Classical Reference Library
Resources about teaching, studying, and sustaining the classical tradition.
THE ILIAD • QUIZ
A 10-question reading quiz on Books 21–24 of Homer’s Iliad, covering Achilles and Hector, the treatment of Hector’s body, Patroclus’ funeral games, Priam’s appeal to Achilles, and Hector’s funeral.
Read resource →THE ILIAD • QUIZ
A ready-to-use 10-question background quiz introducing students to Homer’s Iliad, the Trojan War, Achilles, epic poetry, the gods, honor, and heroism. Includes a free printable student PDF and teacher answer key.
Read resource →THE ODYSSEY • QUIZ
A ready-to-use 10-question pre-reading quiz covering the essential background students need before beginning Homer’s Odyssey, including the Trojan War, Ithaca, key characters, xenia, and in medias res. Includes a free printable student PDF for classroom use.
Read resource →THE ILIAD • QUIZ
A ready-to-use 10-question quiz covering Books 1–4 of Homer’s Iliad, including Apollo’s plague, Achilles’ quarrel with Agamemnon, Briseis, Achilles’ withdrawal, and Paris and Menelaus. Includes a printable student PDF and teacher answer key.
Read resource →THE ODYSSEY • QUIZ
A ready-to-use 10-question reading quiz covering Books 1–4 of Homer’s Odyssey, including Athena’s guidance, Telemachus’s growing independence, the suitors, and his visits to Nestor and Menelaus. Includes a free printable student PDF for classroom use.
Read resource →THE ILIAD • QUIZ
A 10-question reading quiz on Books 5–8 of Homer’s Iliad, covering Diomedes in battle, divine intervention, Hector and Andromache, Ajax and Hector, and the Trojan advance.
Read resource →THE ODYSSEY • QUIZ
A ready-to-use 10-question reading quiz covering Books 5–8 of Homer’s Odyssey, including Odysseus’s departure from Calypso, his arrival in Phaeacia, Nausicaa, Alcinous and Arete, and Demodocus. Includes a free printable student PDF for classroom use.
Read resource →THE ILIAD • QUIZ
A 10-question reading quiz on Books 9–12 of Homer’s Iliad, covering the embassy to Achilles, Achilles’ refusal, the night raid, the wounded Greek leaders, and Hector’s breakthrough of the Greek defenses.
Read resource →THE ODYSSEY • QUIZ
A ready-to-use 10-question reading quiz covering Books 9-12 of Homer's Odyssey, including the Cicones, Polyphemus, Aeolus, Circe, the underworld, the Sirens, Scylla, and the cattle of Helios. Includes a free printable student PDF for classroom use.
Read resource →THE ILIAD • QUIZ
A 10-question reading quiz on Books 13–16 of Homer’s Iliad, covering the crisis at the Greek ships, Patroclus’ decision to fight in Achilles’ armor, the death of Sarpedon, and the events leading to Patroclus’ death.
Read resource →THE ODYSSEY • QUIZ
A ready-to-use 10-question reading quiz covering Books 13-16 of Homer's Odyssey, including Odysseus's return to Ithaca, Eumaeus, Telemachus's homecoming, the suitors' ambush, and the reunion of Odysseus and Telemachus. Includes a free printable student PDF for classroom use.
Read resource →THE ILIAD • QUIZ
A 10-question reading quiz on Books 17–20 of Homer’s Iliad, covering the struggle for Patroclus’ body, Achilles’ grief, the Shield of Achilles, reconciliation with Agamemnon, and Achilles’ return to battle.
Read resource →THE ODYSSEY • QUIZ
A ready-to-use 10-question reading quiz covering Books 17-20 of Homer's Odyssey, including Odysseus's return to the palace in disguise, the suitors, Penelope, Eurycleia's recognition, and the omens that foreshadow the suitors' fate. Includes a free printable student PDF for classroom use.
Read resource →THE ODYSSEY • QUIZ
A ready-to-use 10-question reading quiz covering Books 21-24 of Homer's Odyssey, including the bow contest, the defeat of the suitors, Penelope's recognition of Odysseus, Laertes, and the final restoration of peace in Ithaca. Includes a free printable student PDF for classroom use.
Read resource →ANTIGONE • QUIZ & ANSWER KEY
A classroom assessment for Sophocles’ Antigone combining reading comprehension, literary interpretation, and evidence-based short response. Includes 24 questions and a teacher answer key with explanations and guidance for evaluating interpretive responses.
Read resource →Greek Tragedy · Quizzes & Assessments
A classroom-ready assessment of Sophocles’ Ajax, featuring 15 multiple-choice questions, five short-answer questions, and two extended-response options. Includes a complete answer key and guidance for evaluating literary analysis.
Read resource →Greek Tragedy · Student’s Guide
A student-friendly guide to Prometheus Bound, exploring the punishment of Prometheus for helping humanity, his resistance to Zeus, and questions about power, suffering, courage, and knowledge. Includes a story overview, character descriptions, reading guidance, and discussion questions.
Read resource →Greek Tragedy · Student’s Guide
A student-friendly guide to Aeschylus’ Seven Against Thebes, exploring the siege of Thebes, the conflict between Eteocles and Polyneices, and the themes of leadership, family duty, fate, and war. Includes a story overview, characters, reading guidance, and discussion questions.
Read resource →Greek Tragedy · Student’s Guide
A student-friendly guide to Aeschylus’ Suppliant Women, exploring the flight of the daughters of Danaus, their appeal for protection in Argos, and questions of freedom, consent, leadership, and responsibility. Includes a story overview, characters, reading guidance, and discussion questions.
Read resource →Greek Tragedy · Student’s Guide
A student-friendly guide to Aeschylus’ three-play trilogy, The Oresteia. Introduces the story of Agamemnon, Clytemnestra, and Orestes, exploring revenge, conflicting duties, family responsibility, and the movement toward public justice. Includes character descriptions, reading guidance, and discussion questions.
Read resource →Greek Tragedy · Student’s Guide
A student-friendly guide to Aeschylus’ The Persians, introducing the Persian royal court, the defeat at Salamis, and the play’s exploration of leadership, pride, grief, and the consequences of war. Includes characters, reading guidance, and discussion questions.
Read resource →Greek Comedy · Student’s Guide
A student-friendly introduction to Aristophanes’ Birds, with an accessible plot summary, character descriptions, explanations of satire and utopia, major themes, reading questions, and a short writing activity exploring the promises and realities of Cloudcuckooland.
Read resource →Greek Comedy · Student’s Guide
A student-friendly guide to Aristophanes’ Clouds, exploring Strepsiades’ debts, the comic portrayal of Socrates, competing approaches to education, and the difference between persuasive speech and sound judgment. Includes a plot summary, character guide, themes, reading suggestions, and discussion questions.
Read resource →Greek Comedy · Student’s Guide
A student-friendly guide to Aristophanes’ Frogs, featuring a plot summary, character descriptions, an introduction to literary parody, major themes, reading questions, and a writing activity about the competing claims of Aeschylus and Euripides.
Read resource →Greek Comedy · Student’s Guide
A student-friendly introduction to Aristophanes’ Knights, exploring the rivalry between Paphlagon and the sausage seller, the representation of the Athenian people as Demos, political flattery, satire, and civic judgment. Includes character explanations, reading guidance, discussion questions, and a short classroom activity.
Read resource →Greek Comedy · Student’s Guide
An accessible student guide to Aristophanes’ Lysistrata, examining the women’s campaign for peace, the occupation of the Acropolis, gender and political authority, comic reversal, and the costs of war. Includes a plot summary, characters, themes, reading questions, and a writing activity.
Read resource →Greek Comedy · Student’s Guide
An accessible student guide to Aristophanes’ Peace, examining Trygaeus’s journey to Olympus, the rescue of the goddess Peace, cooperation among Greek communities, the competing interests created by war, and the importance of farming and celebration. Includes historical context, character explanations, themes, reading questions, and a short activity.
Read resource →Greek Tragedy · Student’s Guide
A student-friendly guide to Euripides’ Bacchae, exploring Dionysus’ return to Thebes, King Pentheus’ resistance, and questions about authority, belief, identity, and justice. Includes a story overview, character descriptions, important themes, reading guidance, and discussion questions.
Read resource →Greek Tragedy · Student’s Guide
A student-friendly guide to Euripides’ Electra, exploring Electra and Orestes’ revenge for their father’s murder, the conflict between family loyalty and moral responsibility, and the consequences of guilt. Includes a story overview, characters, important themes, reading guidance, and discussion questions.
Read resource →Greek Tragedy · Teacher’s Guide
A teaching guide to Euripides’ Electra, examining the revenge of Electra and Orestes, the moral consequences of matricide, and the play’s challenges to traditional ideas of justice, nobility, and family duty. Includes historical context, characters, themes, teaching objectives, close-reading passages, classroom activities, and discussion questions.
Read resource →Greek Tragedy · Student’s Guide
A student-friendly guide to Euripides’ Hippolytus, exploring Phaedra’s unwanted desire, Hippolytus’ devotion to Artemis, Theseus’ fatal judgment, and the consequences of secrecy and false accusations. Includes a plot overview, characters, themes, reading guidance, and discussion questions.
Read resource →Greek Tragedy · Student’s Guide
A student-friendly guide to Euripides’ Medea, exploring Jason’s betrayal, Medea’s threatened exile, the conflict between justice and revenge, and the consequences of her decisions. Includes a plot overview, character descriptions, important themes, reading guidance, and discussion questions.
Read resource →Greek Tragedy · Student’s Guide
A student-friendly introduction to Euripides’ Orestes, exploring the aftermath of Clytaemnestra’s murder, Orestes’ suffering, family loyalty, public judgment, and the consequences of revenge. Includes a plot summary, character guide, themes, reading suggestions, and discussion questions.
Read resource →FOR STUDENTS
A student-friendly guide to recognizing and analyzing Homer’s epic similes, with a printable organizer that helps students move from identifying a comparison to explaining what it contributes to the poem.
Read resource →FOR STUDENTS
A clear, student-friendly guide to the essential words and ideas needed to understand Homer’s Iliad, from honor and glory to epic similes, fate, and divine intervention.
Read resource →FOR STUDENTS
A student-friendly guide to the heroic values that shape the Iliad, explaining honor, glory, and shame through Achilles, Agamemnon, Hector, and Patroclus, with a printable character-analysis worksheet.
Read resource →FOR TEACHERS
Eight printable worksheets for reading, discussion, close reading, and written response as students work through Homer’s Iliad.
Read resource →FOR STUDENTS
An illustrated-literature study guide exploring the extraordinary shield Hephaestus makes for Achilles in Book 18 of Homer's Iliad. Examines its scenes of peace, war, work, and celebration, with a printable analysis organizer.
Read resource →THE ODYSSEY • STUDENT GUIDE
A clear introduction to Homeric or epic similes in The Odyssey, explaining how these extended comparisons work, why Homer uses them, and how students can analyze their effect. Includes a printable student guide available by email.
Read resource →THE ODYSSEY • STUDENT GUIDE
A clear guide to the unusual narrative structure of Homer’s Odyssey, showing how the poem moves between Ithaca and Odysseus, uses a long flashback for the famous wanderings, and brings its separate story lines together. Includes a printable narrative-structure organizer available by email.
Read resource →THE ODYSSEY • STUDENT GUIDE
A student-friendly guide to important symbols and recurring motifs in Homer’s Odyssey, including the olive-tree bed, Odysseus’ bow, weaving, disguise and recognition, the sea, and omens. Includes a printable analysis organizer available by email.
Read resource →STUDENT’S GUIDE · EPICUREAN PHILOSOPHY & THE NATURAL WORLD
An accessible introduction to Lucretius’ On the Nature of Things, with an overview of its six books, explanations of important philosophical ideas, close-reading suggestions, discussion questions, and a classroom activity.
Read resource →Greek Tragedy · Student Resources
An accessible introduction to Sophocles’ Ajax, with historical background, a guided plot summary, character descriptions, major themes, close-reading activities, and discussion questions.
Read resource →ANTIGONE • STUDENT GUIDE
A clear student guide to Sophocles’ Antigone, with essential background, character orientation, a reading roadmap, key conflicts, guidance for understanding the Chorus, questions to carry through the play, and a quick review checklist.
Read resource →Greek Tragedy · Student’s Guide
A student-friendly companion to Sophocles’ Oedipus at Colonus, introducing the story, characters, major themes, and questions of exile, family loyalty, justice, and dignity. Includes reading guidance and questions to support thoughtful discussion.
Read resource →Greek Tragedy · Student’s Guide
A student-friendly companion to Sophocles’ Philoctetes, introducing the story, principal characters, and major themes of honesty, betrayal, suffering, and moral choice. Includes reading guidance and questions to encourage thoughtful discussion.
Read resource →Greek Tragedy · Student’s Guide
A student-friendly companion to Sophocles’ Women of Trachis, introducing Deianeira, Heracles, and the tragedy that results from a deceptive promise. Explores intention and consequence, trust, unequal power, heroism, and family obligations, with reading guidance and discussion questions.
Read resource →GREEK TRAGEDY • BACKGROUND GUIDE
An accessible introduction to ancient Greek tragedy, explaining its origins, major playwrights, theatrical conventions, Chorus, dramatic structure, religious context, and central conflicts. Includes essential literary terms, reading strategies, and questions students can apply to tragedies by Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides.
Read resource →FOR STUDENTS
A clear introduction to the Greek mythological background students need before reading Homer, including the Trojan War, the major gods, the House of Atreus, the judgment of Paris, and the events that connect The Iliad and The Odyssey.
Read resource →FOR STUDENTS
A practical introduction for students reading Homer for the first time, with guidance on unfamiliar names, gods, heroic values, repeated language, long speeches, battle scenes, and the best ways to approach The Iliad and The Odyssey without feeling overwhelmed.
Read resource →GREEK TRAGEDY • BACKGROUND GUIDE
A clear introduction to the structure of ancient Greek tragedy, explaining the prologue, parodos, episodes, stasima, and exodos. Includes additional dramatic terms, a simplified performance sequence, an example from Sophocles’ Antigone, close-reading questions, and a classroom exercise.
Read resource →GREEK TRAGEDY • BACKGROUND GUIDE
An accessible guide to the Chorus in ancient Greek tragedy, explaining its role as a collective voice, dramatic participant, and performer of choral odes. Includes examples from Antigone, Oedipus the King, and Medea, along with reading strategies, discussion questions, and a classroom activity.
Read resource →Greek Tragedy · Teacher’s Guide
A teaching guide to Prometheus Bound, exploring Prometheus’ punishment for helping humanity, his resistance to Zeus, and the relationship between authority, suffering, knowledge, and freedom. Includes literary context, plot, characters, themes, teaching objectives, close-reading suggestions, and discussion questions.
Read resource →Greek Tragedy · Teacher’s Guide
A teaching guide to Aeschylus’ Seven Against Thebes, exploring Eteocles’ defense of Thebes, his fatal confrontation with his brother Polyneices, and the conflict between civic responsibility and inherited family violence. Includes historical context, plot, themes, teaching objectives, close-reading suggestions, and discussion questions.
Read resource →Greek Tragedy · Teacher’s Guide
A teaching guide to Aeschylus’ Suppliant Women, exploring the flight of the daughters of Danaus, their appeal for sanctuary in Argos, and the conflict between religious obligation and political responsibility. Includes historical context, plot, characters, themes, teaching objectives, close-reading suggestions, and discussion questions.
Read resource →Greek Tragedy · Teacher’s Guide
A teaching guide to Aeschylus’ The Oresteia, examining the three plays—Agamemnon, The Libation Bearers, and The Eumenides—and their movement from family vengeance toward public justice. Includes plot summaries, principal figures, themes, teaching objectives, close-reading suggestions, and discussion questions.
Read resource →Greek Tragedy · Teacher’s Guide
A teaching guide to Aeschylus’ The Persians, exploring the defeat of Xerxes’ army through the perspective of the Persian royal court. Examines leadership, overconfidence, grief, divine judgment, and the human costs of war. Includes historical context, plot, characters, teaching objectives, close-reading suggestions, and classroom questions.
Read resource →Greek Comedy · Teacher’s Guide
A teaching guide to Aristophanes’ Birds, exploring political ambition, utopian dreams, persuasive speech, imperial power, and the transformation of an imagined peaceful society into a new political order. Includes historical context, plot, characters, themes, teaching objectives, close-reading suggestions, classroom activities, and discussion questions.
Read resource →Greek Comedy · Teacher’s Guide
A teaching guide to Aristophanes’ Clouds, exploring the comic portrayal of Socrates, the conflict between traditional and fashionable education, the misuse of persuasive speech, and the consequences of Strepsiades’ attempts to escape his debts. Includes historical context, plot, characters, themes, teaching objectives, close-reading passages, activities, and discussion questions.
Read resource →Greek Comedy · Teacher’s Guide
A teaching guide to Aristophanes’ Frogs, exploring Dionysus’ journey to the underworld, the rivalry between Aeschylus and Euripides, literary criticism, civic responsibility, and the role of poetry during political crisis. Includes historical context, plot, characters, themes, teaching objectives, classroom activities, and discussion questions.
Read resource →Greek Comedy · Teacher’s Guide
A teaching guide to Aristophanes’ Knights, examining political demagoguery, public persuasion, corruption, the rivalry between Paphlagon and the sausage seller, and the representation of the Athenian people as Demos. Includes historical context, plot, characters, major themes, teaching objectives, close-reading passages, classroom activities, and discussion questions.
Read resource →Greek Comedy · Teacher’s Guide
A comprehensive teaching guide to Aristophanes’ Lysistrata, examining the women’s campaign to end the Peloponnesian War, collective action, gender and political authority, financial power, and the comedy’s frank sexual satire. Includes historical context, characters, themes, teaching objectives, discussion questions, and classroom activities.
Read resource →Greek Comedy · Teacher’s Guide
A comprehensive teaching guide to Aristophanes’ Peace, exploring Trygaeus’s fantastic journey, the rescue of the goddess Peace, the costs of warfare, agricultural life, political satire, and collective action. Includes historical context, character explanations, major themes, teaching objectives, close-reading suggestions, classroom activities, and discussion questions.
Read resource →Greek Tragedy · Teacher’s Guide
A teaching guide to Euripides’ Bacchae, exploring Dionysus’ arrival in Thebes, King Pentheus’ resistance, and the conflict between religious experience and political authority. Includes literary context, plot, characters, major themes, teaching objectives, close-reading suggestions, classroom activities, and discussion questions.
Read resource →Greek Tragedy · Teacher’s Guide
A teaching guide to Euripides’ Hippolytus, exploring Phaedra’s forbidden desire, Hippolytus’ devotion to Artemis, Theseus’ fatal judgment, and the conflict between divine power and human responsibility. Includes historical context, plot, characters, major themes, teaching objectives, close-reading suggestions, classroom activities, and discussion questions.
Read resource →Greek Tragedy · Teacher’s Guide
A teaching guide to Euripides’ Medea, exploring betrayal, exile, gender and power, persuasion, revenge, and moral responsibility. Includes historical context, a plot overview, character descriptions, major themes, teaching objectives, close-reading suggestions, classroom activities, and discussion questions.
Read resource →Greek Tragedy · Teacher’s Guide
A teaching guide to Euripides’ Orestes, examining the aftermath of matricide, competing claims of justice, political persuasion, loyalty, escalating violence, and divine intervention. Includes context, plot, characters, themes, teaching objectives, close-reading suggestions, activities, and discussion questions.
Read resource →TEACHING THE CLASSICS
A classroom-oriented guide to the major characters in Homer’s Iliad, with explanations of their roles in the poem, relationships and traits to watch, and questions that help students understand Homer’s treatment of heroism, honor, leadership, war, and mortality.
Read resource →TEACHING THE CLASSICS
Discussion questions for Homer’s Iliad, organized around major episodes, characters, and themes, with prompts for close reading, classroom conversation, short written responses, and longer analysis
Read resource →TEACHING THE CLASSICS
A guide to the major themes of Homer’s Iliad, including anger, honor, heroism, leadership, friendship, mortality, fate, grief, family, and the human cost of war, with questions to help students connect these ideas across the poem.
Read resource →TEACHING THE CLASSICS
A practical guide to teaching Homer’s Iliad, with essential background, book-by-book guidance, central themes and questions, discussion topics, writing assignments, and a flexible framework for classroom use.
Read resource →THE ILIAD • TEACHER GUIDE
Practical guidance for teaching Homer’s Iliad in high school, including background students actually need, suggested books for close reading, approaches to the battle scenes, discussion strategies, a flexible four-week pacing model, and assessment ideas.
Read resource →FOR TEACHERS
A flexible four-week plan for teaching Homer’s Iliad, with suggested readings, themes, classroom activities, and assessments.
Read resource →FOR TEACHERS
Short-response questions, analytical writing prompts, and full essay assignments for studying Homer’s Iliad.
Read resource →TEACHING THE CLASSICS
A classroom-oriented guide to the major characters in Homer’s Odyssey, with explanations of their roles in the story, traits and relationships to watch, and questions that help students consider why each character matters.
Read resource →TEACHING THE CLASSICS
Discussion questions for Homer’s Odyssey, organized around major episodes, characters, and themes, with prompts for close reading, classroom conversation, written responses, and longer analysis.
Read resource →TEACHING THE CLASSICS
A guide to the major themes of Homer’s Odyssey, including homecoming, identity, hospitality, loyalty, temptation, leadership, mortality, divine intervention, and justice, with questions to help students connect these ideas across the poem.
Read resource →TEACHING THE CLASSICS
A practical guide to teaching Homer’s Odyssey, with background for students, book-by-book guidance, central themes and questions, discussion topics, writing assignments, and a flexible framework for classroom use.
Read resource →TEACHING THE CLASSICS
Practical guidance for high school teachers planning an Odyssey unit, with suggestions for pacing, choosing what to read closely, helping students manage unfamiliar material, using discussion effectively, and balancing literary analysis with the momentum of the story.
Read resource →THE ODYSSEY • TEACHER RESOURCE
A classroom-ready essay rubric for evaluating student writing on Homer’s Odyssey, with clear criteria for argument, textual evidence, analysis, organization, and writing quality. Includes a printable teacher-and-student PDF available by email.
Read resource →THE ODYSSEY • TEACHER PACK
A comprehensive printable classroom bundle for teaching Homer’s Odyssey, with unit pacing, discussion questions, worksheets, a journey map, writing assignments, literary-analysis guides, quizzes, answer keys, and assessment materials. A 46 page guide including maps and quizzes. Available as one free PDF by email.
Read resource →THE ODYSSEY • TEACHER GUIDE
A flexible high-school pacing guide for teaching all 24 books of Homer’s Odyssey, with both 4-week and 6-week unit plans, assessment checkpoints, and suggested RRP classroom resources. A free printable teacher PDF is available by email.
Read resource →TEACHER’S GUIDE · EPICUREAN PHILOSOPHY & THE NATURAL WORLD
A guide to teaching Lucretius’ On the Nature of Things, exploring Epicurean philosophy, atoms and void, mortality, the natural world, and the poem’s distinctive use of poetry to communicate philosophical arguments.
Read resource →Greek Tragedy · Discussion & Analysis
A collection of discussion questions for Sophocles’ Ajax, organized by scene, character, and theme. Includes questions about heroic honor, divine intervention, family obligations, burial rights, and the meaning of justice, with activities for classroom discussion and independent study.
Read resource →Greek Tragedy · Vocabulary & Glossary
A student-friendly glossary of essential terms for studying Sophocles’ Ajax, including heroic honor, shame, divine intervention, burial rites, dramatic structure, and Greek literary concepts. Includes examples, distinctions between related terms, and vocabulary activities.
Read resource →Greek Tragedy · Literary Analysis
An examination of the major themes in Sophocles’ Ajax, including heroic honor, shame, family obligations, divine intervention, military authority, compassion, and the treatment of the dead. Includes interpretive questions and a comparative analysis activity.
Read resource →Greek Tragedy · Teacher Resources
A classroom-ready guide to Sophocles’ Ajax, exploring heroic honor, shame, divine intervention, family obligations, and the dispute over burial. Includes character analysis, teaching strategies, discussion questions, and writing assignments.
Read resource →Greek Tragedy · Worksheets & Activities
A classroom-ready collection of six worksheets for Sophocles’ Ajax, covering plot comprehension, character motivations, heroic honor, the apparent change of mind, the burial dispute, and evidence-based literary analysis.
Read resource →ANTIGONE • WRITING & ESSAY ASSIGNMENTS
A graduated collection of writing assignments for Sophocles’ Antigone, ranging from focused analytical paragraphs to literary analysis, argumentative essays, and advanced college-level prompts. Includes guidance for developing strong arguments and an optional essay-planning framework.
Read resource →ANTIGONE • DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
A collection of open-ended discussion questions for Sophocles’ Antigone, organized around the progression of the play. Designed for close reading, whole-class conversation, small-group work, Socratic seminar, and written preparation, the questions move from Antigone’s opening decision through the final consequences of Creon’s actions.
Read resource →ANTIGONE • THEMES GUIDE
An accessible guide to six major themes in Sophocles’ Antigone: divine and human law, family and the state, authority and leadership, pride and inflexibility, gender and power, and wisdom through suffering. Includes points to watch while reading, questions for analysis, and a concluding examination of how the themes intersect.
Read resource →ANTIGONE • TEACHER GUIDE
A practical guide to teaching Sophocles’ Antigone, with essential background, character guidance, dramatic structure, central themes, close-reading scenes, a flexible seven-class sequence, discussion questions, writing assignments, and guidance for teaching the tragic ending.
Read resource →Greek Tragedy · Teacher’s Guide
A practical teaching guide to Sophocles’ Oedipus at Colonus, exploring Oedipus’s final journey, the claims of family and city, the treatment of outsiders, divine protection, and the search for dignity after suffering. Includes essential context, characters, themes, teaching objectives, close-reading passages, and discussion guidance.
Read resource →Greek Tragedy · Teacher’s Guide
A comprehensive teaching guide to Sophocles’ Oedipus the King, examining the search for truth, fate and human choice, dramatic irony, political leadership, and moral responsibility. Includes historical context, plot and character analysis, teaching objectives, discussion questions, and classroom activities.
Read resource →Greek Tragedy · Teacher’s Guide
A practical guide to teaching Sophocles’ Philoctetes, examining the conflict between honesty and military necessity, the consequences of abandonment, Neoptolemus’s moral development, and the competing demands of loyalty and duty. Includes historical context, characters, themes, teaching objectives, close-reading passages, and discussion guidance.
Read resource →Greek Tragedy · Teacher’s Guide
A practical teaching guide to Sophocles’ Women of Trachis, exploring Deianeira’s tragic decision, Heracles’ suffering, the consequences of deception, and the relationship between intention and responsibility. Includes historical context, plot, characters, major themes, teaching objectives, discussion questions, and classroom guidance.
Read resource →GREEK TRAGEDY • BACKGROUND GUIDE
A comparative introduction to Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides, exploring their surviving tragedies, dramatic approaches, treatment of justice, knowledge, suffering, and the Chorus. Includes examples from the Oresteia, The Persians, Antigone, Oedipus the King, Medea, and The Bacchae, together with discussion questions and a comparative classroom activity.
Read resource →GREEK TRAGEDY • BACKGROUND GUIDE
A student-friendly introduction to Aristotle's analysis of Greek tragedy, including hamartia, hubris, catharsis, recognition, reversal, and the importance of plot. Distinguishes Aristotle's ideas from later classroom formulas and provides examples from Oedipus the King, Antigone, and Medea, along with discussion questions and a classroom exercise.
Read resource →GREEK TRAGEDY • BACKGROUND GUIDE
An accessible examination of fate, prophecy, free choice, and moral responsibility in Greek tragedy. Uses examples from Sophocles and Aeschylus to distinguish unavoidable circumstances from individual decisions, with close-reading questions and a classroom activity for evaluating tragic choices.
Read resource →GREEK TRAGEDY • BACKGROUND GUIDE
An accessible guide to the role of the gods in Greek tragedy, examining divine authority, oracles, prophecy, sacred obligations, ritual, justice, and human responsibility. Includes examples from Sophocles and Euripides, close-reading questions, and a classroom activity distinguishing characters’ beliefs from dramatic evidence.
Read resource →GREEK TRAGEDY • HISTORICAL BACKGROUND
A student-friendly guide to the political, religious, and cultural setting of Greek tragedy in fifth-century Athens. Explains Athenian democracy and its limits, the festivals of Dionysus, dramatic competitions, audiences, empire, warfare, and the historical settings of Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides. Includes discussion questions and a classroom activity.
Read resource →GREEK TRAGEDY • THEATER & PERFORMANCE
A student-friendly introduction to the ancient Greek theater and the performance traditions of tragedy. Explains the theatron, orchestra, skene, actors, masks, costumes, the Chorus, music, messenger speeches, and festival audiences, with practical questions to help students imagine how Greek tragedies were originally experienced
Read resource →GREEK TRAGEDY • BACKGROUND GUIDE
A critical introduction to the idea of the tragic hero, explaining why Greek tragedy cannot always be reduced to a noble character with a fatal flaw. Examines error, pride, suffering, moral responsibility, and the complexity of tragic protagonists, with examples from Antigone, Oedipus the King, Ajax, and Medea. Includes discussion questions and a comparative classroom activity.
Read resource →ANTIGONE • VOCABULARY & GLOSSARY
A student-friendly reference to essential vocabulary for reading and discussing Sophocles’ Antigone. Covers Greek dramatic form, religious and burial practices, law and civic authority, and useful language for analyzing character and conflict, with explanations of how important terms apply to the play.
Read resource →FOR STUDENTS - VOCABULARY OF THE ODYSSEY
A student-friendly guide to essential vocabulary for reading Homer’s Odyssey, including epic terminology, Greek cultural concepts, religious practices, important places and peoples, and recurring ideas that help students understand the poem.
Read resource →ANTIGONE • WORKSHEET PACK
Six flexible classroom worksheets for Sophocles’ Antigone, focusing on competing obligations, decisions and consequences, listening and leadership, character analysis, turning points, and final synthesis. Designed to develop evidence-based interpretation rather than simple plot recall.
Read resource →Greek Tragedy · Writing & Literary Analysis
A collection of short writing prompts, analytical essays, comparative assignments, and research questions for Sophocles’ Ajax. Students examine heroic honor, shame, family obligations, divine intervention, compassion, and justice while practicing close reading and evidence-based argument.
Read resource →FOR TEACHERS
A ready-to-use 100-point rubric for evaluating analytical essays on Homer’s Iliad, with clear performance levels for thesis, textual evidence, analysis, organization, and writing quality.
Read resource →The Odyssey Student Worksheet Pack
Four flexible student worksheets for tracking Odysseus's journey and its consequences, xenia and hospitality, identity and recognition, and character development across Homer's Odyssey. Designed for use throughout the poem and includes a free printable student PDF for classroom use.
Read resource →SOPHOCLES—IN HIS OWN WORDS
Selected passages from Ian Johnston's Oedipus at Colonus Translation
Read resource →SOPHOCLES—IN HIS OWN WORDS
Selected passages from Ian Johnston's Philoctetes Translation
Read resource →ANTIGONE • CHARACTER GUIDE
A student-friendly guide to the major characters in Sophocles’ Antigone, examining their roles, motivations, relationships, conflicts, and development throughout the tragedy. Includes a cast-at-a-glance reference, detailed character profiles, important relationships, key contrasts, and questions to guide close reading.
Read resource →Greek Tragedy · Character Analysis
A guide to the major characters in Sophocles’ Ajax, examining their motivations, relationships, competing values, and contributions to the tragedy’s central conflicts. Includes a character relationship overview, close-reading questions, and comparative activities.
Read resource →A READER’S GUIDE
A Guide to the Major Characters in Homer’s Iliad
Read resource →A READER’S GUIDE
A Guide to the Major Characters in Homer’s Odyssey
Read resource →THE ODYSSEY • MAP
A classroom-ready map tracing one possible route of Odysseus’s travels through the Mediterranean, from Troy to Ithaca, with 14 numbered stops and book references. Includes a free printable PDF for classroom use.
Read resource →ESSAY ON THE ODYSSEY
A New Generation Discovers The Odyssey. This gives educators a new opportunity.
Read resource →TEACHING THE CLASSICS
Renewed interest in The Odyssey is bringing Homer to a new generation. The challenge for educators is helping students encounter the poem in an accessible form without sacrificing its language, ideas, and enduring questions.
Read resource →THE ENDURING ODYSSEY
For nearly three thousand years, Odysseus has remained one of literature’s most compelling heroes. His intelligence, pride, failures, endurance, and longing for home still raise questions that feel remarkably familiar: what makes a hero, what does hardship do to us, and what does it really mean to find our way home?
Read resource →TIMELESS WISDOM, ENDURING RELEVANCE
How the ancient world still shapes our world today
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