Ramses II: The Ancient Egypt Media Game Created by Ruth Paget for AP Students

Ramses II: The Ancient Egypt Media Game Created by Ruth Paget for AP Students

Objectives:

1-Learn to break down large books for group reading to learn information quickly

2-Learn to create memorable stories

3-Analyze images of the Battle of Kadesh 1285 BC to identify elements of propaganda

4-Learn about Egyptian daily life and brainstorm other venues than temple carvings for the spread of propaganda

5-Play a communications game designed to show difficulties of battleground conditions

6-Play ancient Egyptian strategy games – mancala and senet

7-Sample Egyptian food

Historical Background:

In 1285 BC, the armies of the Egyptian Pharaoh Ramses II (1304 BC – 1214 BC) clashed with those of the Hittite King Muwatallis (Reign 1320 BC – 1294 BC) outside the walls of Kadesh, a fortified city, located in what is now modern-day Western Syria.

Pharoah Ramses II attacked with a force of 22,000 chariots and light-armored infantry against a force of 20,000 Hittites under King Muwatallis.

Battle Outcome:

A draw despite the 2,000 extra troops in the Egyptian army of Ramses II.

Ramses II chose to portray this battle as an overwhelming victory for Egypt.  In this Ramses II game, you will learn how Ramses II could change the perception of this battle in Egypt.

Tasks

There are 5 tasks to complete in this game to achieve the 7 objectives above.

The first four tasks involve reading by two teams.  The books I have suggested go from easier to harder.  There is a group meeting at the end of play with suggestions for a party.

Managing Group Reading

I will use the book Ancient Egypt: A Social History by B. G. Trigger et al as an example.  This book has 33 chapters covered in 364 pages.

If you break down reading this book into several chapters per person, you can reduce reading time and learn the material quickly.  The method for doing this follows:

-8 team members with 33 chapters to read – Divide the number of chapters by 8 team members to start

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

-For each chapter you have read, write down 5 to 10 of the chapter’s main points

-Type up your main points by chapter and send them to the group scribe (secretary) who knows how to combine text from several team members into a single document

-The team can decide who should read the leftover chapter to complete the book reading.  A suggestion could be for a member with a short chapter to read the leftover one.

-Note: If you do not want to use chapters, you can use page numbers to do the team reading assignments.  However, authors organize material to make learning easier.  You might miss out on some of the material, if you ignore the author’s method of organizing the material.

Team Set-Up

-Break up a group into two teams

-Both teams will complete tasks 1 – 4 in their team

-For Task 5, the two teams will come together to play a communications game, play ancient Egyptian strategy games, and sample Egyptian food.

Number of Tasks to Complete: 5

Task 1: Learn About the Leaders at the Battle of Kadesh 1285 BC

-Read about Ancient Egypt in encyclopedias

-Read about the Hittite Empire in encyclopedias

-Read about Pharaoh Ramses II in encyclopedias and books and on websites.  Compare the information you find to see if there are any differences.  Note sources.

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

-Read about the Battle at Kadesh 1285 BC in encyclopedias and books and on websites. 

-If you find differences in descriptions, try to establish guidelines for which facts to use.  Note your guidelines down, reasons, and facts that you are using.

Questions to think about as you read:

-Why did the Egyptians not win the Battle at Kadesh 1285 BC despite having 2,000 more troops than the Hittites?

-What were battle communications like at the Battle of Kadesh 1285?

-Look up images of the Battle at Kadesh 1285 BC at the Temples at Abu Simbel and Thebes.  What was Ramses trying to convey with these images?

Task 2: Introduction to Storytelling

Ramses II’s version of the Battle at Kadesh 1285 BC has come down to us in the modern-day thanks to art and storytelling of this event at the Temples of Abu Simbel and Thebes and other monuments.

For this task, you will learn some secrets of storytelling and the role of stories in memory and recall:

-As a group, read Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die by Chip Heath.  Note 5 to 10 main points in your assigned chapters.

-As a group, read The Power of Story: Teaching Through Storytelling by Rives Collins and Pamela J. Cooper

-Telling the Story of the Battle at Kadesh 1285 BC Exercise

-Note 3 main points of the Battle at Kadesh 1285 BC, the climax when both sides retreated from fighting, and the battle’s aftermath for Egypt and the Hittites

-Type up 1 or 2 paragraphs using the information above and send it to the team scribe to assemble into one document.  The scribe will send out the stories to the team for comparison.

Task 3: Introduction to Egyptian Daily Life

-As a group, read Red Land, Black Land: Daily Life in Ancient Egypt by Barbara Mertz.  For your assigned chapters, note 5 to 10 main points.

-Where could stories that were depicted at the Temples at Abu Simbel and Thebes of the Battle at Kadesh 1285 BC be repeated in ancient Egyptian society?  Use Red Land, Black Land as a guide.

Task 4: Introduction to Ancient Egyptian Propaganda

-As a group, read How Propaganda Works by Jason Stanley.  For your assigned chapters, note 5 to 10 main points for each chapter.

-Define propaganda in one sentence.

-How was Ramses II’s depiction of the Battle of Kadesh 1285 BC at the Temples of Abu Simbel and Thebes similar to principles that Jason Stanley writes about in How Propaganda Works.

Preparing for Task 5

At the end of Tasks 1 – 4, everyone should type up their book chapter notes and send them to the group scribe to combine into one document for the team.

This document will be mailed to all team members and the scribe of the other group.  The scribe will mail the other group’s document out to team members as well.

Before the combined meeting in Task 5, both teams should read both sets of notes.

Task 5: Combined Teams Communications Game and Party

-As a combine group, you will play the communications game entitled “Telephone.”

-One group member will write down a secret message of 4 things to do.  This person will whisper the message in another person’s ear with one repeat possible.

-Repeat this process with every member of the group.

-The last person to get the message will write it down.

-Compare the original message with the end message that is written down.

-There are often differences between the two messages.

-What does this telephone game tell you about battlefield communications at the Battle of Kadesh 1285 BC?

-Repeat the game once more to see if you obtain better results.

-(The telephone game should take 30 to 45 minutes to play followed by a party.)

-After the meeting, the teams will the ancient Egyptian games of mancala and senet.  Ramses II undoubtedly learned to play these strategy games as a young boy.

-These games sell between $22 - $32 as of 3/5/2020 on Amazon.

-The following book provides strategy on how to win board games:

-Board Games of the World:  The History, Boards, Rules, and Strategies of Board Games by H. L. Fourie

-Sample some Egyptian food at your party.  Appetizers (mezze) are a great introduction to Egyptian recipes.  The suggested following cookbooks provide recipes:

1-Egyptian Food Made Easy by Shama Faraz

2-My Egyptian Grandmother’s Kitchen: Traditional Dishes Sweet and Savory by Magda Mehdawy

3-The New Middle Eastern Cookbook by Claudia Roden

4-Nile Style: Egyptian Cuisine and Culture by Amy Riolo

5-The Pharaoh’s Kitchen: Recipes for Ancient Egypt’s Enduring Food Traditions by Magda Mehdawy

Have fun!

Ramses II Game Created by Ruth Paget for AP Students, author of Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France

Click here for:  Ruth Paget's Amazon Books

Click for Laurent Paget's Book

Ruth Paget Selfie

Thutmose III: The Ancient Egypt Game Created by Ruth Paget for AP Students

Thutmose III: The Ancient Egypt Game Created by Ruth Paget for AP Students

Objectives:

1-Learn to break down large books for group reading to learn information quickly

2-Learn about Queen Hatshepsut, the stepmother and co-regent of Thutmose III until he was 22

3-Learn about the Egyptian God Thoth, God of writing and wisdom

4-Learn about Egyptian scribes, the Pharaoh’s writers, in ancient Egypt

5-Learn about the importance of Egyptian tombs for the development of writing

6-Learn about hieroglyphics and decipher some elementary tomb inscriptions and names of pharaohs

7-Learn about Egyptian society through three millennia focusing on the royal families and Egypt’s foreign relations that protected the country

8-Learn about the rise and fall of Egypt’s dynasties, ruling families, to identify why governments fail

9-Learn to play the ancient strategy games of mancala and senet

10-Sample Egyptian foods

Historical Background

Pharaoh Thutmose III (1481 BC – 1425 BC) did not rule Egypt for the first 22 years of his life, because his step-mother Queen Hatshepsut (1479 BC – 1458 BC) and co-regent administered the kingdom while Thutmose III served as a military commander.

Thutmose III is important in Egyptian and world history, because he was the first pharaoh to have scribes, bureaucratic writers, record in detail his military successes and social achievements to firmly establish historic writing.

Historic writing provided detail about Egyptian society and maybe even knowledge management for successive Egyptian rulers that kept ancient Egyptian society alive for 3000 years.

Tasks

There are 5 tasks to complete in this game to achieve the 10 objectives listed above.

The first four tasks involve reading by two teams.  The books I have suggested go from easier to harder.  There is a group meeting at the end with suggestions for a party.

Managing Group Reading

I will use the book Ancient Egypt: A Social History by B. G. Trigger et al as an example.  This book has 33 chapters covered in 364 pages.

If you break down reading this book into several chapters per person, you can reduce reading time and learn the material quickly.  The method for doing this follows:

-8 team members with 33 chapters to read – Divide the number of chapters by 8 to start:

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

-For each chapter you have to read, write down 5 to 10 of the chapter’s main points

-Type up your main points by chapter and send them to the group scribe who knows how to combine attachments of e-mail documents into a single document to send back to the team before the combined meeting in Task 5

-The team can decide who should read the leftover chapter to complete the book reading.  A suggestion could be for a member with a short chapter to read the leftover one.

-Note: If you do not want to use chapters, you can use page numbers to do team reading assignments.  However, authors organize material to facilitate learning, and you might miss out on some of the material if you just go by page number.

Team Set-Up

-Break a group up into two teams

-Both teams will complete Tasks 1 – 4 in their group

-For Task 5, the teams will come together to do a data analysis meeting of lessons learned from their study of ancient Egypt, play the ancient Egyptian strategy games of mancala and senet, and sample Egyptian food.

Task 1:

-Read about Pharaoh Thutmose III in encyclopedias and books and on websites.  Compare the information you find to see if there are any differences.  Note sources.

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

-As a group, read Tales of Ancient Egypt by Roger Lancelyn Green.  For your assigned chapters, note 5 to 10 main points for each chapter

-For everyone in the group, read the chapter “The Book of Thoth” in Tales of Ancient Egypt by Roger Lancelyn Green

-Thoth was the Egyptian God of writing and wisdom.  How are writing and wisdom linked?

-As a group, read Red Land, Black Land: Daily Life in Ancient Egypt by Barbara Mertz.  For your assigned chapters, note 5 to 10 main points for each chapter

-For everyone in the group, read the chapter “Be a Scribe, Put it in thy Heart” in Red Land, Black Land: Daily Life in Ancient Egypt by Barbara Mertz.

-Can you think of any other trades that people performed in ancient Egypt besides that of being a scribe?

-For everyone in the group, read the chapter “A Goodly Burial in the Necropolis” in Red Land, Black Land: Daily Life in Ancient Egypt by Barbara Mertz

-Why are tombs so important for writing in ancient Egyptian culture?

Task 2: Introduction to Hieroglyphs

-As a group, read Egyptian Hieroglyphs for Complete Beginners by Bill Manley and note 5 to 10 main points for each of your assigned chapters

-Try to do the writing exercises in your assigned chapters

-Why did the ancient Egyptians consider writing an art?

-Are hieroglyphics an alphabetic system?

Task 3: Introduction to Ancient Egyptian Society

People often say that the Nile River made ancient civilization possible in Egypt.  Any disruption to the River’s irrigation system would make Egypt vulnerable to encroaching desert sands.  For this reason, the ancient Egyptians placed great importance on engineering, international affairs, and defending their country.

-As a group, read Ancient Egypt: A Social History by B. G. Trigger et al and note 5 to 10 main points for each of your assigned chapters

-Discuss how international relations helped with defending ancient Egypt.

Task 4: Introduction to Ancient Egyptian Politics

-As a group, read The Oxford History of Ancient Egypt by Ian Shaw.  For your assigned chapters, note 5 to 10 main points for each chapter

This particular book focuses on ancient Egypt’s different dynasties, ruling families, throughout Egypt’s 3000 years of existence.

As you read this book, some questions to keep in mind and discuss with your team include:

-Why do dynasties fall?

-What kept Egypt together despite the fall of dynasties?

-How are new dynasties formed?

-How did the Greek Ptolemy family take control of Egypt?

Task 5: Data Analysis Meeting and Party

-Before the meeting, the scribes of each team will compile the main points of each book chapter read and put them in order.  The scribe will email the reports to their team and members of the other team in the group.  Team members are responsible for printing their own copies of the main points in each book read as a group.

-At the meeting, the combined group will list 20 to 30 lessons learned from their study of ancient Egypt.  Team members will take their own notes of lessons learned.  This activity should take 30 to 40 minutes to complete.

-After the meeting, the teams will play the ancient Egyptian games of mancala and senet.  Thutmose III undoubtedly learned to play these strategy games as a young boy.

These games sell for $22 - $32 as of 3/3/2020 on Amazon.

The following book provides strategy on how to win board games:

-Board Games of the World:  The History, Boards, Rules, and Strategies of Board Games by H. L. Fourie

-Sample some Egyptian food at your party.  Appetizers (mezze) are a great introduction to Egyptian food:

1-Egyptian Cookbook:  Enjoy Authentic Egyptian Cooking with 50 Delicious Egyptian Recipes by BookSumo Press

2-Egyptian Food Made Easy by Shama Faraz

3-My Egyptian Grandmother’s Kitchen: Traditional Dishes Sweet and Savory by Magida Mehdawy

4-The New Middle Eastern Cookbook by Claudia Roden

5-Nile Style: Egyptian Cuisine and Culture by Amy Riolo

6-The Pharaoh’s Kitchen: Recipes for Ancient Egypt’s Enduring Food Traditions by Magda Mehdawy

Have fun!

Thutmose III Game created by Ruth Paget, author Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France

Click here for:  Ruth Paget's Amazon Books

Click for Laurent Paget's Books

Ruth Paget Selfie

Visiting the Louvre's Egyptian Galleries in Paris (France) with Juilliard Graduate Florence Paget and Savvy Mom Ruth Paget

Visiting the Louvre's Egyptian Galleries in Paris (France) with Juilliard Graduate Florence Paget and Savvy Mom Ruth Paget

My husband and I took our daughter Florence on a trip to France when she was in the fifth grade.  She had been studying ancient Egypt in school, and we asked one of the family cousins who was a retired school teacher to take us on a tour of the Louvre’s Egyptian collection.

Laurent’s teacher cousin had taught the history of ancient Egypt to middle school students in Paris and had brought many classes to the Louvre.  She had a set tour and points to cover, which we did at an American pace however.  I knew she was accustomed to students who walk in a line like those you can see pictured in Ludwig Bemelman’s Madeleine picture books.

The entire American family stopped to ask questions about works that interested us during our lecture.  We walked around exhibits and stooped down and stood up on our tiptoes to get better views of the artwork.  Florence made commentaries, too, which children are not supposed to do in France.

When she was shown canopic jars, she asked, “What goes in those?” which translator mom asked teacher cousin.

“Viscera such as the hearts and lungs of the dead pharaohs,” was teacher cousin’s reply.

“Gross.  That’s nasty,” was Florence’s loud reply.

We examined the writing on all the exhibits we saw to determine which kind of Egyptian writing it was.  Florence had learned to draw hieroglyphs at school, but within hieroglyphic writing there are variations.  We looked for the highly wrought artistic hieroglyphs that appeared on religious art, stylized cursive hieroglyphs that captured the essence of the form, and angular hieratic hieroglyphs used for everyday communication. 

Teacher cousin asked, “What kind of school does Florence go to?”

I knew my answer would be unpopular when I said, “Waldorf.”

I could almost hear teacher cousin saying to herself, “German schools set up by an Austrian.”

I loved France, but I knew that the culture of Austria’s Habsburg Empire was perpetuated with German teaching methods through Waldorf.  The Habsburg Empire was multilingual and multicultural; it had lessons for intercultural relations and education in the United States I thought. 

I loved Waldorf’s arts curriculum for which it is famous, but the social studies and foreign language curriculum for children are what made me want Florence attend this school.  I was very happy that Florence could distinguish among different types of hieroglyphics, for example.  I knew she would be able to identify Chinese, Japanese, and Korean writing with no problem in the future, too.

Aside from the hieroglyphics, Florence’s favorite artworks in the Louvre’s Egyptian galleries were the papyrus pages from the Egyptian Book of the Dead.  Florence’s class had written and drawn pages from this book in class.  The afterlife is when life really started for the Egyptians, so it was not a morbid topic for the class to study.

We stood in front of one Book of the Dead text, and Florence showed teacher cousin what she knew:

“Anubis, who has the jackal head, leads the dead to Osiris for judgment by the Goddess Maat.”

“Where’s Maat?” I asked.

“She’s a feather here,” Florence responded.

After viewing this Book of the Dead page, Florence let teacher cousin finish our Egyptian gallery tour uninterrupted. 

Afterwards we ate at the international food court, which is always crowded.  You have to order, get your food, and then wait for a table to be vacated before sitting down.  Laurent and Florence ate Mexican food; I had a Lebanese sampler plate; and teacher cousin ate French.  I hope teacher cousin had fun with her Americans in the Egyptian collection.

By Ruth Paget - Author of Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France

Click here for:  Ruth Paget's Amazon Books

Ruth Paget Selfie