The Penelope Project
In ancient Greek mythology, Penelope was the patient wife of the famous Greek traveler, Odysseus. Gone for 20 long years fighting in the Trojan War and then forced to take a circuitous route home, he finally arrived at his tiny island of Ithaca, alone on a rickety, hand-made raft. Mythology students often hear about Odysseus' many exciting adventures like the blinding of the Cyclops and his tangle with the mysterious Circe who turned his sailors into pigs. He is known for his craftiness and cleverness, always escaping from terrifying situations, thanks to his quick wits.
But too frequently, mythology students don't hear about his equally clever wife, Penelope, and her struggle to survive in the wake of her husband's long absence. While he was gone, Penelope was forced to stand up to the suitors, men who lay in wait to marry her because they reasoned that her husband would never return. They took over her palace, ate her food, and reminded her of that she was powerless to stop them. She kept them at bay for those 20 long years with a lie. That artful lie is the focus of this STEAM project!
In the ancient classical world, women were expected to spin yarn and weave cloth for the household. It's a time-consuming process that must have taken many people long hours and many days to accomplish. During this time, women sat around chatting about their lives and enjoying each other's company. In the story of Penelope, she used her weaving skill to trick the suitors. She told them that she had to weave a burial shroud for her father-in-law. Only when she was done with this weaving project, would she choose one of the suitors to marry. The suitors accepted this decision, but they certainly didn't expect her to take years to weave a piece of cloth. What they didn't know was that she was scamming them! Every evening when the suitors all went to sleep, she secretly unraveled most of the weaving she had done so that her job would take much, much longer.
This year, during our 2023-24 Myth Makers class here at Glasgow Middle School, we'll be reading stories about ancient weaving: Penelope's of course, but also Arachne's story of hubris and the ancient Moirai, or Fates, who spun the threads that represented everyone's lives. Stories are wonderful, but in this unique class called Myth MAKERS, we don't just read the stories of mythology, we LIVE the stories through maker projects like weaving. During this unit, the students will learn to weave their own piece of cloth on a small loom that they build. After they've learned the basics of weaving, we'll take this project to the next level.
Illustration by Thomas Ehretsmann
An ancient warp-weighted loom from a Greek vase
Our challenge will be to build large warp-weighted looms on a wooden frame. The students will learn to weave in a large format to beautify our campus, creating woven panels to serve as sunshades for a sunny area of campus. Since only a few students at a time will be able to weave on these large-scale looms, we will arrange an outdoor classroom space so that while they weave, the rest of the class can listen to mythological stories and weave on their small individual looms. But where's the lie, you ask? Why is this project named after Penelope?
In a few short years, our school will be rebuilt (fingers crossed). Our looms will need to be removed, disassembled, and then placed at our new school. There's no lie really, just the idea that we'll need to undo some of what we do to save our work for the future. We'll have to be clever and resourceful, like Penelope, as we weave the threads of our future.
Come follow along on our blog, All STEM Leads to Rome, to see our progress!