Delphi’s Guide to Athens is a free-to-access, child-friendly section of the website which can be used for storytelling, history, philosophy and more!
This resource uses short stories, drawings, photographs, information and philosophical questions to create an immersive tour of ancient Athens and exploration of the history, mythology and philosophy of ancient Greece.
Delphi’s Guide to Athens can be used for:
​
-
Fun and interactive storytelling. Lead a class through the city, following Delphi’s stories and choosing where to go next, choose-your-own-adventure style!
​
-
Child-friendly research. The stories and facts bring ancient Greece to life and will develop children’s understanding of what it was like to live in ancient Athens. This might help children research a project about ancient Greece, in class or for homework.
​​
-
Philosophy discussions or enquiries. There are all sorts of questions that Delphi thinks of as she wonders around the city – and each one can form the basis of a philosophy enquiry.
​​
-
As a stimulus for learning across the curriculum. The texts could be used for reading comprehension, a writing stimulus and much more, and is a perfect resource for curriculum work about the ancient Greeks or mythology.
​​
-
To learn more about Delphi and her home, and watching the story of Delphi the Philosopher through the links to our YouTube videos.
​​
-
A brilliant child-friendly guide to Athens today if you are taking the family on holiday!
What can I use it for?
Delphi’s Guide to Athens can be used across the curriculum. There’s no right or wrong way to use this resource, but here’s a few ideas to get you started:
History:
-
Child-friendly research: Use the index to guide children to the section of the site you’d like them to research. This could be completed in individually, in pairs or groups, as part of a class project or for homework.
-
Chronology: Use the timeline (at the Acropolis) to teach the history and chronology of Ancient Athens, including what Athens was like during Roman times.
-
Source work: Use the photographs and pictures to discuss how historians learn about the past, and how certain we can be about historical information and representations.
-
Mythology: Use the pages about the Greek gods to teach about Greek religion and beliefs.
-
Famous people: Investigate famous figures such as Socrates or Pericles by exploring the stories around the site.
​​
Philosophy:
-
Class discussions and enquiries: Use the big questions in each location to have a class discussion and encourage responses. Use the responses of the characters to show examples and introduce different ideas.
-
Philosophy lessons: For a full philosophy scheme of work, we’d recommend using Delphi the Philosopher to teach children the skills they need – but this resource is perfect to extend their skills alongside or beyond this (or any other) scheme of work.
-
Select questions: Explore the site and let children choose the questions they’d like to explore or write their own based on each place.
-
Famous philosophers: Start to teach the important ideas of philosophers like Socrates, Plato, Aristotle and Diogenes.
​​
English:
-
Class novel: Read the stories like a choose-your-own adventure class novel. You could spend each session in one location, using the pictures for comprehension and the big question for discussion. Then vote where you should go next time!
-
Reading comprehension: Use the short stories or non-fiction sections for practising retrieval or inference skills.
-
Writing: Why not try writing a response to the big questions? Or writing a non-fiction text about the information about what they have learned? Or even continue one of Delphi’s stories with what happened next?
-
Mythology: The texts about the Greek gods would work perfectly as model texts or comprehension texts alongside an English unit on Greek myths.
-
Drama: Act out important gatherings in the city, like at the Assembly in the Pnyx or the law courts in the Agora. Or hotseat being a god and carry on Delphi's conversation!
​​
​
Citizenship and PSHE:
-
Democracy: Learn about the history of democracy and citizenship by exploring locations like the Pnyx and discuss how it compares to these ideas today.
-
Equality: Use the stories to discuss the differences between how men and women were treated in Ancient Greece, and how this has changed over time.
​
Maths:
-
Marketplace: Set up your own Agora with children selling different products from Ancient Athens. Practise using coins, calculating change, measuring or converting weights and more!
​​
Religious Education:
-
Mythology: Visit the religious buildings in the city and visit the gods pages to introduce children to the gods, myths and beliefs in Ancient Athens. You could investigate how this impacted on the life of the people or how this contrasts with other religions and beliefs.
​​
Geography:
-
Map work: Use the map to locate all the important locations in Athens. This could lead to drawing your own map or writing and interpreting instructions and directions.
​​
Art, Design & Technology:
-
Pictures: Use the pictures on the site to practise drawing in the same style or use the photographs to practise drawing or painting in different styles.
-
Designing and building: Try using different materials to recreate the famous buildings like the Parthenon. Or you could investigate what materials we should use so the columns of the Erechtheion temple don’t collapse!
​​
Music:
-
Greek wedding: You could use wind and percussion instruments to write and perform music for a wedding procession through the streets of Athens.
​​
PE:
-
Ancient Greek Games: Compete in running and throwing events like the Olympians and athletes of Athens (but unlike the Ancient Greeks, keep your clothes on!).
To see how we've been using Delphi's Guide to Athens in the classroom, you can read Rosie's blog post about her recent lessons here.
Download a full set of printable resources
​
Become a Delphi Philosophy member and access the full set of Delphi's Guide to Athens resources as a download, as well as access to all our other resources, schemes of work and stories.
We’d also love to hear your feedback about this resource – please tell us how you’re finding it by contacting us here.
Become a member and access all of our resources!
Join our community today and access the complete set of Delphi Philosophy resources, get first access to trial resources and much more!
Delphi Membership
30£Access the full set of Delphi resources & community supportValid for one year- Complete set of resources for Delphi the Philosopher
- Complete set of resources for Delphi the Dreamer
- Access to all our Enquiry Packs, including Best Teacher Ever
- Full set of printable resources for Delphi's Guide to Athens
- Access to the Teacher's Toolkit
- First access to trial versions of new resources
- Access to the Agora Forum