01/20 Epics and Fables

01/20 Epics and Fables

A Social Studies Lesson

Objective

I will be able to analyze beliefs by describing how oral traditions established Greek values.

Open Ended

What do you think a fable or epic is?

Epics

• Epics: early Greek poems about heroes and their brave deeds

• In the 700's B.C., a man named Homer wrote two of the greatest Greek epics: The Iliad and The Odyssey.

Multiple Choice

What is an epic?

• stuff written by a guy named Homer

• a type of book

• long poems about heroes and their brave deeds

• a song performed by a bard

True Stories

• The Greeks believed both of these epics were true stories.

• They wanted to believe they were real because it gave them a history filled with heroes and brave deeds.

• These stories taught important lessons, such as valuing friendship and marriage.

• The heroes in these stories were role models for the Greeks.

Multiple Choice

What does it mean to be a role model?

• make everyone hate you

• do bad things for attention

• be someone others want to be

• roll around on the floor

Multiple Choice

Why were epics so important to the Greeks?

• They gave them something to read.

• They told true stories.

• They taught important values and lessons.

• They taught them how to be fighters.

Multiple Choice

Epics were true stories.

• True

• False

Fables

• Fables: short tales that teach a lesson

• Fables were another kind of story that emerged from Greece.

• Dozens of fables in Greece were attributed to a man named Aesop, who historians later learned never existed; however, the fables still existed and were passed around out loud.

• Fables always have a point, or moral or theme, are usually funny, and often use animals.

Multiple Choice

What is a fable?

• a long story about heroes

• a short tale with a lesson

• something fake

• a true story about the gods

Oral Tradition

• Oral tradition: stories and lessons told out loud to children and their grandchildren

• Fables were a part of Greece's oral tradition for over 200 years.

• Eventually, Greeks began to write the stories down.

• Now, Aesop's fables are read and told by people all around the world.

Multiple Choice

What does it mean when it says "Fables were a part of Greek oral tradition."

• It means people ate the stories.

• It means people were only allowed to tell stories once.

• It means these stories were told out loud to each generation.

• It means no one else was allowed to tell stories.

Multiple Select

Select all things that are true about fables.

• short story

• uses animals who talk

• thought to be true

• often funny

• told out loud

Multiple Select

Select all things that are true about epics.

• written down

• passed down from one generation to the next

• short story

• thought to be true

• shows human qualities