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DAILY LIFE OF
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A NCIENT
GR EEK S
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DAILY LIFE OF
THE
A NCIENT
GR EEK S
Second Edition
robert garland
The Greenwood Press “Daily Life Through History” Series
GREENWOOD PRESS
Westport, Connecticut • London
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Garland, Robert.
Daily life of the ancient Greeks / Robert Garland. — 2nd ed.
p. c m. — (The Greenwood Press daily life through history series,
ISSN 1080 – 4749)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978–0–313–35814–2 (alk. paper)
1. Greece — Social life and customs. 2. Greece — Civilization—
To 146 B.C. I. Title.
DF78.G276 2009a
938—dc22
2008036836
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data is available.
Copyright © 2009 by Robert Garland
All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be
reproduced, by any process or technique, without the
express written consent of the publisher.
Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 2008036836
ISBN: 978–0–313–35814 –2
ISSN: 1080 – 4749
First published in 2009
Greenwood Press, 88 Post Road West, Westport, CT 06881
An imprint of Greenwood Publishing Group, Inc.
www.greenwood.com
Printed in the United States of America
The paper used in this book complies with the
Permanent Paper Standard issued by the National
Information Standards Organization (Z39.48–1984).
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Every reasonable effort has been made to trace the owners of copyright
materials in this book, but in some instances this has proven impossible.
The author and publisher will be glad to receive information leading to a
more complete acknowledgments in subsequent printings of the book
and in the meantime extend their apologies for any omissions.
To my son Richard, to my daughter Ling Ling.
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CONTENTS
Preface to the Second Edition
Author’s Note
Chronology
Introduction
xi
xiii
xv
1
1. Historical Outline
7
The Mycenaeans
7
The Dark Age
12
The Greek Renaissance
13
The Rise of the City-State
16
Colonization
17
Archaic Greece
19
Sparta
21
Classical Greece
25
The Age of Perikles
27
The Rise of Macedon
30
viii
Contents
The Empire of Alexander the Great
31
The Hellenistic World
33
The Roman Conquest
34
2. Space and Time
37
Landscape and Climate
37
The City of Athens
39
Time and the Seasons
47
3. Language, Alphabet, and Literacy
53
The Origins of the Greek Language and Linear B
53
Literacy
58
Papyri
59
Ostraka
60
Libraries
61
4. The People
65
Social Organization
65
Women
70
Men
85
Parents and Children
89
The Elderly
98
The Disabled
102
Slaves
105
Foreigners and Barbarians
112
The Spartan Alternative
118
5. Private Life
127
Housing
127
Household Religion
133
Dress
134
Food and Drink
141
Drinking Parties
146
Contents
ix
Education
155
Health and Sickness
159
Sexual Mores
169
Death
174
Afterlife
186
Magic
193
6. The Public Sphere
197
Religion
197
Economy and Trade
216
Law and Order
224
Work
229
Travel and Transportation
233
Warfare
237
7. Pleasure and Leisure
257
Athletics and the Cult of Physical Fitness
258
Festivals
266
Theatrical Performances
270
Music
282
The Visual Arts
284
Mythology
292
8. The Impact of Ancient Greece on Modern Culture
305
The Continuing Classical Tradition
307
The Cradle of Democracy
311
Our So-Called Classical Roots: The
Controversy over Black Athena
312
Glossary of Greek Terms
315
For Further Reading
321
Index
335
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PREFACE TO THE
SECOND EDITION
The invitation to prepare a second edition of Daily Life of the Ancient
Greeks (half as long as the first edition) came at a timely moment.
It is exactly 100 years since, in 1908, the British Museum mounted
its first exhibit on Greek and Roman life. Although that exhibit—
intended to illustrate daily life through everyday objects that were
commonly used in the home—has changed repeatedly over the
years, the essential formula has remained constant, testifying to the
high level of interest in the subject among the general, museumgoing public. The pioneering work on the present topic, however,
was undertaken by German historian W. A. Becker, whose Charicles
or Illustrations of the Private Life of the Ancient Greeks was first translated into English in 1845. Still in print, it offers a narrative account
of the life of a young aristocrat named Charicles. Though Charicles
has undoubtedly stood the test of time and is supported by a daunting body of literary evidence, one must get to the evidence by wading through the translator’s exsufflicate late Romantic purple prose,
of which this description of a young woman is an example: “A rich
profusion of light hair descended on her neck in luxuriant ringlets,
while the finely-penciled arch of the eyebrows was of a jetty black:
in the delicate whiteness of her cheeks rose a soft tinge to natural
vermilion.” More important, Charicles avoids all the brutish nastiness of life in ancient Greece, which provides a necessary insight
into the living conditions of any preindustrialized population.
xii
Preface to the Second Edition
The readers of the Greenwood Daily Life series are built of sterner
stuff than their forebears and need no such sugaring of the pill.
The daily life of ancient Greece was one where parents routinely
buried children, where famine and disease made common cause,
where life expectancy was little more than half of what it is today,
where there was no antidote to physical pain, where terror and
anxiety stalked the mental horizons of even the most enlightened,
and where, despite all the forces that sought to repress it, culture
remained politically vital. It was a routine that has much to tell
us about the plight of millions today. Not the least of the benefits
of studying the Greeks from this angle is that it helps us put the
glittering accomplishments of their civilization into their proper,
somewhat somber and sobering context. We know both them and
ourselves better as a result.
Hamilton, New York
June 2008
AUTHOR’S NOTE
All translations of Greek text included in this book have been made
by the author. Bibliographic references that are provided refer to
any standard edition of Greek texts, not to specific copyrighted
translations. Students can refer to any English translation of the
works cited. Translations of inscriptions that appear in Greek epigraphical works are also included, but no sources are provided for
these because they can be consulted easily only by those who read
Greek. In other instances, the author has noted “in fragment from a
lost work” because the fragments in question appear only in scholarly Greek anthologies. Finally, the author has used standard Greek
notation for those Greek authors who wrote only one work: that is,
only the section of the work is noted, and no title is given. Greek
names are transliterated in their Greek, rather than Latinized, form
(e.g., Herodotos, not Herodotus), except in cases where this might
create unnecessary confusion (e.g., Aeschylus, not Aiskhylos).
Finally, I would like to thank Roger Just and Pavlos Sfyroeras for
teaching me so much about Greekness, ancient and modern. I am
most grateful to Annette Goldmacher, for help with the index.
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CHRONOLOGY
b.c.e.
The conventional divisions:
ca. 1600–ca. 1100
The Mycenaean Period
ca. 1100–ca. 900
The Dark Age
ca. 900–ca. 725
The Geometric Period
ca. 725–ca. 625
The Orientalizing Period
ca. 650–480
The Archaic Period
480–323
The Classical Period
323–31
The Hellenistic Period
ca. 1600
Mycenaeans come into contact with Minoan civilization based on Crete
ca. 1650–1500
Shaft graves built at Mycenae
ca. 1200?
The Trojan War
ca. 1025–950
Period during the Dark Age that provides the least
amount of archaeological data
ca. 1100
Collapse of Mycenaean civilization
ca. 800
Earliest evidence of writing in Greece
xvi
Chronology
776
Traditional date for the first celebration of the Olympic Games
ca. 735–715
First Messenian War
ca. 730
Colonization movement begins
ca. 725
Homer composes The Iliad
ca. 700
Homer composes The Odyssey; hoplite armor is invented
669
The Spartans are defeated by the Argives at Hysiai
ca. 660
Sparta crushes the Messenian Revolt
ca. 650
Formation of the Peloponnesian League
594 –593
Solon introduces economic and constitutional reforms
in Athens
546
Peisistratos establishes tyranny in Athens
510
The Athenians drive the tyrant Hippias into exile
508 –507
Kleisthenes introduces constitutional reforms
499–496
Ionian cities revolt from Persia
490
Athens defeats a Persian invasion force at Marathon
487
Magistrates in Athens are henceforth elected by lot
482
Athens builds a fleet
480
Persian invasion of Greece is launched by Xerxes; victory of Greek fleet over Persians at Salamis
479
Defeat of Persian army at Plataiai and of Persian fleet
at Mykale
478
Formation of the Delian Confederacy under Athenian
leadership
464
Earthquake in Sparta; helot revolt in Messenia
461
Peaceful democratic revolution takes place in Athens
460 – 450
Payment is introduced for Athenian jurors
458
Aeschylus produces his trilogy Oresteia
447
Athens begins extensive building program under
supervision of Perikles
443
Beginning of Perikles’ political ascendancy
431
Outbreak of the Peloponnesian War
430 – 429
Athens ravaged by plague; death of Perikles
Chronology
xvii
421
Peace of Nikias is brokered between Athens and Sparta
415
Athens sends out expedition to conquer Sicily
413
Athenian disaster in Sicily; Sparta resumes hostilities
against Athens
404
Surrender of Athens ends the Peloponnesian War
404 – 403
A Spartan-backed oligarchy, known as the Thirty
Tyrants, rules Athens
399
Execution of Sokrates
338
Philip II of Macedon defeats a coalition of Greek states
at Chaironeia
385?
Plato founds the Academy as a school of higher learning
336
Assassination of Philip II of Macedon and accession of
Alexander the Great
335
Aristotle founds the Lyceum as a school of higher
learning
334
Alexander the Great crosses into Asia
331
Foundation of Alexandria in Egypt
323
Death of Alexander at Babylon; his empire fragments
322
Athenian democracy effectively comes to an end under
Macedonian domination
272
The Greeks in Magna Graecia (southern Italy) become
subject to Rome
211
The Romans sack Syracuse. Following the sack, Greek
art begins to arrive in Rome
196
The Roman general Flamininus proclaims Greek freedom from Macedonian rule at the Isthmian Games
146
Macedonia becomes a Roman province; the Romans
sack Corinth
89–88
Mithradates VI, king of Pontus, posing as the liberator of all Greeks, leads rebellion (known as the First
Mithradatic War) and massacres Romans living in
Asia; Athens defects from Rome to his side
86
The Roman general Sulla takes Athens and sacks the
Piraeus
31
Octavian defeats Mark Antony at Actium
27
Achaea is formally created as a Roman province
xviii
Chronology
c.e.
66–67
The Emperor Nero tours Greece and liberates it
117–138
The Emperor Hadrian undertakes a number of major
building projects in Athens
267
A nomadic people known as the Heruli sack Athens
and burn the Parthenon
Map of mainland Greece. From D. Kurtz and J. Boardman, Greek
Burial Customs (London: Thames and Hudson, 1971). Courtesy of
University of Oxford.
Map of eastern Greece. From D. Kurtz and J. Boardman, Greek Burial
Customs (London: Thames and Hudson, 1971). Courtesy of University
of Oxford.
xx
Map of Sicily. From D. Kurtz and J. Boardman, Greek Burial Customs
(London: Thames and Hudson, 1971). Courtesy of University of Oxford.
xxi
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INTRODUCTION
There are serious limitations to any book that calls itself Daily Life
of the Ancient Greeks. To begin with, it is impossible to confine our
description of daily life to a single chronological period. The evidence is far too fragmented and disjointed. Similarly, we cannot
assume that the picture that we build up incorporates more than a
small part of the geographical whole that we identify as the Greek
world. There are vast areas about which we know very little because
the people who inhabited them, though essentially Greek, have left
few traces of their way of life in either the literary or archaeological record. To speak of the daily life of “the Greeks,” to borrow a
phrase of Paul Cartledge (The Greeks, 37) “must therefore be construed often, or perhaps usually, as in some sense just a manner of
speaking.”
In the Classical era, we know most about Athens and its surrounding countryside, and it is Athens that I shall be concentrating
upon in this book. This is due not only to the fact that Athens’s
population has bequeathed to us a wealth of archaeological data in
the form of household objects, remains of buildings, depictions on
vases, inscriptions on stone and other materials, and so forth, but
also because Athens was an extremely literate society whose literature contains plentiful allusions to daily life. However, I also draw
heavily on the Homeric poems, especially The Odyssey, because