Labyrinths in Mythology | from the Minotaur to Theseus ELA Unit | Grades 8-10

Labyrinths in Mythology and Literature ELA Unit: Teach Your Students About Theseus, the Minotaur, and Daedalus with this 3-Lesson pack to combine different tales from mythology and literature as a thematic mythology unit for middle and high school students on labyrinths.

The Thematic Unit Includes:

• Mini-Unit on The Palace of King Minos at Knossos in Crete
• Lesson #1: Europa and the Bull
  • Planned 3-Day Lesson
  • Introduces a classic myth plus references to the figure of the bull.

• Lesson #2: Theseus and the Minotaur
  • Planned 3-Day Lesson
  • Introduces the classic Athenian hero, the Labyrinth, and the Minotaur!

• Lesson #3: Daedalus the Inventor
• Lesson #4: Daedalus and Icarus
  • Combined Planned 6-Day Lesson
  • Introduces the sequel story to Theseus, with Daedalus, the put-upon inventor of the labyrinth, and his feckless son, Icarus.

• Classroom Film: Labyrinth (1986)
  • Plan for a two-day viewing session with activities.
  • Celebrate the end of your unit with this captivating Jim Henson film that combines the allusions, myths, and symbols from the literature you read with students.

• Fun Stuff: Labyrinths and Mazes Activity Sheet
• Includes a unit standards chart for planning!

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

• Encourage students to discuss labyrinths in mythology, Theseus and the Minotaur, fathers and sons, ancient civilizations, mythic places, symbolism in literature, and more.
• Use this resource as a stand-alone unit or pair it with a broader scope bringing in texts such as The Library of Apollodorus, Ovid’s Metamorphoses, Robert Graves’s Greek Myths, or Edith Hamilton’s Mythology.

This educational digital download supplements a Graeco-Roman Mythology and History course. The lesson includes public domain content, original content, and links to full-text primary resources online. The protected intellectual content of copyrighted authors not under Stones of Erasmus branding is not included and must be purchased separately.

Special thanks to the New York Public Library Digital Collections for making a tremendous amount of public domain material available to the general public.

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