Classroom Connections – Golden Fleece Competition

Classroom Connections

This year, the Golden Fleece Competition is asking young Victorians to send in their interpretation of ancient Greek monsters. It's a chance to learn about the fascinating, bizarre, and sometimes even scary, stories and origins of the monsters who have inspired artists for centuries; before getting creative and painting, drawing, photographing, sketching or colouring their own monster.

This page contains some ideas for introducing the Golden Fleece Competition to your students, and activities to inspire the Muses to visit your classroom! To find out more about the Golden Fleece Competition and its links to the Victorian Curriculum, please see the Competition and Curriculum Links pages.

Important note:

It is important to be aware that many ancient Greek myths contain very serious themes, including murder and assault. There are many retellings aimed for younger audiences which down play or exclude these incidents. You can find some of these stories on this website.

Theoi.com is another fantastic resource for learning more about monsters, or sourcing primary text and images. However, please be aware that it is not aimed at a young student audience.

Historical Sources

As well as being an opportunity for students to learn about ancient Greece and get creative, the Golden Fleece Competition is a great way to introduce and discuss historical sources with your class. Historical sources are the ways we learn about the past, and the images, quotes and stories of Greek monsters are interesting examples to bring history to life for your students.

When showing the class an example of a pot or a quote from a historical text, you can ask them to identify the features of the source:

When and where was it made or written?
What kind of material?
Is it an expensive item?
Who would have used the item and for what purpose?

You can also ask your students to describe the content of the source:

What does the source show?
What are they wearing?
How are the people positioned and what does this say about the image?
For written sources you can ask if the stories sound similar to the ones they have heard, or have they changed. And, if so, how?

In all cases, this can lead to a discussion about the values and beliefs of ancient Greek people:

What was important to them?
Why did they spend time creating this art or writing these texts?

The below Thinking Routines are a helpful way to engage your students with these sources.

Classroom Activities

Here are some suggestions for activities that will encourage your class to look closely at ancient Greek monsters, and even think differently about them. They are ordered in suitability from Foundation to Level 7 and 8. However, many activities can be used for all levels, in particular Build-A-Monster and the Thinking Routines.

Build a Monster (All Levels)

Build-a-Monster is a fun way to come up with a new Greek monster, using only dice and your imagination! Simply roll the dice and use the table below to see what your monster looks like. Then you can create your monster in any visual medium you like.

Dice roll	No of Heads	Type of Head	Body	Wings	Tail	Power
1	1	Eagle	Horse	Yes	Lion	Turn people to stone
2	2	Dog	Lion	No	Snake	Spit fire
3	3	Bull	Dragon	Yes	Horse	Regrow heads
4	4	Goat	Human	No	Dragon	Deadly song
5	5	Lion	Snake	Yes	Bull	Never sleeps
6	6	Human	Bird	No	Bird	Immortal

Thinking Routines

Thinking Routines originated from Harvard University's Project Zero initiative. Project Zero describes Thinking Routines as “a set of questions or a brief sequence of steps used to scaffold and support student thinking.” They can be used in a wide variety of contexts, subjects and levels to deepen student thinking and help make thinking more “visible” to students.

Thinking Routines can be a great way to help students “unpack” artwork — Project Zero has even developed Artful Thinking, a series of thinking routines which helps connect artworks to the classroom. Thinking Routines can help you to introduce the ancient artwork showing the Greek monsters to your class, encouraging students to look closely at the artwork and think about what it shows, how it could fit into a sequence of events, and how it connects to their lives and interests.

There are lots of different Thinking Routines, but here are a few suggestions to start:

Beginning, Middle, End – All Levels (Link)

This Routine asks students to analyse an artwork as if it was at the beginning, middle or end of a story. You can choose one question for the whole class, or split your class up into three groups and ask them to respond to each question.

You could end up with a wide variety of ideas, especially if you use an intriguing image such as the one below, where Jason is being swallowed by the Colchian Dragon who guards the Golden Fleece, while the goddess Athena looks on. You can choose to reveal the real story around the image, or you can leave the story up to your class' imagination!

Red-figured cup circa 480–470 BCE. From Cerveteri (Etruria).

See, Think, Wonder – All Levels (Link)

This is a fantastic Thinking Routine that can be used for any visual stimulus, and it centres around three simple questions: what do you see? What do you think about? What does it make you wonder?

This Thinking Routine encourages students to look carefully at an artwork. By separating out “seeing” and “thinking” it helps students separate what they see from what they think they see, so that they can separate their observations from their interpretations. The final stage sets up questions for further inquiry and exploration.

The below black-figure pot shows Heracles and Iolaus fighting the Lernaean Hydra, and is great for this activity as there are so many things to see and think about.

Black-figure pottery amphora showing Heracles and Iolaus fighting the Lernaean Hydra, circa 540–530 BCE. Louvre Museum.

See, Wonder, Connect x 2 – Levels 4–8 (Link)

See, Wonder, Connect x 2 is another great way to encourage deep thinking about artworks, with the additional step of asking students how the artwork connects to other subjects in school and to their own interests. It contains similar steps as the above, with the addition of:

How could this connect to subjects you study in school?
How could this connect to your personal interests or hobbies?

This is a great Thinking Routine to use if you are connecting the Golden Fleece Competition to non Visual Art subjects such as History or English.

By considering these questions, students can uncover how the artworks show us what ancient Greek people thought and valued, as well as what students think and value themselves. For example, by looking at the below coin from Corinth showing Pegasus, students might think about:

What Australians chose to put on their coins, and how this shows what we value
How ancient Greek people made and used coins for daily goods, as well as the barter system
What students spend their money on, and how this would differ from young Greek people in ancient times
How currency has changed or remained the same since ancient times
What other countries depict on their coins, and what this symbolises

Finally, they might like to design a new coin to reflect their own interests, or which depicts a new monster or creature.

Stater or Didrach depicting Pegasus, from Corinth, circa 500 BCE.

Stories – Levels 4–8 (Link)

The Stories routine is an opportunity to turn a Greek monster or mythological story into a discussion about perspectives. Using this routine, students can consider how these monsters and myths are portrayed, by whom, and whose voices may be missing. They can then create their own account, depicting what they believe to be important, in their own words and images.

For example, you could tell the story of Odysseus and the Sirens, and show the below image. Then, discuss whose perspectives are missing and retell the story from a new perspective with texts and images. This is a fantastic way to link the Golden Fleece Competition to the English curriculum.

Ulysses and the Sirens (1891) by John William Waterhouse. Oil on canvas, 100.6 x 202 cm. National Gallery of Victoria.

Hear, Create, Reveal (Levels 4–6)

Read the below descriptions of monsters to your class without showing any pictures. Get the class to create an artwork of what they think the monster looks like, then reveal the originals and discuss the following:

In what way are their drawings similar to the original depictions?
In what ways are they different?
Is the original artwork what they expected?
Would they draw their images differently after seeing the original?

Monster 1 – Cerberus

“Here the savage Stygian dog Cerberus frightens the shades; tossing back and forth his triple heads, with huge bayings he guards the realm. Around his head, foul with corruption, serpents lap, his shaggy man bristles with vipers, and in his twisted tail a long snake hisses. His rage matches his shape. Soon as he feels the stir of feet he raises his head, rough with darting snakes, and with ears erect catches at the onsped sound, wont as he is to hear even the shades.” — Seneca, Hercules Furens 598 & 782 ff (Roman tragedy circa 1st Century CE)

"As a twelfth labour Herakles was to fetch Cerberus from Haides' realm. Cerberus had three dog-heads, a serpent for a tail, and along his back the heads of all kinds of snakes."— Pseudo-Apollodorus, Bibliotheca 2. 122 (trans. Aldrich) (Greek mythographer 2nd Century CE)

Black-figured Caeretan hydria, Louvre Museum. This image of Heracles leading Cerberus while King Eurystheus hides in a pot is such a fun, playful one and perfect for Thinking Routines such as Beginning, Middle and End.

Monster 2 – Chimera

"First he King Iobates of Lycia sent Bellerophon away with orders to kill the Chimera none might approach; a thing of immortal make, not human, lion-fronted and snake behind, a goat in the middle, and snorting out the breath of the terrible flame of bright fire.” — Homer, Iliad 6. 179 ff (trans. Lattimore) (Greek epic, 8th Century BCE)

"She Echidna bore the Chimera, who snorted raging fire, a beast great and terrible, and strong and swift-footed. Her heads were three: one was that of a glare-eyed lion, one of a goat, and the third of a snake, a powerful drakon (serpentine-dragon)."— Hesiod, Theogony 319 ff (trans. Evelyn-White) (Greek epic, 8–7th Century BCE)

Chimera on a red-figure Apulian plate, circa 350–340 BCE. Louvre Museum.

How Monsters Have Changed Over Time (Level 7–8)

Your class can investigate how the depictions of some monsters have changed over time. For example, below are three depictions of Gorgons, of which Medusa is the most famous. (You can read more about Gorgons and Medusa here. Other monsters who have been shown in different ways over time include the Sphinx and Sirens.)

Prompts for students:

What words come to mind for each image? Are the words different or similar?
Why might depictions of Medusa and Gorgons have changed over time? Does this infer anything about the societies they come from, or the artists that made them?
Can you find a modern artwork of Medusa? What does it look like? Is it monstrous, sympathetic, or both?
Create a new artwork showing Medusa and explain your artistic choices. Does it look similar to older or newer depictions of Gorgones?

In this 5th century vase painting, gorgons are shown to be winged, tusked, women with long tongues. They have some human features, but are not designed to be beautiful or sympathetic.

Running Gorgon, amphora, Berlin Painter, 5th Century BCE.

In this 2nd century Greco-Roman mosaic, Medusa is shown to be much more human; she has lost her tusks and wings, although she still has her snake hair. She stares directly ahead, meeting our gaze with a firm expression.

Medusa mosaic, c. 167–200 BCE. Palencia (Castilla y León, Spain).

Finally, in this 16th century marble bust, Medusa is a sympathetic character. Her expression is one of sorrow. In this artwork, Medusa has just been changed from a woman into a monster by Athena and is seeing herself with snake hair for the first time.

Marble sculpture of Medusa by Gian Lorenzo Bernini, 1644–48. Capitoline Museums.

Additional Activities

Some other ideas to give your class inspiration to make their monster themed artwork could include: creating a modern take on an ancient pot; researching mythical monsters from other cultures; or reading a monster myth and creating an art piece based on the story.