The Oracles of the Trojans | Greek and Roman Mythology Series MS & High School

How did Trojan seers foretell Troy’s destruction? Discover the backstory of the Trojan War, as alluded to in Homer’s Iliad, and elaborated on in Vergil’s Aeneid. Explore the prophecies of Cassandra and Helenus, the twin seers of Troy, and learn about Laocoön, the priest of Apollo, who was killed along with his sons by a murderous sea serpent (immortalized in a sculpture group now in the Vatican museums). These narratives provide mythological, historical, and archaeological background to perhaps the most written-about war of the Bronze Age. Delve into the consequences of telling the truth, the outcome of a city fallen, and the fate of its most famous denizens with this ingenious 3-day lesson pack, including key characters, events, and themes related to the Trojan War.

This Resource Includes the Following Features:

• Available as a PDF, Google Slides
• 1 Teacher Three-day Lesson Calendar (with Teacher’s Notes)
• 1 Key Characters and Places Anchor Chart
  • Orient your learners by identifying the key characters and the plan of Heinrich Schliemann’s excavations at Hisserlik in modern-day Turkey.
• Illustrated Reading Cards (8 pages):
  • The Oracles of the Trojans: Cassandra, Helenus, Laocoön
    • The Rescue of Hesione
    • The Prophecy of Cassandra
    • Includes a Student-Friendly Reading Protocol.
• 39-Count Question Bank
  • Check for understanding with a quick and adaptable question bank.
  • Includes a Custom Note-taking template to ensure student accountability!
• Frayer Model Vocabulary Cards
  • 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 contain terms, geography, and challenging words (as well as contextual entries that fit the story).
• 3-2-1 Exit Ticket
  • 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 your students have learned.
• Literary Analysis and Research Writing Activity
  • Using literary analysis, and research skills, the writing activity is a summative assessment for the lesson, asking students to explore Menelaus’ strategic alliances at Aulis, the Oath of Suitors, Calchas’ prophecy, and key themes driving the narrative towards the epic Trojan War conflict.
• 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 available research. Assign different sources to students and organize presentations where learning can go deeper into the story.
• Answer Keys for all student-facing documents
  • Teachers always ask for answer keys for my products, so I gave you plenty of guidance on what to expect from students in their written and oral responses.
  • Standards Alignment Chart (Common Core, VA SOL, TEKS)

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

• Encourage students to talk about pros and cons of war, leaving family and friends, the definition of a hero, and more.
• Use this resource as a stand-alone lesson or pair it with a larger unit on The Iliad, Strabo’s Geography, Robert Graves’s Greek Myths, or Edith Hamilton’s Mythology.

Know that this educational digital download supplements a unit on Graeco-Roman Mythology. The lesson also includes public domain content, original content, and links to full-text primary resources online.

Special thanks to the New York Public Library Digital Collections for making a tremendous amount of public domain material available to the general public. Navigate your web browser to my website, Stones of Erasmus, to follow me on my journey. For questions, to report errata, and receive help email support@stonesoferasmus. © 2023-25 stonesoferasmus.com