What is the Amazonomachy and why were the Amazons important to the Greeks?

This ‘lesson’ on the importance of the Amazonomachy (which will ideally cover 2-3 lessons) is designed with the new Classical Civilisation 9-1 OCR GCSE in mind. Specifically, the Myth and Religion Paper 1 unit: 1.6 Myth and Symbols of Power.

Students will ideally have just finished studying the Centauromachy and so at the end of this powerpoint they will be able to compare their knowledge of both and evaluate the significance of both in relation to each other.

All worksheets mentioned here are included as slides within the .ppt file itself, ready to be printed off and inserted into the appropriate part of the lesson.

The lesson starts with a look at how Amazons are depicted in art and students are introduced to the Amazon race through the video (link attached). Information about who the Amazons were and their battles with the Greeks is then included with a challenge question included below (designed to be printed off A5 size).

Students are then introduced to the Temple of Apollo at Bassae with background information on the temple itself in order to contextualise the Bassae Frieze (a prescribed source for the course). This is followed by a numeracy challenge where students have to calculate the area of the temple (which can then lead to a discussion as to the length of the Bassae Frieze and its impressiveness etc.)

A cloze test/passage is then included to be printed off where students fill in missing words in order to get them used to the kind of language they need to be using while analysing the sculptor’s use of space etc on the frieze. There is then an 8 mark source Exam question where students have to produce a similar style answer to the one on the cloze sheet but now off their own heads. Students should be encouraged to use the model as they write their own.

Finally students are asked to link their learning during this topic to a set of abstract images where they can be questioned in order to explain fully what they have learnt in relation to the learning aims.