Introduction

You are an Olympic athlete from the third century B.C. in Greece. The ancient Olympics were known as a gathering place for athletic and cultural events. You have been selected by Zeus to travel to the 2004 Summer Olympics in Greece. The purpose of this visit is to educate the athletes about the origins of the Olympic spirit. While you are there, you decide to compete in an event. Therefore, you interview a current athlete in the event you have selected. The purpose of this assignment is to raise an awareness of the ancient times. Why do you think that the traditions of the Olympics has survived for more than twenty five hundred years?

The Tasks

1. First, you will research the ancient olympic games in order to make a report to a 2004 Olympian. You may work on your own or with a partner. Your choice!!

2. You will adopt the persona of an ancient Olympian. Therefore you need to learn about the sport in which he or she competed. As part of the presentation, you will include images of ancient artifacts, identification and information on your sport and city state, art images, etc.You will include the following information in your report: History, types of sports, location, ceremonies, ancient artifacts, myths that relate to the Olympics, ancient writers who documented an olympic event, etc.

3. You will research a mythological connection: Heracles, Statue of Zeus at Olympia, story of Daphne and Apollo, Pelops and Tantalus.

4. You will select one of the 28 sports in the 2004 Olympics and interview one of the contestants. You will compare the ancient and modern sports in the procress.

5 Throughout this task, you will consider the essential question: Why has this olympic spirit survived or revived?

6. The end result will be presented in the form of a presentation and interview in some form of creative way.

Top

1. Initiate research on ancient Olympics; access on-line resources
2. Identify ancient sport/athlete. This can be male or female.
3. Include a mythology component.
4. Prepare a list of questions for your interview with the 2004 Olympian athlete.
5. Organize your project in a creative way: power point, diary, ancient scroll, dramatic presentation, etc

Useful Websites

Ancient Artifacts

Ancient City of Athens: sites and monuments

Ancient Greece: Olympics

Ancient Olympics

Ancient Olympics: Sports and Images

Ancient Sports: Equestrian events

Art and Images

General Information: Ancient Olympics

General Information: Definitions

History of Olympics

Modern Olympics

Mythological Origins

Mythology: Daphne and Apollo

Mythology: Pelops

Mythology: Statue of Zeus at Olympia

Mythology: Heracles

Olympia: history and art

Stories about Athletes: Ancient

The "Real"Story of the Ancient Olympics

Describe to the learners how their performance will be evaluated. Specify whether there will be a common grade for group work vs. individual grades.

	0-1	2	3-4	5	Score
Ancient Olympic Research	Minimal; Incomplete Details are non existent irrelevant	Adequate somewhat comprehensible minimal details	Good Meets requirements	Exceptional Beyond requirements
Modern Athlete Interview	Minimal; Incomplete Details are non existent irrelevant	Adequate somewhat comprehensible minimal details	Good Meets requirements	Exceptional Exceeds requirements
Mythology Research	Minimal; Incomplete Details are non existent irrelevant	Adequate somewhat comprehensible minimal details	Good Meets requirements	Exceptional Exceeds requirements
Terminology/ Vocabulary	Missing Incomplete Irrelevant	Adequate Somewhat complete limited variety	Good Complete wide variety	Exceptional Exceeds requiremens
Organization/On Task	Often off task Very Late Disorganized	Frequently off task Late Somewhat organized	Mostly On task On Time Organized	Always on Task On Time Very Organized

Top

By the end of this project, students will have a better awareness of the history of the ancient Olympics. They will gain knowledge about the continuing contributions of the Classical World to the Twenty first Century.

Top

Thank you to Lisa Paschitti and Denise Ryder for their endless patience and understanding. They are consummate teachers!

Thank you to my colleagues in the World Languages department who gave me support and ideas.

Thank you to Monika Bloom and Rachel Green for their expertise on rubric design.

Thank you to the Memphis Schools Time traveler webquest which inspired me to modify this project.

Credits to the Perseus Project at Tufts University for the Greek pottery showing an Olympic wrestler.