Classroom Connections

Using the 2026 Golden Fleece Youth Art Competition in your classroom

This year, the Golden Fleece Competition is asking young Victorians to submit their interpretation of the 2026 theme, Hellenic Superheroes! It's a chance to learn about the fascinating, bizarre, and sometimes scary stories and origins of the heroes who've inspired artists for centuries. Then, to get creative and paint, draw, photograph, sketch, or colour their own ancient Superhero.

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 learn more about how the Golden Fleece Competition links to the Victorian Curriculum, visit the Curriculum Links page

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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 at younger audiences which minimise or erase these incidents. You can find some of these stories on the Hellenic Museum’s Argonauts Club website.

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

Historical Sources

In addition to 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 heroes 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 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 if they've 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

These suggested activities will encourage your class to look closely at ancient Greek heroes, and even think differently about them. They are ordered in suitability from Level P to Levels 7 & 8. However, many can be used for all levels, especially Build-A-Hero and the Thinking Routines.

Build-A-Hero (All Levels)

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

Dice Roll	Parent 1	Parent 2	Weapon	Godly Patron	Quest	Special Power
1	Zeus	Aphrodite	Club	Athena	Slay a monster	Cleverness
2	Poseidon	A nymph	Spear	Hera	Retrieve an object	Strength
3	A king	A queen	Arrows	Artemis	Win a war	Speed
4	Ares	A Titan	Lyre	Apollo	Return home safely	Magical lyre
5	Hades	A princess	Medusa Head	Zeus	Retake your place as king or queen	Pegasus (flying horse)
6	A mortal	A mortal	Ball of wool	Hermes	Escape a labyrinth	Invulnerability

Thinking Routines

Thinking Routines originated from Project Zero, an initiative from Harvard University. 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 to connect artworks to the classroom.

Thinking Routines can help you to introduce ancient artworks showing Greek heroes to your class. They encourage 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 many different Thinking Routines. Below are just a few suggestions to get started.

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 might choose one of these options for the whole class, or split the class into three groups and ask them to respond to one each.

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!

Image: Red-figured cup by Douris, circa 480–470 BCE. From Cerveteri (Etruria).

See, Think, Wonder (All Levels • Link)

This is a fantastic Thinking Routine that can be used with 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 Routine encourages students to look carefully at an artwork. By separating out 'seeing' and 'thinking,' it helps students distinguish what they see from what they think they see, differentiating observations from interpretations. The final stage then 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 elements to see and think about.

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

Image: Black-figure pottery amphora depicting 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 to See, Think, Wonder 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 Amisos which depicts Perseus holding the head of Medusa, 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 Greek 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 hero or creature.

Bronze coin showing Perseus holding the head of Medusa, 2nd to 3rd century BCE. From the Hellenic Museum object handling collection.

Image: Bronze coin showing Perseus standing facing, holding harpa and the head of Medusa. Minted in Pontos Amisos, 2nd–3rd century BCE. From the Hellenic Museum object handling collection.

Stories (Levels 4–8 • Link)

The Stories routine is an opportunity to turn a Greek hero or mythological story into a discussion about perspectives. Using this routine, students can consider how these heroes 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 through 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.

Oil painting of Ulysses and the Sirens (1891) by John William Waterhouse

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

How Heroes Have Changed Over Time (Levels 7–8)

Your class can investigate how depictions and stories of heroes have changed over time. How are Superheroes portrayed in modern books, graphic novels, comics and films? Are there any similarities between heroes in ancient Greece, and well known modern heroes such as Batman, Ironman and Wonder Woman?

Prompts for students:

Ask students to research a favourite Superhero. What words come to mind as they look at images of this hero? Has their depiction changed over time, and if so, how?

Why might the depictions of heroes have changed over time? Does this infer anything about the societies they come from, or the artists who made them?

Create a new artwork showing a modern superhero in the style of ancient Greek art.

Wonder Woman's full name is Princess Diana of Themyscira. In her story, she is the daughter of Hippolyta, an Amazonian Queen from Greek mythology who was the daughter of the god Ares. Inspired by this, ask students to create a new hero using real mythological elements. Who is the new hero related to? What are their powers?

Above: Batman in the Justice League TV series

Above: Lynda Carter in the Wonder Woman TV series

Herakles and Cerberus depicted on an Attic bilingual amphora c. 530-520 BCE

Above: Herakles and Cerberus depicted on an Attic bilingual amphora, circa 530–520 BCE. Louvre Museum.

Achilles and Hektor fighting over the body of Troilos depicted on an Attic black-figure amphora c. 550 BCE

Above: Marble statue of Atalanta, circa 1703–1705. Roman copy of a Hellenistic original.

Left: Achilles and Hector fighting over the body of Troilos, depicted on an Attic black-figure amphora, circa 550 BCE. Attributed to Tyrrhenian Group.

Right: Bellerophon and the Chimera, depicted on an Attic red-figure epinetron (thigh protector used when weaving), circa 425–420 BCE. National Archaeological Museum of Athens.

Bellerophon and the Chimera depicted on an Attic red-figure epinetron c. 425-420 BCE

Heroes All Around Us? (All Levels)

Ask your students to consider what makes a person heroic.

Outside of stories, myths and superheroes from pop culture, who is considered a hero?

How are these people depicted in the media?

Do they know anyone they would think of as a hero?

Can they make an artwork showing these 'everyday heroes' in a way that connects them with the heroes of ancient Greece?

Additional Activities

Here are some other ideas to inspire students' hero-themed artworks.

Creative a modern take on an ancient pot.

Research mythical heroes from other cultures.

Read a hero myth and create an artwork based on the story.

We're here to help!

If you have any questions about the Golden Fleece Competition, please contact the Hellenic Museum.