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The Iliad · Books 17–20
The Fallen Friend
An escape room on Homer's Iliad, Books 17–20, in translation
Patroclus is dead, and the two armies fight over his body while the news races to Achilles. Seven locks test what you know of Books 17–20 of the Iliad.
Students solve seven self-checking locks on four books of the poem and earn a word from each. At the last lock they put two of those words together to answer the final clue.
Play the free taster (2 of 7 locks)Members: full room
The taster runs in the browser, with nothing to install. Members share a private class link that opens all seven locks.
What's inside
- 7 self-checking locks: a crossword, scrambled names, a secret message, who's who, make the pairs, odd one out and a final lock
- Names in this room: Achilles, Patroclus, Hector, Thetis, Hephaestus, Menelaus, Antilochus, Agamemnon, Briseis, Aeneas, Xanthus, Ajax, Apollo, Athena
- Works with any English translation
- No logins and nothing to install; progress is saved in the browser
- Takes about one lesson
For teachers
Each room covers four books, and every answer comes from them, so it checks reading as well as recall. The seven locks:
- Crossword — ten names, places and things from the books, with clues from the story.
- Scrambled names — unscramble seven names, with a clue for each.
- Secret message — decode a shift-three cipher and answer the riddle it asks.
- Who's who — match eight characters to what they do in these books.
- Make the pairs — complete four pairs (father and son, host and guest…) from a set of cards.
- Odd one out — six rows on people, gods and events: find the one that does not belong.
- The last lock — choose two of the words earned in locks 1–6 to answer the final clue.
Most students take 30 to 45 minutes. They can work alone or in pairs on any device with a browser, or you can project the room and solve it together. Every answer checks itself, and progress is saved in the browser, so a room can be split across two sessions. The rooms work with any English translation, and suit classical homeschoolers, literature and Classical Civilisation classes from about grade 7.
