Spartans believed that strong mothers produced strong children, so women were allowed to exercise and were even given the same portions of food as their male counterparts, something unheard of in Athens. Women in Sparta also had to pass the citizenship tests at If they did so successfully, they were assigned a husband.
To prepare for the wedding night, their hair was cut short and they were dressed in male clothing. After spending their wedding night together, the Spartan man then returned to his all-male barracks, where he often had lovers. Men and women did not live together but met occasionally for procreation. Since they were living alone most of the time, Spartan women enjoyed a much greater freedom and independence than women in other Greek city-states. In Athens, however, girls and boys were brought up much differently.
While boys went off to school at age seven, young girls continued to stay at home until they were married, rarely ever leaving their house. Others learned to dance or play an instrument, although a good family did not consider musical instruments to be proper for girls. A young girl was to assist her mother in the home.
Also, if asked to help, she was required to work in the fields. Instructing a young girl on her future role as a mother was very important.
All girls learned domestic jobs such as weaving, working with textiles, taking care of children, embroidering, and cooking.
The boys of ancient Athens went to school at seven. They did their work on waxed-covered tablets and a stylus. Subjects were similar to those taught today — boys in Athens were taught math, including fractions, addition, subtraction, division, and multiplication. They learned the words of Homer and how to read and write, and they had music instruction that usually included learning to play the lyre.
Physical education and sports included the use of the bow and arrow and the sling, while competitions in wrestling and swimming were also included. The more wealthy learned to ride horses. By age 14, boys were promoted to another school for their teenage years. By age 18, all boys were expected to attend military school, from which they graduated at From the age of 30 and onward they could participate in politics. Most people lived in villages or in the countryside. Many Greeks were poor and life was hard, because farmland, water and timber for building were scarce.
That's why many Greeks sailed off to find new lands to settle. Ancient Greek homes were built around a courtyard or garden. The walls were often made from wood and mud bricks. They had small windows with no glass, but wooden shutters to keep out the hot sun. They didn't have much furniture inside.
People sat on wooden chairs or stools. Rich people decorated the walls and floors with colourful tiles and paintings. The audience sat in tiers of seats in a semi-circle. Our word theater is derived from the Greek word theatron, which means the place where people listen.
The Ancient Greeks invented tragedy in which some great person is destroyed not by wickedness but through error. They also wrote comedies. Our word comedy comes from the Greek word for merrymaking, Komoidia. A woman named Sappho who lived about BC was a famous poet.
The Greeks are also famous for their lifelike sculpture. Among the great sculptors were Phidias BC , Praxiteles, and Lysippos both of whom lived and worked in the second half of the 4th century BC. It was found on the Greek island of Milos in Unfortunately, the arms are missing.
Ancient Greek pottery often has scenes from mythology or everyday life painted on it. In the 6th century, BC figures in black glaze were painted against a red background. This was called the black-figure style. About BC the red-figure style was introduced. The colors were reversed. In Ancient Greece, funerary urns usually had figures painted on a white background. Painting on walls was also an important art in Ancient Greece. Unfortunately, very few examples survive.
Greek musicians played a wind instrument like a clarinet. One pipe was called the aulo and two pipes played together were called auloi. Greeks also played cymbals and a stringed instrument called a lyre. They also played a kind of tambourine called a timpanon.
Symmetry was very important to the Greeks and Greek architects went to pains to work out correct ratios and proportions. Greek architecture is usually divided into 3 styles called orders. They are Doric, Ionic, and Corinthian. The most important temples had colonnades rows of columns in one of the three styles.
Doric columns were relatively short and broad. Their height was six times the diameter of their base. They were also quite plain and simple although they did have fluting vertical indentations for decoration.
Ionic and Corinthian columns were 9 times the diameter of their base in height. Both had tops called capitals. Ionic columns had capitals carved like scrolls while Corinthian columns had columns carved like leaves.
The most famous work of Greek architecture is the Parthenon, a temple in Athens. The building began in BC and was completed in BC. Ancient Greece produced some great astronomers. Anaxagoras BC realized that the Moon does not shine with its own light, but reflects light from the Sun.
Aristarchus BC realized that the Earth spins on its axis. He also realized that the Earth moves around the Sun not the other way round. Finally, Eratosthenes BC calculated the circumference of the Earth. The Greeks are also famous for their philosophers philosopher means lover of wisdom. One of the most influential philosophers was Empedocles He taught that the world is made of four elements, earth, fire, water, and air.
This view dominated Western thought until the 17th century. A brilliant mathematician named Pythagoras BC made important discoveries. Another mathematician called Euclid wrote a book on geometry called The Elements. It was a standard textbook for over 2, years. Meanwhile, a Greek named Democritus BC said that all things are made of tiny pieces of matter he called atoms.
However, it was not until the 19th century that he was proved right. The Ancient Greeks were polytheists they worshiped many gods. The Greeks imagined that gods and goddesses were like human beings. Among the gods and goddesses were Aphrodite, goddess of beauty and love, Athena, goddess of wisdom, Artemis goddess of hunting, the moon and childbirth, and Ares god of war.
They also worshiped Dionysus god of wine, he was also the god of music, dancing, and the theater , Demeter goddess of crops, Hephaestus the blacksmith of the gods, and Hermes the messenger of the gods. Other gods were Poseidon god of the sea and Hades the god of the dead who ruled over a gloomy underworld where the spirits of the dead dwelt. Apollo was the god of the sun, music, and poetry. The chief god was Zeus.
His wife was Hera, goddess of marriage. Every city had many temples. People went to the temple to pray. Outside them were altars where offerings were made and animals were sacrificed. Very often Greek houses also had an altar in the courtyard where they made offerings to the gods. When Ancient Greeks died they were either buried or they were cremated and their ashes were then buried.
Food, drink, and goods were buried with the dead person, and from time to time the family of the dead person made offerings on the grave. The Ancient Greeks believed that when you died a ferryman called Charon rowed your spirit across a river called the Styx to the entrance of the underworld. The entrance was guarded by a three-headed dog called Cerberus, who prevented anyone from leaving! If you were very bad during your life then after your death you went to a place called Tartarus to be punished.
If you were very good you went to a beautiful place to be rewarded. However, most people were neither particularly good nor bad. After death, they went to a dull and dismal place.
The Greeks believed that if they made offerings to a dead relative it would temporarily brighten their existence in the dreary underworld. Ancient Greek armies were based on infantry called hoplites. The hoplite had to buy his own armor and weapons so he usually came from the middle class. Hoplites were protected by helmets, breastplates, and backplates, and shin guards called greaves. They carried round bronze shields. Hoplites carried 1. They also carried swords and daggers.
Only the rich could afford horses so they provided the cavalry. Cavalrymen carried two throwing spears and a sword. Poor men became archers or were armed with slings. They did not wear armor.
The Athenians also had a large navy. The ships were called triremes. They had three rows of oars. Two rows poked out of portholes. The third row was on the top deck.
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