Homeric Hymn to Demeter (Journeying to the Underworld in Ancient Greece)

This lesson was designed with the 9-1 OCR GCSE Classical Civilisation spec in mind. It covers everything pupils need to know about the events portrayed in the Homeric Hymn to Demeter, and aims to solidify both their knowledge of the events of the poem, and to draw out quality analysis through the inclusion of study questions, handouts (included as hidden slides for printing) and a video.

The resource is fully dual coded to reduce excess ‘noise’ - something my students are really keen on as it is clear at every point in the lessons, what the key information is that they should be focusing on. The use of dual coding also aids knowledge retention and allows pupils of all abilities to access this otherwise difficult poem.

When I taught this it fit quite neatly into 2 x 1 hour lessons, with the first lesson focusing on knowing the story of Hades’ abduction of Persephone and the roles various other characters play (i.e. Hermes, Hades, Demeter, Helios, Hecate et al.) through to the poem’s resolution.

A copy of the poem is included if you wish to use it with pupils, however key quotes with analysis are picked out on a separate handout (included as a hidden slide for printing) to aid the story-telling task in that forms the focus of the rest of the first lesson.

The second hour focuses more on analysis of the characters and their relationships with one-another - including the complex relationships and power (im)balance between humans and the gods. Study questions are included along with an exam question at the end in order that you as the teacher can assess the extent of their learning.

Thanks for taking a look :)