Ancient Greece

Lifestyle of the Ordinary Ancient Greek

by Christopher Xenopoulos Janus. The daily Lifestyle of the anient Greek - just the ordinary people men and women, children and the elderly, slaves and foreigners, rich and poor - has always been of special interest to me. Not more so, of course, than the philosophers, artists and dramatists who have contributed so enormously to our culture and way...

Read More

Burial Rituals and the Afterlife of Ancient Greece

As seen in the literature of ancient Greece, tombs and rituals of the wealthy were extravagant. Gold and jewels were essential grave offerings of respectable and honored tombs, perhaps used as a way to display wealth and status. It seems the wealthier you were the more elaborate your final resting place. The ancient Greeks had distinct methods of b...

Read More

Everyday Life in Ancient Greece

Centered within a loose collection of city-states (often at war with one another), ancient Greek culture reached its pinnacle during the fourth century BC - an era described as its "Golden Age." Art, theater, music, poetry, philosophy, and political experiments such as democracy flourished. Greek influence stretched along the northern rim of the Me...

Read More

Death and Funeral in Ancient Greece

The Funerals. An Athenian's Will.--All Menon's patient's are to-day set out upon the road to recovery. Hipponax, his rival, has been less fortunate. A wealthy and elderly patient, Lycophron, died the day before yesterday. As the latter felt his end approaching, he did what most Athenians may put off until close to the inevitable hour--he made his w...

Read More

Children of Ancient Greece

Babies born in ancient Greece often had a difficult time surviving. Many died in the first couple days of life; therefore, babies did not receive names until the seventh or tenth day of life. If a baby was born deformed, it might have been abandoned on a mountain (female babies were abandoned more often than males). Sometimes abandoned babies were ...

Read More

Ancient Greece Daily Life

How would you have behaved if you had lived in ancient Sparta? (Lie, cheat, steal, because that is the Sparta way!) Or in ancient Athens? Or in Corinth, Argos or Megara? The ancient Greeks were very proud of their city-state! They were also proud of being Greek. The ancient Greeks were thinkers. They loved to talk. They honored their gods and respe...

Read More

Women in Athens

All ancient societies drew a distinction between the free and the slave, even if slaves were few in number. Ancient Egypt saw very little difference in law between men and women, while Athens (and most other societies) did. Athens also drew a sharp distinction between citizen and resident alien, between legitimate born and the illegitimate, and bet...

Read More

Roles of Men, Women, and Children

Men, women, and children in ancient Greece had different roles and responsibilities. Let's look at the roles you and your friends and family would have had if you had lived in ancient Greece. Men in Greece wore special clothes. Every Greek man owned several chitons, long, rectangular pieces of cloth with holes for the head and arms. The chitons wer...

Read More

Marriage (Gamos) in Ancient Greece

How Athenian Marriages are Arranged.--Over this typical Athenian home reigns the wife of the master. Public opinion frowns upon celibacy, and there are relatively few unmarried men in Athens. An Athenian girl is brought up with the distinct expectation of matrimony.[*] Opportunities for a romance almost never will come her way; but it is the busine...

Read More

Ancient Greek Education

The Greek Gods were much more down-to-earth and much less awesome than the remote gods of the East. Because they were endowed with human qualities and often represented aspects of the physical world--such as the sun, the moon, and the sea--they were closer to man and to the world he lived in. The Greeks, therefore, could find spiritual satisfaction...

Read More