Tour Details
- Duration
- 2.5 hours
- Product Type
- Tour
- Venues
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- National Archaeological Museum of Athens
- Mask of Agamemnon
- Poseidon of Cape Artemision
- Collection of Kouros and Kore
- Jockey of Artemision
Photos & Highlights
- Visits the National Archaeological Museum
- Led by expert guides who will bring history alive for your children
Select a date
Tour Description
Visiting Athens makes the imagination come alive. The city of Athena is full of stories of Greek Gods and ancient mythology, and there’s no better place to explore this than on this tour of the National Archaeological Museum of Athens for kids. During this 2.5-hour visit designed for children, we’ll explore Greece through the lens of the gods and heroes of Greek Mythology and encounter the most important statues, pottery and other artifacts uncovered on the Acropolis.
Athens for Kids
We’ll begin our conversation just outside the Athens Archaeological Museum, and together we’ll plunge into one of the most exciting museums in Europe. Using the vast collection of visual stimuli available, together we’ll make Greek mythological stories come to life.
The Greek Gods
We will explore statues of the Greek gods in the sculpture section of the museum, perhaps learning the story of Zeus, the father of the gods, or other deities and myths. We can discuss literary evidence and the connections between Greece and the ancient Middle East. Our discussion will be very question-based and interactive: What do you know about the Greek gods? What do you see in this statue? What does this hero seem to be thinking?
From there, we’ll dig deeper and investigate statues of other gods (Dionysus, Hermes, Poseidon, etc.) and talk about their mythological lives. Among them, we will see the famous statue of the frivolous god Pan making advances to Aphrodite, while she is threatening him with her sandal and is defended by her son Eros. Perhaps we’ll talk about Demeter, her daughter Persephone, the Eleusinian mysteries, and Greek concepts of the Underworld.
Ancient Heroes
After the gods, we will talk about heroes, including Heracles and Theseus. We can discuss such stories as Theseus’ expedition to Crete to kill the Minotaur, and his success thanks to the help of Ariadne. If the group prefers, we can move to the Mycenaean section of the museum and see the famous ‘mask of Agamemnon’ and other exhibits from the Mycenaean period. At this point, we will talk about the Greek expedition to Troy led by Agamemnon, the battle's aftermath, and the return of the heroes to mainland Greece, as well as the fate of the leader himself.
By the end of our time together we’ll have a very rich understanding of how Greek statuary, pottery, and other artifacts reflect the living culture of the ancient Greeks.
Please note:
Starting February 2024, the galleries of the Vases, Metalwork and Minor Arts Collections will not be accessible to visitors due to renovation works.
FAQ
Is this walk appropriate for teens?
Our family tours are primarily designed for children under the age of 12, and this one in particular is ideal for young kids. For teens we would recommend our private adult Bronze, Marble and Gold: Paragons of Ancient Greece tour, the content for which can be adapted to an age-appropriate level.
Is this tour suitable for visitors with mobility issues?
Yes. The museum is wheelchair accessible and it has wheelchairs available to loan.
Where You'll Start
21 Reviews
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Reviews can only be left by Context customers after they have completed a tour. For more information about our reviews, please see our FAQ.
our daughter is studying the classics at college and Sophie was able to challenge her and celebrate her breadth of knowledge
Ann
Jun. 28, 2017
Vassilliios was AWESOME! So knowledgeable, friendly, flexible, great with our kids.
Elena
Apr. 16, 2017
The guide was good at connecting with the children & with the grown ups. We've had two tours now, and one way they both could have been better would be if the guides had been able to improvise well. They both seemed knowledgeable ( a plus), but scripted--- they were not able to adapt the tour to their audience (us) well. They were both "in their heads", but less able to be playful and curious--- two traits that are really important when you are working with kids. When engaging children, asking questions is the best way to succeed--- instead, the guides leaned heavily on oration. The Athens guide, especially, spent too much time trying to impart factual information and too little time trying to connect the children to the artifacts that they were seeing. He knew that the kids had studied greek mythology, but he didn't ask them many questions about what they knew and how it related to the artifacts that they were viewing. The drawing pads & colored pencils were a great idea. And asking the kids to draw something so that the guide could spend some time answering adult questions was helpful. But, sometimes the guide just picked a random item for the kids to draw that did not really relate to the tour & did not really contribute much to their understanding of what they were seeing. The guide was good at making eye contact with the kids, at being flexible to take a break in the middle, at being gracious when we were lost and 40 minutes late for our tour. Our daughters liked the guide and felt comfortable with him (and so did we). It was obvious that our guide enjoyed talking to us about the artifacts that we saw.
Melinda
May. 1, 2015
