Religious Beliefs
In ancient Greece, the people worshiped gods that they believed existed. Now their religions are mainly Greek Orthodox, but some people are Muslim, while others believe in something else.
Their capital is Athens, and their population is just over 10.5 million. The people that live in Greece mostly speak Greek, but some speak English and French.
Author
Homer is the man who supposedly wrote the two great epics of Greek history, the Iliad and the Odyssey. They are both considered landmarks in human literature. He is often cited as the starting point in Western literature and historical tradition. The details of his life are still a mystery, but some scholars believe he never existed.
The Greeks wrote a great deal of literary work, and a surprising amount of what they wrote is still available to us today. They had six types of writing. They are: the epic, the poem, the play, the history, philosophical dialogues and treaties, legal speeches and political speeches.
Clothing
The Greek babies mostly wore cloth diapers, but if it was cold they would be more wrapped up. Many children wore cloths around their waists like shorts. Men mostly wore tunics, a knee-length t-shirt made of wool or linen. They often wore it over one shoulder. If it was cold, they would wear a wool cloak over their tunic, and they could use it as a blanket if they were off fighting in a war. Their legs were bare and they wore leather sandals. Some men went barefoot if they didn't wear sandals, but some went barefoot their whole lives. The women wore one large piece of wool or linen wrapped around them and pinned in different ways to make it stay. Over time the ways of pinning it changed. Their dresses always went down to their ankles. When it was cold, women also had the long wool cloaks to keep them warm.
Food
The food that the Greeks ate had all sorts of religious and philosophical meaning. They never ate meat unless it had been sacrificed to a god, or had been hunted. They believed it was wrong to kill and eat a tame animal without sacrificing it to their gods. With vegetables, most Greeks believed that some foods were dirtier or cleaner, and that certain gods only liked certain foods. They mainly ate Mediterranean triad, wheat, wine, and olive oil. They grew vegetables, especially legumes. They supposedly ate more fish than any other Mediterranean people. Because of their sacrificial beliefs, they ate less meat than other people did.
