#greeks

New favourite grandpa (and cat) spotted in Tinos island. (Unmute)

It is the beginning of March and here in Greece we have this special tradition...one magic talisman you might say. This is called "March" and is basically just a single simple bracelet made out of one red and one white string (mine was long so I had to wrap it twice around my wrist).

According to the superstition you tie this around your wrist to be protected by the rays of sun in March so you won't get a sunburn. By the end of the month as children we used to wrap these on trees or hang them from trees so that the swallows that come with spring will take them and make nests with them

Karakachani Annual Gathering near Sliven, Buglaria, 2016 - Ivo Daskalov

I'm having incredible thoughts about the Romans being a pack of wolves and the Greeks being a herd of horses. Like yes, those represent which immortals raised them but like. Romans being apex predators with their large population and high survival rates. Greeks being large herbivores who can't risk an injury without risking dying due to being hunted down by monsters.

Who have to treat every fight like it's their last because there is no back up. Not when they can't run with the herd. They don't have the ability to wait to heal slowly with a single safe place in all of the US. They may be strong, but they are not the predators. Their anxiety living outside of camp half blood (outside the herd) and having to watch for monsters. A small place that they're expected to run to.

There's safety in numbers, and the Greeks always had so few of them. Among the older campers, do they have to watch for monsters? Did they have patrols before Thalia's tree? With no protective boarders, they had to have watched for ambushes. With their small numbers, individuals would always stand out more than a unit.

Supporting a linear hierarchy because they can't risk power plays with monster attacks. Needing a clear leader because they can't have conflicting orders. Sure there are the head counselors, but Percy and Annabeth always seem to be the default leaders. They expect to be led, not ordered.

But there's the Romans, who may have overall leaders but squadron leaders as well. Who has older, wiser, retired members also keeping them in check. They were raised on survival, on benefiting the pack as well as themselves. There may be a clear hierarchy, but people can be on the same level. A split between high ranks and low ranks, but there's still fights for control.

Those who will fall in line, yet in the next second, usurp the leader's position. Politics, power struggles, the possibility of retirement, and a massive territory they have to protect. But there is safety, medical care, the pack will not suffer if one cog in the machine needs a break to heal an injury. They devour the weak and raise the strong because they can afford to lose manpower.

New recruits are brought to initiation, there is no chase, no running for their lives as they reach their mentor. They learn, then they hunt the monsters who could never chase them. They fight as a unit and survive as an individual. The soldiers expect to be ordered, not led.

Give me Romans who have food aggression. Give me Greeks, that despite their hard lives and living with little food, who would never stop an attempt steal food from each other because they have to share to survive. Give me Greeks being naturally faster than Romans because they've been running all of their lives. Give me Romans who can speak wolf and Greeks who stamp their foot when scared.