Cannae: The Ancient
Carthage Strategy Game Created by Ruth Paget for AP Students
Objectives:
1-Learn
to break down large books as a team to learn quickly
2-Learn
about strategy and its modern-day applications
3-Obtain
a glimpse into ancient Roman culture
4-Obtain
a glimpse into ancient Carthaginian culture
5-Write
a media release for radio about the Battle at Cannae
6-Play
the ancient Greek game of knucklebones, which was also played in ancient Rome
7-Sample
Tunisian food (Ancient Carthage was located in what is now a suburb of the
modern city of Tunis, Tunisia)
8-Learn
about storytelling
Historical Background:
In
216 BC, the forces of the ancient Carthaginians under the command of Hannibal
Barca (247 BC – 183 or 182 BC) clashed with those of the Roman army under
consul Varro at Cannae located in what is now Apulia (Puglia) in southeastern
Italy.
Ancient
Carthage was located outside the modern-day city of Tunis in the North African
country of Tunisia. Carthage was founded
in 814 BC by Phoenicians to serve as a trading post for the Phoenician city of
Tyre.
The
Punic Wars, a series of three wars fought between Carthage and Rome, took place
between 264 BC – 146 BC. (Punic refers
to the Phoenician origins of Carthage.)
The
Battle at Cannae 216 BC was fought during the Second Punic War. Its battle outcome forced Rome to rally to
protect its civilization.
Battle
Outcome:
50,000
Carthaginian troops under Hannibal Barca defeated 80,000 Roman troops under
Roman consul Varro.
Strategy
was all-important for Hannibal Barca’s win at Cannae 216 BC against
overwhelming Roman forces.
However,
ancient Rome eventually won the Second Punic War by cutting off supplies to the
Carthaginian army.
Managing Team Reading:
To
divide reading up, 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 quickly. The method for
doing this follows:
33
chapters ÷ 8 team members = 4 chapters for each team member to read plus 1
remaining chapter to be assigned as decided by the team. (Maybe a team member with a short assigned
chapter among their readings could read the remaining chapter.)
For
each assigned chapter, team members will note 5 to 10 main points to be typed
up and sent to the team secretary for grouping into a single document.
Team Set-Up:
Break
a group into two groups.
Both
teams will complete tasks 1 – 4 as a team.
For
task 5, the two teams will come together to write a media release for radio
about Cannae, play the ancient Greek game of knucklebones (also played in
ancient Rome), and sample Tunisian food.
(Ancient Carthage is located outside modern-day Tunis, Tunisia.)
Number of Tasks to
Complete: 5
Task 1: Learn About the
Battle of Cannae 216 BC
Read
about the Battle at Cannae 216 in encyclopedias and books and on websites. Compare the information to look for any
differences. Note sources.
Read
about Hannibal Barca in encyclopedias and books and on websites. Compare information to look for any
differences. Note sources.
Read
about Consul Varro in encyclopedias and books and on websites. Compare information to look for any
differences. Note sources.
If
you find differences, set up guidelines about how to establish the facts to
use.
Task 2: Learn about
Strategy and its Modern-Day Applications
Strategy
allowed Hannibal Barca to defeat the Roman troops at Cannae in 216 BC. To learn more about strategy, read the
following books as a team noting 5 to 10 main points for each assigned chapter:
The Art of Strategy: A
Game Theorists’s Guide to Success in Business and Life by Avinash K. Dixit
The Art of War by Sun Tzu
Good Strategy Bad Strategy:
The Differences and and Why it Matters by Richard Rumelt
Task 3: Obtain a
Glimpse into Ancient Roman Culture
As
a team, read the following books about ancient Roman culture noting 5 to 10
main points for each team member’s assigned chapters:
The Aeneid by Virgil
The
national poem of ancient Rome recounts the story of the Trojan hero Aeneas who
sets out to find a new homeland after the sack of Troy.
His
quest leads him to Carthage, which he forsakes along with his love Dido for his
eventual founding of Rome.
Another
book to read gives background on the religious life of ancient Rome. Most of the Roman gods corresponded to Greek
ones. Read the following book about
Roman gods and goddesses as a team, noting 5 to 10 main points for each team
member’s assigned chapters:
Mythology: Timeless
Tales of Gods and Heroes by Edith Hamilton
The Roman Way by Edith Hamilton
The
stories in The Aeneid and in Roman
myths highlight what is important to Western civilization. They have remained with us for millennia for
this reason.
Read
the following book for ideas on how to write stories that remain in the memory
as a team, noting 5 to 10 main points for each assigned chapter:
Made to Stick: Why Some
Ideas Survive and Others Die by Charles Kahlenberg, Chip Heath, and Dan
Heath.
Another
book to read is about dining traditions in ancient Rome follows. Read it as a team, noting 5 to 10 main points
for each assigned chapter:
Cooking and Dining in
Imperial Rome by
Apicius
Task 4: Obtain a
Glimpse into Ancient Carthaginian Culture
The
French writer Gustave Flaubert wrote a novel about the Punic Wars entitled Salambô with North Africa as its
location. I read this book in my fourth-year French
class at Cass Technical High School in Detroit, Michigan and liked how it
appealed to my multicultural high school population.
As
a team read the following books about Carthage noting 5 to 10 main points for
each assigned chapter:
Salambô by Gustave Flaubert
The Empire of Africa:
The Rise and Fall of Carthage, 850 – 145 BC by Alfred J. Church
The Punic Wars: Rome,
Carthage, and the Struggle for the Mediterranean by Nigel Bagnall
Pride of Carthage by David Anthony Durham
The Ghosts of Cannae:
Hannibal and the Darkest Hour of the Roman Republic by Robert L. O’Connell
Preparing for Task 5:
Before
the combined teams meeting, team members will type up their main points from
their assigned chapters and send them to the team secretary via email to be
compiled into one document.
Team
secretaries will email the single document to their team members and the other
team’s secretary for distribution.
Team
members should read both documents before the task 5 combined teams meeting.
Task 5: Media Release
Meeting and Party
The
combined teams will write a 2-minute media release for radio about the Battle
at Cannae 216 BC.
The
release should answer the following questions in order:
Who?
What?
When?
Where?
Why?
How?
Once
the release is written, read it to see if it is 2 minutes long.
If
it is too long, edit it down to 2 minutes.
If
it is too short, add in detail to make it 2 minutes long.
(This
activity should take 30 to 45 minutes to complete.)
Once
the meeting is over, play the ancient Greek game of knucklebones. (This game was also played in ancient Rome.)
Knucklebones
games are sold for $27.99 on Amazon as of 3/13/2020.
Sample
some Tunisian food at your party.
Ancient Carthage is located in a suburb outside the modern city of
Tunis, Tunisia. The following cookbook
has recipes for several dishes that may have been eaten in ancient Carthage:
A Kitchen in Tunisia:
Tunisian Recipes from North Africa by Umm Maryam
Have
fun!
Cannae
Game Created by Ruth Paget, author of Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France
Click here for: Ruth Paget's Amazon Books
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