CURIOSITY CLUB
Fight for your Friends!
TEACHER NOTES
Task Summary
Station: 850BC
Reference:
90850CT02T
CULTURE
THE
Extension Score: NA Time: 60 minutes Difficulty: 7 A 3000-year-old story of weakness and dependency that is bang up to date – tell it
your way.
Background Information
The Land of the Lotus Eaters is Odysseus’s second stop on his journey home to
Troy.
Although a well-known story, Homer spends just 25 lines of his poem, The
Odyssey, telling us about the Lotus Eaters. It is a simple tale, one with which the
ancient people reading the text at that time would be familiar with – the lure of a
happy oblivion and the danger of substances that create that effect.
The fabled blue lotus was used by ancient Egyptian high priests in religious
ceremonies. Certain preparations of this plant may have had psychedelic properties. Many early religious practises involved the ingestion of substances that
chemically induced a particular state of mind that might encourage a ‘profound’
or ‘moving’ experience, or see the world from a different plane. Homer may have
been alluding to this and commenting on this religious practice by including the
Lotus Eaters in his tale. Being a Greek, it may have been a derogatory aspersion to
the loose morals of their Egyptian neighbours.
Odysseus’ journey is seen by many as a series of trials through which he will gain
wisdom and be prepared for his role as a great king, having already proved his
worth as a great warrior. So what great skill does he exercise here? Perhaps it is
judgement? The goal fixed firmly in his head is to survive and reach home. Courage
and cunning are not required here as they will be in many of his other trials. Here,
good judgement means he sees the disadvantages and dangers in the easy road his
men have taken and avoids the same mistake himself. Further to this, he forgives
his men their weakness, realising that with ambition and memory gone, they
cannot be expected to free themselves from this ‘prison.’ He could abandon them
with disdain but instead he acts for them and rescues them from themselves.
© What on Earth Publishing 2016
www.curiosity-club.co.uk
Methodology
There is little limit to what the creativity of the student might enable them to
produce here. Although many will probably opt to produce a straightforward
essay, other possible products could be a comic strip or a play script.
There is no predicting what the students’ imagination might come up with, but the
writing should contain at least the three key ideas:
• A small group of people find themselves in an unfamiliar situation;
• They are guided to try something new which alters how they think and feel;
• A friend, concerned about their whereabouts and welfare, locates them and
helps them because they cannot help themselves.
Assessment Criteria
The challenge is to develop the skills of visualisation, literacy and communication
through the adaptation of Homer’s The Lotus Eaters to a modern day setting. The
piece of written work produced should:
• Contain the key elements from the original Lotus Eaters and the story should
follow the same framework;
• Contain written words, although a traditional essay is not the only acceptable
form;
• Be set in the modern day.
Exstension Challenge
There is no extension for this challenge.
Resources
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Access to the internet.
Access to reference books.
A4/A3 paper lined/plain.
Writing equipment.
Coloured pens/pencils.
Curriculum Reference
3-E, 3E-1,
3E-5, 3E-6,
3E-11, 3E-21,
3E-22, 3E-23,
3E-35, 3E-36,
3E-37