From Thessaloniki the museum kit traveled to Cyprus. Eight Frieze museum kits were donated to the Ministry of Education of Cyprus. Mrs. Chr. Papadopoulou from the Department of Elementary Level Museum Education showed us the use of the museum kit and its further developments under Cypriot circumstances, with the spotlight on the worship of the goddess Aphrodite. Their enthusiasm fired by the Parthenon Frieze and the Panathenaic procession, the students went ahead to find parallel festivities in honor of the goddess and located them on their island, like the Aphrodisia and the Adonia. They elaborated on the topic orally, by acting and through art; they described the procession of the goddess, brought it back to life in a theatrical play, and after each student chose one figure from the procession they put its shape on paper and finally, by sticking all the figures on a piece of cloth, created their own procession. Another group of children studied riders and charioteers, and then built their own chariot, including its drivers, using mixed materials.

The ensuing talk was a joint effort from Mrs. M. Drogiti, Mrs. A. Alexopoulou and Mrs. M. Koutousi from the 2nd High School of Nafpaktos. Three cooperating schools had researched the Parthenon, the Frieze and the Panathenaic procession and on that basis connected and compared the festival with contemporary events. Then the three teachers introduced us to the exhibition of M. Korres, “From Mt Pentelikon to the Parthenon,” and several of the children’s construction projects that resulted from their partaking in a program at the chamber of the Municipality, which was visited by the entire town. In the frame of this exhibition another great display of the Parthenon sculptures was organized as well.

The next four reports showed how the Frieze was approacheded in a whole day-school, an Intercultural school, but also in particular classes like Mathematics and English.

Mr. V. Vazimas from the 145th whole -day Elementary School of Athens built, together with his students, a performance to “honor” the goddess Pallas Athena. Students of all classes performed a play that related to myths about Athena. The text was complemented by the re-enactment of the Panathenaic games and the procession including the handover of the “peplos”.

Mrs. K. Baxevani from the Intercultural Middle School of Acharnae chiefly concerned herself in familiarizing the children with other cultures, keeping in mind that 60 % of the students of the school are foreigners. She achieved this goal through role play, collecting information from various sources, compilation of a questionnaire about a Frieze they created and displayed to their entire neighborhood, as well as the construction of objects from mixed materials. The children put on a show for their fellow students and teachers at the Acropolis and also at their school for parents and teaching staff, while running an exhibition about the handmade and photographic material.

The ensuing speakers, A. Lekka, G. Gailas and Th. Alexiou from the Middle-High School at Volissos on the island of Chios combined History and the Ancient Greek Language with Mathematics by applying Pythagoras’ theorem to the construction of a board game about the Parthenon Frieze. This teaching adaptation was part of the final phase of activities involving workshops about public life in Athens in the 5th c. BC, workshops about the Frieze, the presentation of the Pythagorean Theorem and familiarizing students with the shapes, the volume and the geometric make-up of sections of the Frieze.

Mrs. A. Drakontaeidi from the 2nd Elementary School of Egaleo combined the program about the Panathenaia with another different class, English Language. For their distinct learning experience the students posed simple questions that any stranger might have asked about the Acropolis; they also wrote English texts and illustrated them with photos from books and self-made paintings, and thus acquired their knowledge about the Acropolis and its monuments in a very special way.

Museum kits can be considered a different kind of book; hence they should be placed in the library. For this reason effort was made to provide museum kits to those institutions that had libraries. Five reports demonstrated the way of exploiting the museum kits inside school libraries. At the 6th High School of Egaleo, Mrs. D. Karasavvoglou and her students studied at length the history of the Acropolis monuments and especially the Panathenaia, and thereafter, in teamwork, created an exhibition with 12 collages with pictures and short accompanying texts that the entire student body of the school had a chance to look at. Their activities culminated in the publication of a small sports news issue from classical times.

Mrs. E. Koubarouli from the 3rd High School of Pyrgos talked about the comparison between the Parthenon Frieze and the Frieze of the temple of Apollon Epikourios. Besides the collection of handouts and computer information, the students built a cardboard model of the Parthenon, a puzzle, a game of questions and answers as well as board games relating to the Parthenon that allowed them to locate similarities and differences on the friezes of the two temples, as far as their place, subject and style are concerned.

The reports from school libraries continued with Mrs. M. Bereti from the first Middle School of Lavrion. The students worked in groups inside the library. They gathered information and photographs about the Panathenaia, made plaster copies of the Frieze, acted scenes from the Panathenaic festival, made reproductions of ancient Greek costumes and photographically reconstructed scenes from the Parthenon Frieze. With all of this material they organized a huge exhibition in 6 sections that consisted of 25 panels that was visited by the entire town of Lavrion. The students also worked on the electronic representation of the program which basically meant recording the text about the Panathenaia read by the children, framing it with music, and synchronizing the sound product with a slide show on the computer with the assistance of a video projector. The panels, the electronic representation, the ancient costumes and the museum kit can be borrowed by any school of Lavrion that is interested.

In the prefecture of Larissa the museum kit traveled to 9 schools. Mrs. P. Mylona from the 7th High School of Larissa spoke next. At her school the kit was used in classes of Ancient History, with emphasis on the Games and finally in form of exhibition through verbal description. The students produced texts in form of an ancient newspaper which included the schedule of fantastic games where the children played the role of the judge, or texts making reference to those “omitted” from the games, for instance victories that were annulled. All these texts along with several pictures were shown in an exhibit on school grounds.

Mrs. M. Kondyli from the High School of Gastouni in Ileia dealt with the Panathenaia through more recent literature as well as myths and the local history. The children visited the Ancient Ilis, where the preparations for the Olympic Games took place, and studied temples and sanctuaries of Gods that the people of Ilis worshipped. The event of the lighting of the Olympian torch was given special attention and the students took part in a contemporary torchlight procession. Finally the children’s acquaintance with the protector of the potters and painters, the Goddess Athena Ergani, lead them to pursue the art of clay and to make a Panathenaic amphora - the prize for the winners.

The 17 reports above are merely some of the students’ projects during the program. By June all participating schools submitted the full description of their activities to our Service.