Slowly opening my eyes to a view of the ceiling I glanced about my bedroom in the pre-dawn gloom. Stretching out my arms and legs I couldn’t help but rip off a yawn. It’s the last full day of Summer before we have to leave the Alcmaeonidae family country estate and head back to the Academy for another school year. My girl Deinomache, who I’d known since we were young, would be coming from the next estate over after breakfast. My other childhood friend Alcibiades and his girlfriend Hipparete were also coming over, and the four of us were going to head to the beach. The question is whether my younger sister Taygete or younger brother Ariphron Jr. would be coming along.
I could hear some rustling outside the bedroom door followed by a knock. One of the house maids in training, who were made up of the daughters of some of the more affluent noble families in the village, opened the door and poked her head in. “Good morning, Pericles, are you up? Breakfast will be ready in about an hour.”
Sitting up in bed, swinging my legs over the side and responding with a smile “Thanks, I’m coming around!” Climbing out of bed I threw a work-out jersey on, pulled up a pair of pants, grabbed my sword hanging on the wall and headed out back of the mansion to do my daily exercise routine.
Walking out into the back gardens to pursue my daily exercise regimen, the bushes, lawn, patio and outer wall were wreathed in the soft glowing light of the predawn. This day was like every other day with the grounds and vegetation being coated with a heavy dew from the overnight temperature drop and the sun set to rise above the horizon at seven thirty, like clockwork, as part of the 30-hour day, 273 days a year.
After warmup stretching exercises came strength training of 100 pushups, 100 sit-ups and 100 squats. Next was sword training of ten sets of ten repetitions of each sword slash in the proper form. Finally, head back inside and wash up, wipe the sweat off and dress for the day.
Heading down into the dining area adjacent to the kitchen with its stucco walls, wood floors and rustic wall decorations, the large dinner table had already been set for the family’s breakfast. Nearby, through the cased opening in the wall to the kitchen could be seen my mother, Agariste of Sicyon, and a couple noble daughters of lesser noble houses, apprenticed to my mother, working as maids in the estate, busy putting together breakfast.
The great-granddaughter of the tyrant of Sicyon, who was deposed by Sparta, her familial connections played a crucial role in helping start father’s political career. With long brunette hair tied up in a bun behind her head, eyes of bright turquoise color, resembling a sea wave in a clear sunny day, a high forehead, straight nose, a clear shape of the face, and neat lips, my mother was still a great beauty even now in her late thirties. Dressed in a simple deep chocolate brown one-piece short dress, showing off the cleavage of her ample breasts, with the whole ensemble and her voluptuous figure covered by a frilly white apron, she was a representation of the quintessential perfect mother frolicking about in the kitchen.
“Good morning, Mother, is breakfast almost ready?”
“Good morning, Pericles, won’t be long now... why don’t you join your father in the lounge while you wait?”
Walking over to the lounge area next to the dining room I plopped down on the leather couche next to my father Xanthippus Alcmaeonid who was seated in a leather chair looking down at some notes on papyrus on the coffee table in front of him. A tall, brunette, good looking, solidly built man, father was a merchant and politician who was a member of the elitist Council of the Aeropagus. As a citizen-soldier of Athens, he distinguished himself not only in battle but also in the Athenian political arena, championing the aristocratic party, and eventually earning the position of Eponomous Archon.
“Good morning father you look busy.”
“Well, there are a bunch of things I have to do today and tomorrow and not a lot of time to do it. With Summer coming to an end, the picking of peaches, oranges and figs should be wrapping up. The harvesting of apples and olives should start soon and continue in to Autumn. The big thing that is coming up though is the harvesting of grapes in our vineyard, and the subsequent wine making. Grandfather’s widows, orphans and village boys are going to be very busy.”
“Speaking of Grandfather, where is he?”
“Grandpa hasn’t returned yet from tomcatting around with the village widows Friday night. Which reminds me that Grandpa and I need to think about thinning the herds of sheep, goats and cattle. Even though he has the village boys switch them to a new orchard or vineyard daily, if there are too many of them, they could still over graze and cause the ground to be scorched by the sun, killing off the life in the soil. That could cause the grape vines and fruit trees to wither and reduce the taste and quality of the fruit.”
“Good to see Grandfather has found happiness after Grandmother passed away.”
“If Grandpa Ariphron didn’t help Agariste manage the country estate, run our local businesses in town as well as the village martial arts training center, I don’t know what I’d do. If I didn’t have all the people in my life, like your mother and my mistresses, all these plates I’ve got spinning in the air would come crashing to the ground.”
“Ugh! I also need to talk to the other local vineyard owners and tell them we’ll buy they’re grapes at wholesale prices to turn into wine labeled under the town brand. Not to mention all the local farmers, who undertook the crop rotation plans we recommended, that I need to remind that we’ll either buy their legumes, tomatoes, eggplants, cucumbers, zucchini, peppers, cabbage, broccoli, carrots and beets at wholesale prices or a smaller amount under consignment at a higher price to be paid for when they sell at the village grocery. At this point, I’d accept help from a cat…”
“Dad, I think you need to delegate more…”
Father and Grandfather had put great efforts into trying to operate the family farm in such a way as to avoid the drawbacks of the current agrarian culture in our region, which prevailed across society in our era. The culture predominantly consisted of a subsistence pattern based upon the scratch plow and a two-year crop rotation in which winter wheat was planted in late fall and then was harvested in mid-Summer. Since this wheat crop depleted nutrients from the soil, farmers were forced to leave their fields fallow for the following year until the next fall growing season.
During this fallowing time, the fields were not used to grow crops at all, but the fields were worked and the herds were allowed to forage. Farmers would allow wild grasses to grow in order to renew the fertility of the soil, but they regularly plowed and hand-worked the soil using a hoe or spade to keep down weeds. The problem was, during this long period, no food was directly being produced.
Even worse, this agricultural system meant that only a small portion of a farmer’s land, of a typical 40-to-50-acre farm, could be devoted to growing crops. Farmers generally devoted their most fertile land to growing wheat, but the majority of the land was left as pasture or forest, with the land being divided 4/5/1 between cultivated land, pasture, and forest. The forest was necessary for lumber for construction purposes and firewood for heating homes. The pasture was necessary for growing grass to feed the cattle that pulled the scratch plows. Finally, a small garden was needed for growing flax and hemp for clothes, and vegetables and legumes for cooking porridges and soups.
Because bread supplied more than three-quarters of the population’s calories, this low productivity was a fundamental constraint on progress in society and had stifled population growth. A typical farm could only produce 50 to 55 bushels of wheat on each of only 16 to 20 acres. This meant that each acre of wheat could only support the food needs of 5 families every other year. As for Athens itself, the surrounding areas only grew enough wheat to feed half its population, requiring the deficit to be imported from as far away as the Greek colonies of the Black Sea region or the Kingdom of Typhon.
After extensive experimentation father and grandfather had confirmed that fallowing produced the highest grain yield. While continuously growing wheat year after year produced the lowest yield, eventually using all the nutrients in the soil, resulting in crop failure and the ground becoming infertile, barren land.
With research clearly showing that, to optimize yield, you shouldn’t grow a small grain crop after a previous small grain crop of the same species, it was next confirmed that small grains almost always yield better results following another crop than when following other small grains. This naturally led to trying various planting sequences of small grains, legumes, mustards, root crops, and other vegetable families, with some families such as legumes, and mustards returning nutrients to the soil. Root crops such as carrots, onions, potatoes, beets and turnips were found to also improve soil structure, water infiltration, and erosion resistance in addition to enhancing overall soil fertility. Other crops, such as corn, lettuce, broccoli, tomatoes, zucchini, eggplant and cucumbers were found to do well after a prior crop of small grains, but would also use up all the available nutrients in the soil and were termed heavy feeders. By following the implied rules, the resulting crop rotation system led to increased yields with the added bonus of healthier plants due to avoiding pest and disease problems while also promoting healthy soil.
With crop rotation, the contract farmers could grow a cash crop every year, with some crops preferring the slightly cooler and damper Fall to Spring Winter growing season of the temperate climate, and others preferring the hotter and dryer Summer growing season from Spring to Fall. That still left half the year with the most fertile soil of the plantation left unplanted! To add insult to injury, the other half of the plantation that wasn’t forestry was mostly unproductive pasture land growing grass for livestock.
At that point the decision was made to add to the existing orchards and vineyard by converting the pasture land. The prior pasture land was divided into thirds, with a third grapes, a third olive trees, and the last third evenly split between oranges, peaches and apples. Fig trees were additionally planted all over the plantation in open spots and even at appropriate locations on the estate grounds. To make up for the lost pasture lands, and to keep the sun from scorching the ground and killing off the life in it, a grass fodder mix of sulla, ryegrass, vetch, clover and oats was planted between the grape vines in the vineyard, and rows of trees in the orchards and olive groves, the mix additionally adding to the nutrients in the soil as it grew. After that the orchards and vineyards were broken up into fenced off grazing areas so that the cattle, sheep and goats could be released into them on different days of the week to prevent over-grazing. The animals would naturally fertilize the soil as they graze, depositing valuable nutrients that enrich the soil, which in turn improved grape and fruit quality. The goats would also be let loose in the forest area during the warmer months to keep down the underbrush. After all, goats will eat just about anything…
The next step was to test crop combinations to fill in the unplanted parts of the year in the most fertile plots of land on the plantation in order to produce cash crops year-round. The result was crop rotation with a double cropping farming technique where two crops are grown on the same land within the same year. The most fertile land was divided up between the four contract farming families in 50+ acres plots, with three of them having three-year crop rotation plans, each of which would start in a different year so that all of the resulting produces would be available every year equally. The fourth plot was put on an intensive four-year rotation intended to maximize cash crops.
The three-year crop rotations would start in the cool growing season by growing small grains, with the fields half wheat and half rye. Then the warm part of the year a 2-row spring barley, a small grain grass with a high sugar content which makes it suitable for malting, would be planted.
The cool part of the second year the fields would be split between root crops with 20 acres of sugar beets, 20 acres of flax, and the rest evenly divided between potatoes, carrots and onions. The warm part of the second year the fields would be split in fourths between the heavy nutrient feeders corn, lettuce and broccoli, eggplant and zucchini, and then tomatoes and cucumbers.
The cool part of the third year had 20 acres dedicated to growing canola, with the rest spread evenly between various legumes such as various beans, peas, and lentils, and members of the mustard family, including broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, kale, brussels sprouts, mustard greens, radish, rutabaga, and turnip. The warm growing season of the third year was split between 20+ acres of sunflowers, 20+ acres of soybeans, and a couple acres each for legumes such as pinto, navy, black gram and black turtle dry beans.
The four-year crop rotation of the fourth farm was much more straight forward and focused completely on growing cash crops. The first year was sugar beets in the cool growing season followed by soybeans in the warm. The second year was rye in the cool season and spring barley for the rest of the year. The third year saw flax grown followed by soybeans. And the final year was wheat also followed by spring barley.
On all four farms, clover, which is a legume, was allowed to grow between the rows and in and among the crops. Clover naturally converts nutrients from the air (nitrogen) into a form plants can use, effectively acting as a natural fertilizer. Clover's extensive root system, both taproots and fibrous roots, helps aerate the soil, improve drainage, and prevent compaction as well as protecting soil from erosion by wind and water. The dense growth habit of clover can help suppress the growth of weeds, acting as a living mulch, preventing evaporation and keeping the soil cool, especially in hot weather. Clover along with spring barley could then be harvested in the fall as a forage for livestock.
Father and Grandfather also fixed several ridiculous farming situations with a little common-sense technology. They gave their farmers shovels and hoes made from iron rather than the fragile wooden ones they were using. Instead of moving around things on the farm with pack mules and donkeys they provided horses and wagons. The oxen that pulled scratch plows were replaced with a team of horses and an iron plow. Finally, harvesting grains incorporated a bronze reaping comb and grains were refined with a grist mill.
“Big Brother! Good morning!”
Wrapping her arms around my neck and chest, my little sister Taygete snuggled her head up against mine and jammed her ample breasts into my back. Once again, I had been ambushed by my purple eyed, orangish golden haired, athletic and overly physically mature bro-con little sister whose only goal was to drag me down with her to the depths of Hades in an unnatural sisterly love affair.
“Ugh! Sister, get off of me and come here and sit down. Sheesh!” swatting the leather couch seat next to me forcefully with my hand.
“Good morning, are you still going to the beach with us today and bringing your friend?”
“Yeah, my friend Yuuka Hayase will be here sometime after breakfast.”
“Great, I’m sure the other girls will bring some lunch with them, but just to be sure, put together a lunch basket for us to munch on at the beach just in case. I’m going to bring along some water, wine and fruit juice so we have something to drink under the sun’s rays out on the sand as well.”
Her voice ringing out like a bell, mother’s voice called out “Everybody come to the table, breakfast is ready, Upinpetpia go up and tell Ariphron Jr. to come down and join us to eat.”
Lined up on the family dinner table were the usual plate of Graviera, a hard cheese with its slightly sweet taste along with a chunk of the ever-present feta cheese. Nearby was a bowl of the seasonal fruit peaches, oranges and a small pile of figs. Not to mention the bowl of fresh yogurt next to a pot of honey, along with a small bowl of crushed almonds to be used as toppings.
In the middle were the primary breakfast dishes. A plate of Loukoumades, a type of deep-fried small doughnut balls, drizzled with honey and sprinkled with cinnamon, the perfect sticky and sweet treat to have with a coffee. Another plate of Koulouri, a crisp-shelled, soft-centered bread ring covered in sesame seeds that pairs well with butter, honey, or jam. Finally, the main dish, a large casserole dish of strapatsada with its soft, perfectly scrambled eggs and ripe tomatoes mixed with the thyme, oregano, basil, and paprika herbs and spices along with chunks of feta cheese added on top. On the side were lightly toasted slices of crusty bread to be used to help soak up all of the delicious tomato sauce.
As everyone was sitting down in their spots, my younger brother, the spitting image of a younger version of father came down the stairs and joined us. With a dour disposition along with a sour look on his face, he plunked down in his spot with a “Good morning…”
Mother, ever the perfect host, stood and dipped up a serving of strapatsada for father along with a slice of toast, “here Darling.”
“Thanks Dear, everybody eat up.” And the frenzy commenced as everyone dove in.
“As you all know, the new Semester at Athena Academy starts Monday, so you all need to be packed up this weekend and ready to leave tomorrow afternoon.”
“I’m already pretty much ready, father” from Taygete.
“Most of my stuff is already in Athens, dad” from Ariphron.
I said, “I’m pretty much ready too, but more importantly I’ll be borrowing the estate wagon to go to the beach today, along with my best friend Alcibiades, our girlfriends, Sis and her friend. Ariphron you are welcome to come along if you like…”
“Nah, I’m going to be hanging out with my buddies in town seeing as I’m not going to get to see them much for a while after today.”
“Well, kids that’s fine by me, as long as you’re ready to leave tomorrow.”
“Mother we’ll be eating at a restaurant at the beach, so you don’t have to be worried about us for dinner.”
The horse stalls and shed to store the wagon were located on the side of the manor house. Used to haul the plantation’s fruit and grape harvests to the company warehouse and store in the village, the horse Peach had a gentle spirit that was easy for Grandpa’s widows to handle. Placing the beach mats and umbrellas in the wagon, I added the wine, fruit juice and water containers for the group, along with a bucket of oats and filled the barrel in the back with fresh water for Peach.
Grabbing the saddle and saddle pad out of the storage shed I placed them on peach ensuring they were comfortable and centered. Next came securing the saddle and other straps, adjusting them to ensure a snug but not overly tight fit. After attaching the headstall and bit, ensuring the bit is properly positioned and comfortable for Peach, I was ready to lead her out of her stall. Leading her in front of the wagon parked in the shed, the next step was to align the wagon's shafts with her shoulders. Finally, came attaching the harness to the wagon by attaching the tugs, and then traces, to the appropriate rings on the wagon's shafts.
While ensuring all the straps were properly adjusted and tightened, but not overly tight, to prevent chafing or discomfort, my girlfriend Deinomache walked up. My childhood friend, and current girlfriend Deinomache, with her hazel eyes and long, orange-brown, chestnut colored hair, looked stunning in a white sundress in a floral pattern, wearing a wide brimmed sun hat and carrying a picnic basket along with her beach bag. We had grown up close, living on neighboring country estates, especially so since her father and my mother were related, both of which were members of the powerful Alcmaeonid family, with her grandfather Megacles the head.
“I’m here Pericles! Looks like you’ve just about got things ready.”
“Good morning Deinomache! You look beautiful in that dress. You ready to go to the beach? Let me pull Peach and the wagon out of the shed and you can put your picnic basket in the back.”
Shortly thereafter my best friend Alcibiades and his girlfriend Hipparete rode up together on a horse with the beautiful redheaded, golden eyed Hipparete in a lovely blue off the shoulder dress with a short skirt sitting behind carrying a picnic basket and beach bag. Alcibiades was looking dapper in front in a short-sleeved linen shirt and riding breaches, his long curly light brown hair cascading down the back of his neck below his shoulder line. Known for his beauty and charisma, and well trained in the art of rhetoric, Alcibiades was a very persuasive and charming young man. He had poor Hipparete wrapped around his little finger, who was desperately in love with him. Though not engaged to be married, the two of them might as well be considering how the two had progressed in intimacy, except Alcibiades had yet to propose. I fully expected him to display his unruly and immoral darker side at the beach, relentlessly ogling other scantily clad women, and further triggering Hipparete’s penchant for displays of clinginess and jealousy.
“We’re here!”
“Hey! Perfect timing, we’re just about ready to go! You two going to ride like that all the way to beach? It’s a little more than an hour long trip each way. Hipparete’s back side is going to take some serious damage, and you’re the one who is going to have to put up with the complaining. I’ve put the rolled-up beach mats in the wagon so that they can be sat on. It should make the trip much more bearable than getting saddle sore riding together on that horse. Why don’t you put your horse in one of the stalls and let’s all ride together in the wagon? The farm hands will be sure to take care of your horse while we’re away.”
While Alcibiades was finishing getting his horse settled in a stall, Taygete and her friend Yuuka, another first year at the academy, showed up with an additional picnic basket and their beach bags. Taygete looked cute and relaxed in frayed short shorts, sandals and a white halter top, her bikini swimsuit strings clear to be seen going over her shoulders. Bright blue eyed Yuuka with her long, navy-blue hair tied in pigtails on both sides of her head, was also in sandals and short shorts, her black bikini swimsuit clearly showing through her thin white linen short sleeve shirt.
“Hey brother we’re here! I raided all of the sweets Mother had left sitting around in the kitchen, so we should be set for the beach!”
“Really Taygete, you’re incorrigible. I’m assuming you two girls are ready to go? Everybody got their swimsuits? We ought to talk about which beach we are going to. I was thinking either Althea or El Pouda Beach because of how close they are. Honestly though, El Pouda tends to be more secluded and desolate, as well as on the rocky side. Althea has better sand and is closer to town, so there ought to be more people there. Also, it’s more likely that somebody has set up a food stand there so we can get afternoon snacks, and it is also closer to the seafood restaurant we’ll be stopping at for dinner.”
With everybody pretty much agreeing to going to Althea, we all set out in the wagon. Deinomache sat up front with me on the driver’s bench, and everybody else sat in back in the wagon on the rolled-up beach mats, with everybody chattering away on the trip. The slightly rocky dirt road meandered through the lightly rolling hills of the Attica countryside past sparse farmland, orchards, vineyards and olive groves. At the pace Peach was trotting, it took us almost an hour and a half to reach the shallow cliffs descending down to the sand and coastline of the Aegean Sea.
Steering the wagon off the main sea front road, I pulled the wagon down into a large flat parking area at the top of the rocky hill between the two cliff faces that made Althea a secluded beach destination in a small sandy bay. A vendor had set up his food stall off the parking lot at the top of the stone stairs leading down to the beach itself.
“Everybody take the beach mats, umbrellas and picnic baskets down to the beach and pick out a spot while I unhitch the wagon and get Peach settled.”
Taking off the horse’s harness, I tied her up under a tree in a nearby grassy area and left her a bucket of water. Grabbing the pitchers of drinks, I then offered the food stall vendor some money to keep an eye on the horse and wagon before heading down the stairs to the beach. The beach itself had a smooth sandy surface of golden color, which was occasionally interspersed with pebbles, and calm, clear turquoise water gently lapping the shore.
People were already starting to accumulate on the beach and in the waters, and a light breeze was beginning to blow inland from the sea. Joining up with Alcibiades and the girls, who had already finished setting up the beach mats and umbrellas, I too started stripping down to my swim trunks. The girls were already down to their swimsuits. Deinomache was in a classic white triangle string bikini, showing off her thin waist, toned build, and large shapely breasts. Hipparete was in a red twisted bandeau bikini and matching thin stringed bottoms that accented her hair color and showed off her voluptuous hourglass figure with large breasts and wide hips. Finally, Taygete and her friend Yuuka were in blue and black string bikinis, with Taygete wearing a pair of racy high cut bottoms.
Giving them a once over, saying “You girls look amazing in your swimsuits! They really suit you!” and eliciting a quartet of blushes. “Does anybody have any sunscreen? Deinomache, let’s help each other spread sunscreen on each other’s backs.”
The tried and true, Hellenes formula passed down over the ages for sunscreen included equal parts olive oil, shea butter (or cocoa butter), coconut oil, and beeswax, along with several tablespoons of finely ground zinc oxide, by a mortar and pestle, and an essential oil such as lavender. The girls whipped out a couple jars of the stuff and everybody started lathering it on.
Stashing my sheathed short sword under my folded clothes, I looked over at my best friend instigating “Hey, Alcibiades, I challenge you to a game of girlfriend toss!” Grabbing up the squirming Deinomache in her white bikini, I ran through the sand out into the surf and tossed the screaming Deinomache as far as I could, laughing all the way. She landed with a mighty Ka Splash, followed shortly after by another large Ka Splash as Hipparete in her red bikini landed nearby.
Alcibiades and my laughing didn’t last long as we both got jumped on and pushed under the waves by Taygete and Yuuka, as they jumped on us from behind yelling “Big Brother Tackle!”
The six of us spent the rest of the morning splashing and playing in the clear, warm, turquoise colored water of the bay. There were chicken fights on Alcibiades and my shoulders between Deinomache and Hipparete, as well as Taygete and Yuuka. Of course we couldn’t resist the swimming races between the cliffs, with Taygete and Alcibiades the winners by a hair.
It wasn’t long until it was lunch time and everybody was tired enough that they were ready to take a break. By noon, Althea had begun to fill up with other groups of people from the local town spending the day at the beach.
The girls pulled out the lunch baskets and started setting out the food on a large, spread-out white cloth.
From their basket Taygete and Yuuka set out a wooden bowl of ripe, pink peaches and several bunches of purple and light green grapes along with a couple long, thin, crusty baguettes with crisp golden-brown crusts. Also, out came a small stoppered ceramic bottle of olive oil for dipping in or drizzling on a hunk of bread while eating.
Hipparete pulled six wooden bowls and forks out of her picnic basket and then started breaking up the broad leaves of a head of romaine lettuce into each bowl. Out of a large jar she then topped each bowl with the rest of a pre-prepared Greek salad consisting of sliced cucumbers cut into thin half-moons, halved cherry tomatoes, green bell pepper slices, diced red onion, pitted Kalamata olives, with their salty, briny flavor, and cubed feta cheese. At the end, like adding a cherry on top, she put a handful of mint leaves for a fresh finishing touch.
For a salad dressing, with a bright, zingy flavor, she had whisked together a simple mix of salt, pepper, olive oil, red wine vinegar, Dijon mustard, garlic, and dried oregano. Her finishing touch was to sprinkle the salads with generous pinches of oregano.
From her picnic basket, Deinomache pulled out six plates and a stack of fluffy soft Greek Pita flatbread. From a jar she started slathering on garlicky yogurt tzatziki sauce on half of each Pita, next stacking on chunks of succulent char-grilled lamb, and then topped it with diced up tomato and onion garnish for a tasty ad hock Souvlaki.
For my part, I started half filling cups with the orange and peach juice I’d brought along. Then topping off each cup with Retsina wine, a dry white wine with a pine resin flavor, produced in the family winery from Savatiano grapes grown in the family estate’s vineyard.
As for Alcibiades he promised to stay out of the way, claiming to be useless in the kitchen and mumbling something about likely starving to death if other people didn’t cook for him…
After lunch and finishing cleaning up from the picnic, everyone sat around chatting until they were ready to go back into the water. Everyone lathered on another layer of sunscreen and then headed into the waves while I grabbed my short sword and the lunch baskets to take them up and put them in the wagon. I found Peach lying quietly in the shade, looking at me as I approached with her ears twitching and her tail swishing back and forth. I got the bucket of oats out for her and refilled the water bucket from the water barrel in the back of the wagon.
Before heading back down to the beach I stopped by the merchant at the food stall, who was grilling some meat. With the smell of the juicy meat wafting up in the air, the couple of skewers he had made up looked delicious.
“Were there any problems?”
“No, been pretty quiet.”
“Great, I’ll have to drop by later and buy some skewers when everybody gets hungry for an afternoon snack!”
In the afternoon at lot more people were swimming in the water and laying out on the beach, with small kids running around under the watchful eyes of their mothers. Rejoining Alcibiades and the girls back in the water we played and splashed around for a while. It wasn’t long before Alcibiades and I started eyeing the left cliff face of the cove.
“Come on everybody let’s go cliff jumping into the water!”
We all swam over to the cliffside and climbed up, Alcibiades and I both having stupid grins on our faces, while the girls were mumbling things like “I don’t know about this…” Haha!
“Looks like the water is deep enough here to safely jump off. Just make sure you jump out far enough that you don’t clip the rock face on the way down.”
“Get out of the way Big Brother!” Taygete went running past me, with her boobs bouncing up and down in her blue bikini, and leaped off the cliff with a “Hiiyaaa!” and landing with a Kersplash!
“Oh yeah?! Take this sister!” I leaped off the cliff and tucked my knees up into my arms and landed in the waters near my sister with an even larger splash almost as high as where I jumped from, sending water showering down all around us. And then the endless loop of all of us jumping off the cliff face, swimming to a spot to climb back up and then jumping again started.
It took a while before everybody got tired of jumping off the cliff, but eventually Taygete and Yuuka started making a sand castle, Alcibiades and Hipparete disappeared up in the bushes and trees on the cliff side, and Deinomache and I laid down together back on the beach on our beach mat underneath an umbrella.
“So Deinomache, are you ready to go back to Athens and the Academy? It’s going to be both of our Senior years.”
“Pretty much. I’ll be heading back tomorrow on the stage coach with Alcibiades and Hipparete. Hipparete and I are staying together in the same house we rented last year with three other girls. This year one of the girls is bringing along a household maid, so it should be much easier living there this year. How about you?”
“Myself, my brother Ariphron, and Taygete, who will be a Freshman at the Academy this coming year, are heading back to Athens and our city estate with father in his carriage tomorrow afternoon. Honestly, I’m not looking forward to this last year at the Academy. I would be happy spending the rest of my life with you by my side as my wife, but, as you know, the family isn’t going to let me marry you as my legal wife. I’m already getting a ton of pressure to find someone this Senior year as a political legal wife. If I don’t pick someone, then I’ll wind up in an arranged marriage with The Gods know who, and who knows how she’ll treat you and Aethusa. On top of that, I need to find a woman who will help me run the family business as my work wife. I really have no idea how this will all work out. Will you help me find someone that not only fits the bill, but also will get along with you?”
“Well, it’s quite the pickle you’ve found yourself in, Darling. Frankly, I don’t really care who you wind up having to marry as long as I get my share of attention, love and affection, and you come through with your other manly responsibilities such as providing for the family including myself. Rest assured that I’ll give you what help I can, but if she winds up being a selfish, noble, spoiled brat who only thinks about herself and raises unholy hell, there is a way out. You can always just divorce her ass, and kick her to the curb!”
I found myself to be mildly disturbed by the evil glint in her eye.
“Haha, there are so many ways that could end badly.” Turning contemplative “I know eventually I’m going to take part in father’s business ventures and in Athen’s politics, but I really have never been outside Attica. The world is a very big place and there are so many things I want to see. I know that as soon as I start working in the family business, I’ll lose any chance of doing that outside of going to war.”
“So why don’t you do some traveling after you graduate from Athena Academy?”
“The biggest problem with that, is that it wouldn’t be very fair for you. Frankly, it wouldn’t surprise me if you got fed up and ran off with some other noble guy who was willing to make you his legal wife.”
“It tickles me that you’re worried about it. Of course, if I was going to do something like that, I would first have to find one that was worth doing something like that with, let alone finding someone who would be better than you. No, I’d wait for you, just as long as you promise to come back to me.”
“Hmmm... that’s reassuring, though anything could go wrong while traveling. Deinomache, is there anything you wanted to do after graduating.”
“Besides spending my life by your side as your wife and raising a family, not especially. I know taking part in the things you do will be pretty exciting in itself.”
“Hey Dear, I’m starting to get hungry again after all the cliff jumping we did. I’m thinking about buying some skewers from the guy running the food stall for us and the two girls. It’s probably a good time to check on the horse too.”
“Alright, Darling.”
Grabbing my short sword and heading up the stairs, I found Peach lazing in the shade, having munched all of her oats. The merchant was more than happy to sell me four meat skewers for a small copper apiece. Giving off a heavenly scent, the grilled beef Shish Kebabs, with tomatoes, zucchini, bell peppers and onions, were perfectly caramelized and smoky on the outside. I couldn’t wait to take a bite!
Rushing down the stairs, I found my sister and her friend Yuuka playing on the beach.
“Hey girls, looks like your sand castle is coming along. I bought you two some beef kabobs. Why don’t you take a break and eat these while they’re still hot?” As I handed each of them a skewer.
“Hey brother, looks like there are a couple of flies buzzing around Deinomache. I think they are giving her a hard time.”
“What the… I’ll talk to you later!”
Two average looking guys with a somewhat affluent attire and a bit of a pushy, arrogant attitude were trying to pressure Deinomache “Hey Babe, why don’t you come play with us? We’ll show you a good time!”
By this point Deinomache was standing trying to keep her distance from the two so that they couldn’t lay their hands on her.
Walking up to her, I handed her a skewer, “here Dear, have a beef kabab. Did you find a couple of new little boys to play with?”
One of the two derelicts reached out to try to grab the last skewer out of my left hand saying, “oh, so this one must be mine!”
Meanwhile, the other one was continuing the failed pickup attempt with the stereotypical “why don’t you ditch this loser, Babe? We are way more fun than he is!”
Pushing the guy’s arm away with my free hand, I asserted “Nope! The only way you’re getting this skewer is if I jab it in your eye!” and then I took a bite of one of the hunks of meat. “Mmmh... Crazy tender and juicy on the inside, this beef kabab is absolutely delicious! If you want one, you can buy them at the top of the stairs from the food stall vendor. I’m sure he’d appreciate your business,” scoring a pissed-off glare out of the two.
“By the way guys, tell me before you get lost, what was the plan? Were you waiting for me to walk away just for the chance to harass my girlfriend of many years into somehow falling for you? Even if you guys had game, with real skills in the art of seduction and attraction, and actually somehow got her worked up, which I honestly wouldn’t mind, at the end of the day she will be heading home with me."
“Or was the plan to grab her, and drag her off into the underbrush to have your way with her? Keep in mind that I’m more than capable of stepping forward and dealing with the likes of you boys if you get out of line” while I subtly pulled my blade out its scabbard a couple inches and then snapped it back. “Honestly though, I’m actually more worried about the two of you winding up dead before you realized she had slit your throats.”
“Dear, did you remember to bring your daggers today?”
Whipping out a dagger from behind her “Yes Darling.” She brought it up in front of her face, just below her eyes and angled the blade to flash light into the eyes of the two want-a-be seducers.
“Just a piece of advice before you go boys, you’re better off going after the local town girls, you know, like the ones without boyfriends. Talk to them and try to build a connection and some interest before you come on to them, and then you might have a chance. Remember though, if they are worth pursuing, they are likely going to want you to put a ring on their finger” as I meaningfully stroked my left ring finger up and down.
“Whatever, let’s get out of here. These guys are crazy…” The two miscreants then trudged off to the stairs where the food stall merchant was.
Just about that time Alcibiades and Hipparete walked up. “Well, that was disappointing. I thought for sure you were going to cut them to ribbons!”
“If you saw what was going on, why didn’t you come back me up? Some best friend you are.”
“Easy, easy, you know I would have stepped in if things went South, but I certainly didn’t want to miss a spectacle I hoped you were going to put on! Come to think of it, it would have been even more of a spectacle if things had gone South!”
“Ahh, forget that, I didn’t want to deal with blood getting splattered all over the beach right next to where we are located. So did you two have fun playing up in the bushes?” I said mischievously, as Hipparete looked away with an embarrassed red tint to her cheeks.
Alcibiades and Hipparete settled in under the umbrellas, and Deinomache, after her beef kabob, came over, putting her hand on my chest, and looking up into my eyes, said “Can you walk with me up into the bushes to take care of something? I’m afraid to go alone.”
“Alright, Alcibiades can you keep an eye on things here?”
“Sure thing.”
We walked hand in hand up into trees and bushes on the left cliff to a secluded spot. Turns out Deinomache was pretty worked up after all! Apparently, a man fighting to protect his woman is one of the strongest aphrodisiacs there are.
As the day wore on into the late afternoon, more and more people started leaving the beach. Talking to everybody, I convinced them that we should have an early dinner, so we could beat the crowds and get back home before it got dark. After getting dressed back in our street clothes over our swimming attire, we all grabbed the beach mats, umbrellas, and other stuff we brought, and carried them back up to the wagon. After thanking the food stall merchant and giving him a generous tip for keeping an eye on things, I hitched Peach back up to the wagon and we all headed down the sea side road to Lagonisi.
Lagonisi was the location of father’s salt production business that produced salt from seawater through a process of solar evaporation, where seawater is concentrated in shallow ponds, or salt pans, to drive off water and leave behind salt crystals. A local family whose father was a vassal of my father lived on the property and kept an eye on the water levels in the ponds and harvested the salt, during their spare time.
The process itself was pretty straight forward. Seawater from the Aegean would be hand pumped up with Archimedes pumps through intermediate pools, where debris and sand would be filtered out, to a series of five shallow, bricked in, concentrating ponds, each one lower in elevation and half the size of the prior, except the last crystallizing pond being equal size to the fourth, where the salt is actually produced.
The average concentration of salt in Aegean seawater, or its salinity, is about 38 parts per thousand (ppt), or 38 g/L meaning roughly 3.8% of the weight of seawater is dissolved salts. As the water evaporates the brine solution will become supersaturated, meaning it contains more salt than it can hold. This causes the salt to precipitate out of the solution and form crystals, which occurs when salt reaches a concentration of 360 g/L of water at room temperature.
The sun’s rays and the blowing sea breezes would cause the water to evaporate, raising the salt concentration in the salt pans. Once the water in the fourth salt pan evaporated down to half its depth, it would be filtered and drained into the final crystallizing pond. Then each prior pond would be progressively drained into the next, essentially filling them back up because each successive salt pan was half the size of the prior. The first pond would then be refilled by hand pumping saltwater into it.
The wind and sun's heat cause the water in the crystallization pond to evaporate, increasing the salt concentration in the remaining brine. As the water evaporates past the point of solubility, salt crystals would start to form on the water’s surface and could be harvested. By raking the newly formed crystals into a pile on the side of the pond, a more refined type of sea salt is produced known for its flaky texture and delicate flavor. If the salt is allowed to form on the bottom of the salt pan it would become coarser and darker in color, being only suitable for industrial uses. After allowing each pile to drain for a month, with the morning dew leaching the residual magnesium and calcium from the salt, it could be harvested and sorted into different sizes — coarse, medium or fine.
It wasn’t long before we arrived at the Barba Giorgis Seafood Restaurant in Lagonisi, a large non-descript white building with a large outdoor patio located a block off the shore road and main road out of town. We left the horse and wagon with the young boy that was acting as a valet and walked into the interior eating area which was pretty small. The hostess led us outside to the large covered patio area which had numerous white tables and chairs and seated us at a table for six.
Before taking our order, the waitress brought a pitcher of water to pour in the cups and bread for dipping into peppered olive oil on the small plates at each place setting.
For appetizers we ordered a couple bowls of Fava (a yellow split pea puree), made with mashed fava beans, onions, parsley, olive oil, and various seasonings. With the appetizers the waitress brought out a stack of warmed pitas for dipping and several bottles of white wine with wine cups for everyone. The real excitement was the sizzling skillet of Saganaki that had earlier been soaked with ouzo. With a dramatic flourish, the server touched the fried cheese with a flame stick, yelling “Opa” and setting the fried cheese ablaze before squeezing a lemon slice over the top to dowse the flames.
Next came out salads for everyone. Some had Barba Giorgi, with rocket leaf lettuce, which has a strong, peppery flavor and slight 'bite' to it, sundried tomatoes, capers, cheese, baby tomatoes, and balsamic vinegar. The rest had Greek Salad made with tomato, cucumber, onion, pepper, olives, feta cheese, and dressed with red wine vinegar, garlic, oregano, and olive oil. We also had ordered a couple crab salads with crab meat, diced celery, shallots, fresh herbs, and a creamy lemon dressing for everybody to share as a side to their salads.
After we finished the salads, the waitress brought out the main dishes starting with two heaping plates of steak fries. Next was a large plate of Kalamari, which had been rolled in flour, fried and then served with a lemon. Out came a share plate of grilled octopus, lightly charred and tender, and another plate of grilled squid, seasoned with a bit of olive oil, dried oregano, coriander, salt, pepper, and a pinch of paprika. Both the octopus and squid were served drizzled with a traditional Greek grilling sauce Ladolemono, made from olive oil and lemon dressing, and some dried oregano sprinkled on top. Next came a plate of tender, succulent shrimp, peeled, deveined with the tails left on, and bathed in a simple marinade, then grilled to perfection. Then, just for fun, an order of steamed mussels. Everybody passed the share plates around the table, taking off a portion for themselves from the dishes they desired.
Shortly afterwards the main fresh fish dishes came out. The first was Barbounia, or fried red mullet, bright orangey-pink and wonderfully crunchy, it’s one of the best tasting fish you will ever eat. Not only can you eat most of the head, but you can eat the tail like a potato chip too.
The second was pan-fried Plaice fillets topped with a sauce made from lemon juice, olive oil, garlic, and a touch of Greek yogurt. The two dishes were quickly passed around, everybody slicing off a piece for themselves. Taygete snagged the mullet tail, making me laugh to myself. After all her boobs were big enough already… Hahaha!
It wasn’t long before all the dishes were finished off, with everybody displaying a stupid grin on their face and slouching around the table in extreme tiredness and lethargy.
“Check please, and can you get your valet to bring our wagon around?”
We got out of there for four small silvers and a few coppers after tip. The wine we drank was the most expensive part, due to the expense of glass bottles. Considering that day laborers are paid for a day’s labor with a small silver, otherwise known as a dime, or drachma[1], the meal we ate was obscenely expensive, but man was it worth it!
I tipped the valet with several coppers after he brought the horse and wagon forward and helped me check the connections of the straps between the horse’s harness and the wagon. Then we setoff down the road back home with everybody in the wagon and Deinomache snuggled up against me on the driver’s bench. It wasn’t long before all the girls were asleep on the hour and a half journey back.
First, we dropped off Yuuka before we pulled in front of Deinomache’s family estate. I sent her off with a kiss. Finally, we pulled into the entry way of the Alcmaeonid Estate driving up to the stables.
After unhitching Peach from the wagon I requested, “Alcibiades help me push the wagon into the storage shed.”
“Sure, no problem.”
I next removed Peaches harness and bridle, and stored them while he put the saddle on his horse.
“Today was a good day you two. See you both at the academy!” Then we bid each other farewell, as they left together on their horse.
[1] Historically, an Athenian drachma was 4.3 grams, or ~63 grains of silver, whereas the pre-1965 American dime is 2.5 grams. So I’m abusing the whole large silver, similar to an American Silver Dollar, being a Troy ounce at 31.1035 grams, or 480 grains of silver. That relatively modern definition that comes from Troyes, France in the Middle Ages has Roman roots, and the Romans are actually the refugees from the City of Troy after it got sacked, so I guess this isn’t too far off… Anyways, things weren’t all that standardized back in those days, but with the Athenian Currency being the most trusted, we’ll make the ‘Modern’ base ten version the standard for this story.