lesson or, pair it with a larger unit on Myth, Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief, Robert Graves’s Greek Myths, Edith Hamilton’s Mythology.

stonesoferasmus.com © 2024-2025