In The Hero’s Shield, students examine who their heroes are and the qualities that make those people heroic. Building on reflective writing and classroom discussion, each student develops symbolic artwork in the form of a Greek Hoplon design that represents his/her hero/heroine.
Introduction
I have vivid memories of the heroes of my youth especially those portrayed in motion pictures; Steve Reeves in Hercules Unchained, Todd Armstrong as Jason in Jason and the Argonauts. My favorite hero was Ulysses, played by Kirk Douglas in the movie of the same name. Ulysses was famous not only for his warrior’s prowess but for his cleverness. What I admired most was Ulysses’ intelligence. Ulysses solved the problems he faced, not with brute force but with his wits and he was admired for it. As a smart, skinny kid it is small wonder this man was my hero. When Dungeons and Dragons became popular, the character I always played was a fighter thief: Ulysses! As an adult I was a surprised to find that my closest friends shared the same heroes. We all saw the same films and admired the same characters. In retrospect it’s not surprising that we became friends. Having discovered this commonality among the people I chose to surround myself with I wondered if my students have had a similar experience growing up. Who are their heroes, what characters, fictional and real, do young people admire and what values have they learned as a result?
In The Hero’s Shield, students examine who their heroes are and what the qualities are that make those people heroic. Building on reflective writing and classroom discussion, each student develops symbolic artwork in the form of a Greek Hoplon design that represents his/her hero/heroine.
Essential and Guiding Questions:
Students will be able to . . .
Teacher’s presentation on the subject of heroes
Teacher-led discussion
Student projects
The Hero’s Shield Reflection Sheet
Duplicate the following list — leave adequate space after each entry so the student can write a response — and print enough copies for the entire class:
His first job was a shield, a broad one, thick,
well-fashioned everywhere. A shining rim
be gave it, triple-ply, and hung from this
a silver shoulder strap. Five welded layers
composed the body of the shield The maker
used all his art adorning the expanse.
He pictured on it earth, heaven, and sea,
unwearied sun, moon waxing, all the stars
the heaven bears for garland: Pleiades,
Hyades, Orion in his might,
the great bear, too, that some have called the Wain
pivoting there, attentive to Orion,
and unbathed ever in the ocean stream.He pictured, then, two cities, noble scenes:
weddings in one, and wedding feasts, and brides
led out through town by torchlight from their chambers
amid chorales. amid the young men turning
round and round in dances: flutes and harps
among them, keeping up a tune, and women
coming outdoors to stare as they went by.
A crowd, then, in the market place. and there
two men at odds over satisfaction owed
for a murder done: one claimed that all was paid.
and publicly declared it; his opponent
turned the reparation down, and both
demanded a verdict from the arbiter,
as people clamored in support of each.
and criers restrained the crowd. The town elders
sat in a ring, on chairs of polished stone,
the staves of clarion criers in there hands,
with which they sprang up, each to speak in turn,
and in the middle were two golden measures
to be awarded him whose argument
would be the most straightforward.Wartime then;
around the other city were emplaced
two columns of besiegers, bright in arms
as yet divided on which plan they liked:
whether to sack the town, or treat for halfof all the treasure stored in the citadel.
The townsmen would not bow either: secretly
they armed to break the siege-line. Women and children
stationed on the walls kept watch, with men
whom age disabled. All the rest filed out,
As Ares led the way, and Pallas Athena,
figured in gold, with golden trappings, both
magnificent in arms, as the gods are,
in high relief, while men were small beside them.
When these had come to a likely place for ambush
a river with a watering place for flocks,
They there disposed themselves, compact in bronze
Two lookouts at a distance from the troops .
took their posts, awaiting sight of sheep
and shambling cattle. Both now came in view,
trailed by two herdsmen playing pipes, no hidden
danger in their minds. The ambush party
took them by surprise in a sudden rush;
swiftly they cut off herds and beautiful flocks
of silvery grey sheep, then killed he herdsmen.
When the besiegers from the parleying ground
heard the sounds of cattle in stampede, they mounted
behind mettlesome teams, following he sound,
and came up quickly. Battle lines were drawn,
and on the riverbanks the fight began
as each side rifled javelins at the other.
Here then Strife and Uproar joined the fray,
and ghastly Fate, that kept a man with wounds
alive, and one unwounded, and another
Dragged by the heels through battle-din in death.
This figure wore a mantle dyed with blood,
and all the figures clashed and fought
like living men, and pulled their dead away.Upon the shield, soft terrain, freshly plowed,
he pictured: a broad field, and many plowmen
here and there upon it. Some were turning
ox teams at the plowland’s edge, and there
as one arrived and turned, a man came forward
putting a cup of sweet wine in his hands.
They made their turns-around then up the furrows
drove again, eager to reach the deep field’s
limit; and the earth looked black behind them,
as though turned up by plows. But it was gold,
all gold-a wonder of the artist’s craft.He put there, too, a king’s field. Harvest hands
were swinging whetted scythes to mow the grain,
and stalks were falling along he swath
while binders girded others up in sheaves
with bands of straw-three binders, and behind them
children came as gleaners, proffering
their eager armfuls. And amid them all
the king stood quietly with staff in hand,
happy at heart, upon a new-mown swath.
To one side, under an oak tree his attendants
worked at a harvest banquet. they had killed
a great ox, and were dressing it; their wives
made supper for the hands, with barley strewn.A vineyard then he pictured, weighed down
with grapes: this in gold; and yet clusters
hung dark purple, while the spreading vines
were propped on the silver vine-poles. Blue enamel
he made the enclosing ditch, and tin the fence,
and one path only led into the vineyard
on which the loaded vintagers took their way
at vintage time. Lighhthearted boys and girls
were harvesting the grapes in woven baskets,
while on a resonant harp a boy among them
played a tune of longing, singing low
with delicate voice a summer dirge. the others,
breaking out in song for the joy of it,
kept time together as they skipped along.The artisan next made a herd of longhorns,
fashioned in gold and tin; away they shambled,
lowing, from byre to pasture by a stream
tha sang in ripples, and by reeds a-sway.
Four cowhands all of gold were plodding after
with nine lithe dogs beside them.On the assault,
in two tremendous bounds, a pair of lions
caught in he van a bellowing bull, and off
they dragged him, followed by the dogs and men.
Rending the belly of the bull, the two
gulped down his blood and guts, even as the herdsmen
tried and set on the hunting dogs, but failed:
no trading bites with lions for those dogs,
who halted close up, barking, then running back.and on the shield the great bowlegged god
designed a pasture in a lovely valley,
wide, wit silvery sheep, and huts and sheds
and sheepfolds there.A dancing floor as well
he fashioned, like the one in royal Knossos
Daidalos made for the Princess Ariadne.
Here young men and the most desired girls
were dancing, linked touching each other’s wrists,
the girls s in linen, in soft gowns, the men
in well-knit khitons given a gloss with oil;
the girls wore garlands, and the men had daggers
golden-hilted, hung on silver lanyards.
Trained and adept, they circled there with ease
the way a potter sitting at his wheel
will give it a practice twirl between his palms
to see it run; or else, again, in lines
as though in ranks, they moved on one another:
magical dancing! All around the crowd
stood spellbound as two tumblers led the beat
with spins and handsprings through the company.Then, running round he shield -rim, triple ply,
he pictured all the might of the Ocean Stream
History and Social Science Framework
3.5 Create symbolic artwork by substituting symbols for objects, relationships, or ideas.
3.6 Create artwork that employs the use of free form symbolic imagery that demonstrates personal invention, and/or conveys ideas and emotions.
7.32 Describe the myths and stories of classical Greece; give examples of Greek gods and goddesses, heroes, and events, and where and how we see their names used today.
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