Download life in athens - Haverford School District

LIFE IN ATHENS
BOYS
In ancient Athens, the purpose of education was to produce citizens trained in the arts, to
prepare citizens for both peace and war.
Other than requiring two years of military training that began at age 18, the state left
parents to educate their sons as they saw fit.
The schools were private, but the tuition was low enough so that even the poorest citizens
could afford to send their children for at least a few years.
Until age 6 or 7, boys were taught at home by their mother or by a male slave.
Boys attended elementary school from the time they were about age 6 or 7 until they were
13 or 14. Part of their training was gymnastics.
The younger boys learned to move gracefully, do calisthenics, and play ball and other
games. The older boys learned running, jumping, boxing, wrestling, and discus and javelin
throwing. The boys also learned to play the lyre and sing, to count, and to read and write.
But it was literature that was at the heart of their schooling.
The national epic poems of the Greeks - Homer's Odyssey and Iliad - were a vital part of
the life of the Athenian people. As soon as their pupils could write, the teachers dictated
passages from Homer for them to take down, memorize, and later act out. Teachers and
pupils also discussed the feats of the Greek heroes described by Homer.
From age 6 to 14, boys went to a neighborhood primary school or to a private school.
Books were very expensive and rare, so subjects were read out-loud, and the boys had to
memorize everything. To help them learn, they used writing tablets and rulers.
At 13 or 14, the formal education of the poorer boys probably ended and was followed by
apprenticeship at a trade. The wealthier boys continued their education under the
tutelage of philosopher-teachers.
The boys who attended schools fell into more or less two groups.
• Those who wanted learning for its own sake studied with philosophers like Plato
who taught such subjects as geometry, astronomy, harmonics (the mathematical
theory of music), and arithmetic.
• Those who wanted training for public life studied with philosophers like Socrates
who taught primarily oratory and rhetoric. In democratic Athens such training was
appropriate and necessary because power rested with the men who had the ability
to persuade their fellow senators to act.
As adults, men usually worked it the morning and then attended meetings in the assembly
(the government body that passed laws) in the afternoon. In the evenings, upper-class
men enjoyed all male gatherings where they drank, dined, and discussed politics and
philosophy.
LIFE IN ATHENS
GIRLS
Compared to the women of Sparta, the status of an Athenian woman in Greek society was
minimal. Athenian women were only a small step above slaves.
For Athenian women, life revolved around the home and family. Upper class women
supervised the household servants and worked wool into cloth.
Women rarely went out, except to funerals or religious festivals. Even then, they could
leave the house only if a male relative went with them.
Athenian women did not attend school, but many learned to read and play music at home.
Women had no political rights and could not own property.
The most important aspect of their life was marriage.
• Athenian girls married around 13-15 years old.
• Marriages were arranged by the father and were accompanied by a great deal of
fanfare.
• When the marriage was to take place the girl gave away all of her toys to the temple
of Artemis, and her hair was cut.
• For the next several months the bride was taught the domestic duties she would
perform for the rest of her life by her mother and by slaves.
Weddings were arranged through the father of the bride.
• If a wife was widowed it was the duty of the father's brother to find her another
husband.
• A woman could not own property, and was practically an object herself.
• If the husband died, she vacated the house and went to her father's brother.
• If the father's brother was killed then the woman became a virtual slave, with
minimal rights.
• Athenian women were subject to a life of subservience. In general, her main
purpose as a wife was to produce healthy children.
Typ ica l Da y of a Greek H ouse wife
7:05 Rises
7:08 Eats small piece of bread soaked in wine. Is still hungry, but
must be careful about her figure
7:09 Pecks husband on cheek and sends him off to the agora.
Sighs. Looks at the four bare (slightly tinted) walls. Rarely allowed
out of the house, she prepares for another day at home.
7:15 Summon hand maiden to cool her with huge peacock feather.
8:30 All dressed up with no place to go, she wanders into the
kitchen, eyes a piece of honey cake. Resists.
9:27 Hears argument between two servants, rushes out to mediate.
11:15 Wanders into the courtyard near flowerbed where slave girls
are spinning and giggling. Asks to join them. Is reminded this is
improper behavior - they suggest she ready herself for lunch.
12:15 Husband arrives, chiding her about the foolishness of makeup. Pretends to agree. Husband leaves at 12:22
3:00 Instructs daughter on her duties of being a wife.
8:05 Husband and wife sit down at low table to dinner; bread, oil,
wine, a few figs, small portion of fish (only 320 calories) and beans.
She hears about his day. He tells her she should not bother about
the affairs of men. Pretends to agree. She is too hungry to argue.
10:10 Falls asleep. Does not dream of tomorrow.