Introduction
Imagine yourself thrown into the wild, mythological world of The Pig Scrolls by Paul Shipton. You are constantly faced down by perilous dangers and mythical beasts. However, this time your ragtag crew has run into the mythical Sphinx, and it has challenged you and your perfectly numbered group of 6 to 6 different riddles one for every person. How will you face this threat down? With your wits of course.
Task
You will break off into groups of 6 with each student taking on the name of one of 6 characters in the story: Gryllus, Sibyl, Bumscruff, Homer, Thales, and Gladys.
Each of you will be asked a question that relates to the relationship between the Greek gods and the humans with each question getting progressively harder and each question being geared towards the assigned character's intelligence level.
Process
Question 1 (Bumscruff): What are the structures that humans have built to worship the gods?
Answer:
Question 2 (Homer): What happens to the mortal realm when the realm of gods is thrown in to chaos?
Answer:
Question 3 (Gryllus): Which god is known as the "king of the gods" and is the most important to keeping the realm in order?
Answer:
Question 4 (Sibyl): What are the people given visions by the gods called?
Answer:
Question 5 (Thales): Is it better to serve the gods or to be indifferent to their needs?
Answer:
Question 6 (Gladys): What is Chaos and what is its importance to both the gods and humanity?
Answer:
Evaluation
| Criteria | Excellent | Good | Needs Work |
|---|---|---|---|
| Content/Concept | accurate/correct | mostly accurate | not accurate |
| Explanation | well explained | mostly explained | not explained |
| Detail | lots of detail | some detail | no details |
Conclusion
Whether or not you could answer the Sphinx's question has decided your fate but even if you have taken a trip down to the river Styx you can still make it back with the knowledge you have gained through failure, by the grace of Athena.
Credits
The Pig Scrolls : Shipton, Paul, 1963- : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive. (2026). Internet Archive. https://archive.org/details/pigscrolls00ship/page/148/mode/2up
Teacher Page
Teacher Page:
Grade level: 7th-10th
Subject: World History
Topic: Relations of Greek gods and humanity/The Pig Scrolls by Paul Shipton
Learning Objectives:
-Students will demonstrate understanding of the text
-students will draw connections between the in story examples and the actual mythological relations between humanity and the Greek gods
-students will show understanding of the content through teamwork and helping one another to arrive at the correct understanding
Time allocation: This activity will be completed in the short time of 15-20 minutes to serve as a complementary activity to the broader class.