74 pages • 2 hours read
Rosemary SutcliffBlack Ships Before Troy
Fiction | Novel | YA | Published in 1993A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz questions to prompt student engagement.
Paired Texts & Other Resources
Use these links to supplement and complement students’ reading of the work and to increase their overall enjoyment of literature. Challenge them to discern parallel themes, engage through visual and aural stimuli, and delve deeper into the thematic possibilities presented by the title.
Recommended Texts for Pairing
- graphic novel version of the story
- compare and contrast with Sutcliff’s rendering of the story
“Helen’s Lament” by Tracy Marks
- an accessible contemporary poem
- offers Helen’s perspective on the events of the story
- connects to the theme of The Roles of Mortal Women
“The Shot” by Alexander Pushkin
- a classic short story about a proposed duel between soldiers
- connects to the theme of The Importance of Honor
- Aesop’s fable about a race between a tortoise and a hare
- connects to the theme of Hubris: The Fatal Flaw
Other Student Resources
Did ancient Troy really exist?
- 5-minute YouTube explanation from Ted-Ed
- explains the search for the historical city of Troy
What Makes a Homeric Hero? Greek Myth Comix explaining the Greek Myths
- animated comic
- shows the qualities of Homeric heroes in a visual format
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