History

Precious Oils and Cosmetics in the ancient Greek World

Greek perfumes and cosmetics have long since evaporated or turned to dust, leaving behind only written references to their importance and the containers that once held them. From Homer's day forward, precious oils, perfumes, cosmetic powders, eye shadows, skin glosses and paints, beauty unguents, and even hair dyes seem to have been in near univers...

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The Greek House

Greek city houses of the 6th and 5th century b.c. were usually modest in scale and built of relatively inexpensive materials. They varied from two or three rooms clustered around a small court to a dozen or so rooms. City house exteriors presented a plain facade to the street, broken only by the door and a few small windows set high. In larger hous...

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Greek Pottery and its Archaeological Importance

The classical archaeologist relies to a great extent on pottery as important evidence for reconstructing Greek life. In the study of all ceramic&endash;making cultures, pottery is used as a chronological indicator because pottery shapes and decoration change over time. The association of these changes with other cultural phenomena or, in the ca...

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Women's Life in Ancient Greece

Greek women had virtually no political rights of any kind and were controlled by men at nearly every stage of their lives. The most important duties for a city-dwelling woman were to bear children--preferably male--and to run the household. Duties of a rural woman included some of the agricultural work: the harvesting of olives and fruit was their ...

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Schooling in Ancient Greece

Education in schools in ancient Athens was at first limited to aristocratic boys. By the 4th century b.c. all 18-year-old males spent two years in a gymnasion, a state school devoted to the overall physical and intellectual development of a young man. More advanced education in philosophy, mathematics, logic and rhetoric was available to the aristo...

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Trade

Economy, (Includes map of Mediterranean). When Mycenaean society broke up around 1100 BC, the commercial routes that had linked mainland Greece with the rest of the Mediterranean were severed. After a period of prolonged recovery, the Greeks began colonizing the shore regions of the Mediterranean and Black seas. This movement (ca. 750-550 BC) was p...

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Bronze Manufacturing

Manufacturing absorbed small numbers of workers who operated with little mechanical assistance. Of these, a significant number must have been slaves, since no free man worked for wages unless driven to it by poverty. It has been estimated that only about 500 potters and painters were active in 5th century Athens at a time when the city supplied mos...

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Attic Manufacturing in the ancient Greek World

Ceramic production in Athens was concentrated in the northwest corner of the city, the Kerameikos. Here artisans turned out architectural decorations, roof tiles, figurines, and even large sculptures, as well as fine and coarse-ware pottery. There is little evidence for mass production methods, although two painters could collaborate on a single la...

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The Glory of Hellas: From the Bronze Age to Roman Domination

The history of Hellas (Greece) is a tale of extraordinary cultural evolution, military resilience, and societal transformation, spanning from the depths of prehistory to the rise of Rome as a global power. This journey begins in the enigmatic Bronze Age and unfolds through the triumphs and trials that shaped one of the most influential civilization...

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