Daily Life: Family Life
What roles do you play in your household? In ancient Greece, the husband was the head of the household. His duty was to care for the members of his household, and to determine their children?s marriages. The wife?s duty was to take care of the children, run the household, spin thread and weave cloth. She also helped to determine the children?s marriages. Wives in rich families also supervised the family slaves. Women didn?'t have much control over themselves. If a woman was not yet married, she was under the control of her father. Once she was married, she was under control of her husband.
Girls got married around the age of 13, which was a very young age to be married! When she got married, she received her dowry, or wedding gift. The gift was her family?s money or property. I would rather be a boy than a girl in ancient Greece, because they had more freedom.
Trade: Skills
What skills did Greek traders needed to excel at to trade? Well, since they were near the three seas, they needed a boat to get to different places to trade. They needed to be skilled at sailing and shipbuilding. They built different kinds of ships for different situations. For example, ships for sailing had a single mast and square sail. They also built warships. These warships had two to three oars on each side. Life would be pretty hard for me, as I have no instincts for sailing!
Trade: What they traded
What exactly did ancient Greeks trade? The Greeks didn?t produce much grain because of the mountains and other factors, but they produced surpluses. This included olive oil, wine, wool, and fine pottery. Greek city-states also traded with each other. They also traded these items into other regions, around the Black Sea and the Mediterranean Sea. This also included Egypt and Italy. They also imported items from other places. Grain, timber, animal hides, slaves, nuts, figs, cheese, and flax were some examples of what they traded for. The Greeks had a busy trade that provided them with what they needed.
Trade: New Ideas
The Greeks developed new ideas from trading. When they traded with the Phoenicians, they spread their alphabet. Between 900 and 800 B.C. the Greeks used the Phoenician alphabet. Later on, they changed some letters of the alphabet to suit their language. This evolved their alphabet into 26 letters. The Greeks also learned from the Anatolians. Anatolia first invented coins in 650 B.C., and by 500 B.C. the Greeks were making their own coins. In addition to trading items, the Greeks also traded ideas.
Advancements: Philosophy
Philosophy originated in ancient Greece. The most famous philosophers in ancient Greece were Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle. Philosophy means ?the study of basic truths and ideas about the universe?.
Philosophy started after the Peloponnesian War, when the Greeks began to question values. They had two basic ideas about the universe. They thought the universe is put together in an orderly way. Then they thought that people could understand these laws. Philosophers used these laws when they tried to find the truth.
Socrates, known as the founder of Western philosophy, lived from 470 to 399 B.C. Socrates taught the Socratic method, where he taught his students to question their beliefs. Later on he was prosecuted. The jury accused him of trying to teach children to rebel. They poisoned him with hemlock. Next, we?re going to talk about Plato. Plato was a student of Socrates?, and he was one of his best students. Plato was born on about 427 B.C. and died on about 347 B.C. One of the books he wrote was The Republic. The book was basically about how a philosopher-king should rule. He also started a school called the Academy. It was open for about 900 years.
The final philosopher we are going to talk about is Aristotle. Aristotle was one of Plato?s best students. He was born on 384 B.C. and died on 323 B.C. He achieved many things, including the rules of logics. This was later applied to science. Like Plato, he also opened up his own school called the Lyceum. One famous person he taught for three years, was Alexander the Great. The Greeks had a long and rich tradition of philosophy.
Advancements: Theater and Play
The theater and plays were like TV during their time. Plays were performed by men in ancient Greece. If there was a woman needed, the men would perform it too! In theater everything was colorful! The masks and costumes the actors wore were colorful, even the stage sets were colorful as well. Dancing was also a major part of ancient Greek festivals.
