Marathon: The Ancient Greek Strategy Game Created by Ruth Paget for AP Students

Marathon: The Ancient Greek Strategy Game Created by Ruth Paget for AP Students

Objectives:

1-Learn to break down large books as a team to learn more quickly

2-Obtain a glimpse into ancient Greek culture

3-Obtain a glimpse into ancient Persian culture

4-Learn about strategy and its modern business world uses after analyzing

5-Brainstorm strategy ideas for obtaining an entry-level position in your dream profession

6-Learn to play the ancient Greek game called knucklebones

7-Sample Greek Food

Historical Background:

In 490 BC, the armies of the Greek leader Miltiades (554 BC – 489 BC) clashed with an invading force of Persians (ancient Iranians) under General Datis (born in Media during the Achaemenid Empire sometime between 522 BC and 486 BC).

General Datis was sent to invade Greece by the Persian King Darius I (550 BC – 487 BC).

General Datis attacked with a force of 20,000 Persian troops against a force of 10,000 Greek troops.

Battle Outcome:

10,000 Greek troops defeated 20,000 Persian troops.  1/3 of the Persian army was killed.

Philippiades (530 BC – 490 BC) ran from Marathon to Athens with the news of the battle victory.  Today’s modern marathons are named after this famous victory run.

Managing Group Reading

To break down a large book into small amounts of reading, imagine you have a book with 33 chapters and 8 team members.

If you divide 33 chapters by 8 team members, you can reduce reading time and learn the material more quickly.  The method for doing this follows:

33 chapters ÷ 8 team members = 4 chapters per team member to read plus 1 remaining chapter to read

For each chapter you are assigned to read, note 5 to 10 main points for each assigned chapter

The team can decide who should get the extra chapter to read.  Suggestion:  Someone with a short assigned chapter to read should read the extra chapter.

Team Set-Up

Break a group a group into two teams

Both teams will complete tasks 1 – 4 as a team

For task 5, the two teams will come together to discuss strategies for obtaining entry-level jobs in a profession they want to pursue using what they have learned from the battlefield strategy at Marathon

Number of Tasks to Complete: 5

Task 1: Analyze Battle at Marathon 490 BC to Understand Strategy Used

Read about the Battle in encyclopedias and books and on websites.  Compare the information you find to see if there are differences.  Note sources.

Read about the Greek general Miltiades in encyclopedias and books and on websites.  Compare the information you find to see if there are differences.  Note sources.

Read about the Persian King Darius 1 in encyclopedias and books and on websites.  Compare the information you find to see if there are differences.  Note sources.

If you find differences, try to establish facts using guidelines you set up for establishing facts.

Why did 20,000 Persians lose to 10,000 Greeks?

Draw a picture of the Greek battlefield strategy.  Label the drawing with the following words:

-phalanx

-hoplite

-flank

-center

Define those four words above in one sentence for each word.

How many Persians died in this battle, if 1/3 of their troops died?  (Original Persian force 20,000)

Task 2:  Obtain a Glimpse into Ancient Greek Culture

Read Tales of the Greek Heroes by Roger Lancelyn Green as a team with each team member noting 5 to 10 main points for each assigned chapter

Questions to think about as you read the above book:

Do the characters’ emotions change during the story?

What happens when a character’s emotions clash with the other characters?

Another book to read about ancient Greek culture follows:

The Greek Way by Edith Hamilton

A must-read book is The Tale of Troy by Roger Lancelyn Green as a group, with each team member noting 5 to 10 main points for each assigned chapter.

This mythological battle imbued the ancient Greeks with ideals of heroism and knowledge of the cost of war even if justified. 

As you read about the Trojan War, ask yourself the following questions:

-Can you name conflicts that lead up to the point where both sides stop fighting?

-What is the story’s climax where hostilities stop?

-What happens after the climax?

-When does the Trojan War end?

-Was war by either side justified in the Trojan War?

Read Hesiod’s 800-line poem entitled Works and Days.  Note 5 to 10 main points for the lines assigned to each team member.

Read The Sarpedon Krater: The Life and Afterlife of a Greek Vase by Nigel Spivey

This beautiful vase depicts a fallen hero from Troy.  The book is a real Indiana Jones-like tale of putting an ancient artifact in the right museum.

Read Medea by Euripides

How is the story line in this play different from the Iliad (Tale of Troy)?

Can you think of any modern books that use this kind of story line?

Task 3:  Obtain a Glimpse into Ancient Persian Culture

Ancient Persia is now called Iran in the modern day.  The ancient Persians were not Muslims.  Islam did not exist at the time of the Battle of Marathon 490 BC.

Read the following suggested books as a team, noting 5 to 10 main points for each assigned chapter.

Shahnameh: The Persian Book of Kings by Elizabeth Baird (after Ferdowsi – children’s book)

Shahnameh:  The Persian Book of Kings by Abolgasen Ferdowsi

Read this as a team, noting 5 to 10 main points for each team member’s assigned chapters.

Persian Myths by Vesta Sarkosh Curtis

For your assigned chapters, note 5 to 10 main points for each chapter.

Task 4:  Modern-Day Strategy

Battlefield strategy helped the ancient Greeks defeat an invading army twice their size at the Battle at Marathon 490 BC.

Battlefield strategy has been applied to business in the modern day to achieve market success.

The suggested following books will introduce team members to strategy.  For assigned chapters, note 5 to 10 main points for each chapter.

-The Art of Strategy:  A Game Theorists Guide to Success in Business and Life by Avinash K. Dixit

-Good Strategy Bad Strategy: The Differences and Why it Matters by Richard Rumelt

Preparing for Task 5:

Before the combined teams meeting, type up your chapter main points and email them to the team secretary.  The team secretary will combine the email documents into one document and send them to team members and the other team’s secretary for distribution.

Team members should read both documents before meeting for Task 5.

Find out about entry-level jobs in the profession you would like to pursue.

Task 5:  Using Strategy and Wrap-Up Party

As a group, list the entry-level positions you need to enter professions you would like to pursue.

Use the strategy of making a digital portfolio of your qualifications to obtain these entry-level jobs or what you need to do to put together a digital portfolio.

(This activity should take 30 to 45 minutes to complete.)

After the meeting, play the ancient Greek game called Knucklebones.  (Knucklebones was also played in ancient Rome.)

Knucklebones games are sold for $27.99 on Amazon as of 3/13/2020.

Sample some Greek food at your party.  The suggested following cookbooks provide recipes you can use:

-The Complete Book of Greek Cooking by the Recipe Club of St. Paul’s Church

-The Complete Book of Greek Cooking: Explore this Classic Mediterranean Cuisine: 160 Recipes by Rena Salama and Jan Cutler

-Modern Greek Cooking: 100 Recipes for Meze, Entrées, and Desserts by Pano Kavatassos

-My Greek Table: Authentic Flavors and Modern Home Cooking from My Kitchen to Yours by Diane Kochilas

-Orexi! Feasting at the Modern Greek Table by Theo A. Michaels

Have fun!

Marathon Game Created by Ruth Paget, author of Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France

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Greek Festival Pointers - Part 2 - by Savvy Mom Ruth Paget

Greek Festival Pointers – Part 2 – by Savvy Mom Ruth Paget

The dimotiká folk songs provide music for the folk dances performed by Greek-American teenagers hailing from Salinas, Carmel, and Oakland.  Performing at Greek festivals throughout the state helps the teens keep their Greek heritage alive.

The popular circle dances like the kalamarianos resemble those portrayed on ancient Greek vases.  Line dances encourage everyone to participate.

The large, white napkin that the line dance leader holds is absolutely necessary to signal authority in a culture of strong individuals whose members jokingly describe themselves in the saying, “Twelve Greeks equal thirteen captains.”

Yelling, “Opa!” and line dancing through the crowd should make festivalgoers work up an appetite for even more Greek food with the following 9 items offered:

-village salad – featuring tangy feta cheese made from sheep’s milk and plump kalamata olives

-grape leaves stuffed with rice or beef and flavored with mint

-spanakopita – spinach phyllo pie with pine nuts

-tyropita – phyllo pie made with feta and ricotta cheese

-pastitio – Greek lasagna with beef, macaroni, tomatoes, and a cream sauce seasoned with cinnamon that gives this dish a delicate taste

-moussaka – layered tomato and eggplant cooked in a tomato sauce flavored with cinnamon and nutmeg

-the famous gyro sandwich – made with garlic seasoned pressed beef in pocket bread (pita) with cucumber and garlic sauce

-souvlaki – lamb or pork kebab

-barbecue chicken

As your server wishes you, “Bon Appetit! (Kali Orexi),” it is easy to see how Greek women discreetly rule the home through the stomach.

Wine adventurers might want to try the white Retsina wine made from Savatiano grapes grown in the Attica region around Athens.

Legend recounts that the ancient Greeks added pine resin to this wine to discourage invaders from drinking it.  When I drink Retsina with feta cheese, black olives, and bread, I think it is refreshing just like the modern Greeks do.

Monterey’s Greek community invites festivalgoers to enjoy festival kéfi, joyful exuberance, at their Greek Festival held over Labor Day Weekend in Monterey, California.

End of Article

Notes:

2019 Idea – Maybe a pre-paid “reserve and pick up” dessert and cookie box areas would increase festival sales.  Suggested areas: one in the festival area and another in a far parking lot that would allow drive-thru pickups for the disabled, elderly, or families with babies.

Maybe those dessert and cookie boxes could be sold throughout the year at Demetra restaurants as a dessert and take out item.

FYI – I saw a sign for a gyros restaurant in Seaside, California.  I have not tried the restaurant yet, but it might be worth a try.

By Ruth Paget, author of Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France


Click here for:  Ruth Paget's Amazon Books

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Greek Festival Pointers - Part 1 - by Savvy Mom Ruth Paget

Greek Festival Pointers – Part 1 -by Savvy Mom Ruth Paget

One of the first articles I wrote for the Monterey (CA) County Weekly (Circulation: 200,000) when I was a food writer for the newspaper was about Monterey’s popular Greek festival.  My family regularly attended the Greek Festival when my daughter Florence was little to pick up our box of Greek desserts and cookies.

Parts of the article I wrote about the Greek Festival have shown up in the newspaper over the years, but the following is the original article with slight format modification:

Have no Fear of Greek Gifts

Greek sweets that you cannot find in restaurants should make any visitor to the Greek Festival want to start lunch with dessert.

For Greeks, desserts symbolize joy and good wishes; you always take them to a friend’s home, for example, “to sweeten the friendship.”  With thoughts of festivalgoers tasting the “sweetness” of Greek culture, the ladies of Monterey’s Greek community have been busy making traditional foods for weeks.

Reasonable individuals will start with a plateful of desserts and cookies from the following offerings:

-galataboureko – a custard filled pastry whose crust is built up with layers of thin phyllo pastry softened with melted butter

-karidopeta – cake made with ground walnuts instead of flour and flavored with orange zest and topped off with a syrup made of sugar, lemon, and cinnamon

-koulourakia – shiny twisted butter cookies

-kourabiedes – small crescent-shaped butter cookies sprinkled with confectioner’s sugar

-baklava – You can find this diamond-shaped pastry made with ground walnuts and cinnamon and topped off with lemony syrup in restaurants, but baklava has a different soul when a yia yia, Greek grandma, lovingly makes it.

Telling anyone about melamakarona cookies poses a major ethical dilemma for me, because I want them all for myself.  I used to eat these all the time at my Greek college roommate’s home when I was a student at the University of Chicago.

The spirit of hospitality that the Greeks are famous for, though, requires me to divulge the melamakarona are butter cookies flavored with clove, cinnamon, and orange juice that are dunked in a hot syrup of honey and lemon.  Before they cool, you sprinkle ground walnuts on top of them.

The best way to eat any of these desserts is with a cup of strong Greek coffee.

After indulging in dessert, you can walk around and look at craft items for sale that you always find at paniyeri (festivals) in Greece as you watch folk dancing and listen to music.

The Aegeans band will regale you with dimotiká, folk songs, recounting stories of love, politics, war, and lament whose origins go back to the 15^th century and the Fall of Constantinople, capital of the Greek Byzantine Empire.

End of Part 1.

To be continued…

By Ruth Paget, author of Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France

Click here for:  Ruth Paget's Amazon Books

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Sports Rallyes with Chicago-Style Greek Buffet and Suggested Conversation Topics by Savvy Mom Ruth Paget

Sports Rallyes with Chicago-style Greek Buffet and Suggested Conversation Topics by Savvy Mom Ruth Paget

Background:

I began doing tennis championship rallyes in high school featuring fresh-squeezed orange juice for the US Open, strawberries and cream for Wimbledon, and crêpes for the French Open.

Chicago Sports Bar

Tennis championship rallyes morphed into football rallyes after I graduated from the University of Chicago and worked on the first Super Bowl broadcast in the People’s Republic of China.

I think I sold my first sponsorship, because my telephone pitch was, “This would be great PR for the Cubs and trade for the City of Chicago.”

Après-guffaws, I sold a big sponsorship. 

Long-story short – I became a big football promoter.  On the weekends, I went to Bennigan’s Sports Bar and read the Thursday and Friday editions of The Wall Street Journal that I bought at Brentanno’s Chicago store.  I read “The Journal” while I watched the game and gave the paper to the wait staff and cooks when I left.

Monday Night Football Rallyes

On Monday nights, I hosted a “football rallye” for the people who worked with me on the First Super Bowl in China and their spouses or partners.

I worked as an “admin,” so I could get off at 5 pm and deal with deli items for dinner.  I walked to the Treasure Island Supermarket and took a taxi home to Marina City.

I kept receipts that my guests and I (about 8) divvied up.  My guests paid my cab fare for shopping and bringing the deli items up to my apartment.  If they wanted beer, they went to the grocery store in the lobby of Marina Towers where I lived.

While I organized food, my guests and I would talk about:

-current art exhibits

-good magazine or newspaper articles

-movies

-books we were reading

I asked everyone why they thought the book, article, movie, or art exhibit they spent time on was important.

The Buffet was laid out nicely on tables and counters in my pie-shaped apartment.  The living room was devoted to comfy seating for the game.

I did football night in the era of Greek catering.  We ate what we wanted and divvied up items to be taken home.  My friends shared cabs late at night

The Mostly Greek Buffet

-Taramosalata – Greek caviar spread – orange-colored

-Greek Village Salad – a no-lettuce salad made with tomato wedges, feta cheese, Kalamata olives, and mild green peppers

-Tomato – Onion – Oregano Salad

-2 Dressings on the side:

-oil and red vinegar with oregano (rigani)

-tzatziki –cucumber-yogurt sauce

-2 or 3 garlic bread loaves to bake

-2 ready-made Greek bread loaves

-Roast lemon-garlic chicken with dark and white meat separated on a plate

-cheese cubes sprinkled with paprika

-apple slices

-tangerine sections

-pineapple chunks

-banana slices

-vanilla bean yogurt for the fruit

-baked Parmesan cheese sticks

-baked spinach-feta phyllo pastry triangles

-vegetable terrine slices

-smoked salmon open-faced Danish sandwiches

-coffee made from beans by me

Everyone tried a little of everything and leftovers were sorted out for another meal or two.

There are lots of seasons and championships to do a sports rallye night for.

Planning one is great training for ordering catering.

Later in life, I loved learning how to make these items, including spinach-feta phyllo triangle pies.

By Ruth Paget, author Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France

Note: Locally all 3 Demetra locations, Paprika, and Yaffa might be able to provide this meal.

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