Greek Newspaper Project - Student Handout . . . . . .Name .....................................................................

As partners or as individuals, you will receive a large "newspaper-sized" paper on which to design a newspaper which is built around one actual event in ancient Greece: 500 B.C. to 399 B.C. You will become the editors and writers of your newspaper. You may use information from "The Greeks Multimedia Project", other websites, and from history books and encyclopedias. You may illustrate your newspaper with your own drawings or with images copied from the sites or books (but give credit to the source of your pictures). Decide on one historical event listed [here]. Date your newspaper at that time. You will prepare your newspaper with these parts:

1. A news report of an actual event

2. Editorial and Letter to the Editor - Point of view

This part should show two different points of view about the event from part one. One article should be in favor of what happened in the main news, the other should be against what happened.

• Editorial - As the editor of the newspaper give an opinion about the news. Back up the opinion with examples of why you take that side of the argument.
• Letter to the Editor: (Dear Editor: ) Write a letter showing the other side of the argument. Give reasons for your opinion. You may give suggestions to improve the situation. Identify yourself in your letter. (You may be an actual person; you may be an eye-witness. Say if you are an aristrocrat, common person, or a slave.)

3. Entertainment Section Do one of the following:

• Advertisement or announcement for an upcoming entertainment event (religious festival, a play at a theater, acrobats or dancers or musician at a party, etc.)
  • Describe what will go on there in detail.
  • Tell when the event will be, where it is, and how much it will cost to get in (religious festivals were free, plays might have an admission of one drachma for a good seat; parties would be by invitation usually according to class or family connections).
  • Give an opinion about the place or event and try to convince the readers to go there (or to stay away from there if you don't like it).

  -or-

• Entertainment Review
  • Describe a form of entertainment that you saw. Give details (where, when, who was there) Events might include:
    • A Greek drama - a tragedy, comedy, or satyr play
    • A religious festival which included singing, dancing, wine (such as the Festival of Dionysus)
    • Entertainment at dinner parties (called symposia) where there were musicians (with flutes, pipes of Pan, stringed lutes, castanets for rhythm, etc.), or acrobats, story-telling poets, and others. Tell about the food and service from the slaves. Any gossip? What were people wearing?

  As an "entertainment critic" do you recommend it to the audience? Give reasons for your recommendation or condemnation. (For example, was a play exciting, amusing, or boring? Were the costumes and masks good? Was the singing or acting and chorus done well? Should the playwright become famous or forgotten? etc.

  Grading Criteria for Entertainment Section: The Review gives a detailed description of the event It gives an opinion based on criteria with specific examples, saying whether it is good or not and why.

4. Sports Section

• Describe a sporting event that you saw. Give details (where, when, what happened, who was there, etc.). Events might include: ... -choose one- ...
  • Report on Olympic Games (but these only happened every four years. During times of war there would be a truce declared so the sporting events could go on.) Practice for these events would be ongoing at the gymnasiums.
  • Other sporting events that were local. These events happened often as part of religious festivals or for daily entertainment, such as the yearly Panathenaic Festival. Women even competed in athletics in Sparta, but not in Athens.
  • Make a review of a gymnasium (which were found outside the city walls of Athens and used daily). Describe the gymnasium grounds and buildings, tell which sports were practiced there, what the men wore, and why sports were important. Do you recommend this gymnasium?

  Grading Criteria for Sports Section: The Sports Section gives a detailed description of the sporting events and where they took place. It gives an opinion based on criteria with specific examples, saying whether it is good or not and why. Were the competitions good or not and why? (Or, is the gymnasium good or not and why?)

5. Want Ads - Two Items for Sale (Advertisements or Classified Ads)

• Try to sell some things through the newspaper. Choose authentic ancient Greek items that would be sold in a market: clothing, slave, chariot, food, a household item, home, etc. How can it be used? What's so good about it? How much is it?

  Grading Criteria for the Want Ads: There is a complete description of two items for sale (including how they are used, their value, and why the purchase is a good deal). It tells the cost and where they can be purchased. [The Greek coins were the obol and a drachma which is about six obols. Citizens in Athens earned about 1/2 drachma a day. A healthy little boy slave would cost about 80 drachmas, a 30 year old skilled worker slave might be 280 drachmas or more.] The ad tries to convince the reader to buy it.

Optional Articles for Extra Credit

6. Oracle Prediction - Predictions of the Future Give a prediction of your own based on certain omens or consult an oracle! Tell how you learned the gods' will.

7. Gossip or Advice column (like "Dear Abby") with all the gossip that was going on around Athens!

8. Comic Strip or Cartoon

9. Obituary (report on life/death of a person) or Eulogy (kind words said at someone's funeral)

10. Weather Report (as Greeks believed weather/seasons were determined by dieties, such as lightning coming from Zeus, seasons changing because of Persephone's visits with her husband Hades in the underworld, etc.).