living in ancient greece

L I V I N G I N …

ANCIENTGREECE

L I V I N G I N …

Series consultant editor: Norman Bancroft Hunt

ANCIENTGREECE

LIVING IN ANCIENT GREECE

Text and design © 2009 Thalamus Publishing

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage or retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the publisher. For information contact:

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Bancroft-Hunt, Norman.Living in ancient Greece / Norman Bancroft-Hunt. — 1st ed.

p. cm. — (Living in the ancient world)Includes index.ISBN 978-0-8160-6339-0

1. Greece—Civilization—To 146 B.C.—Juvenile literature. I.Title. II. Series.

DF77.B257 2008938—dc22

2008009475

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For Thalamus PublishingSeries consultant editor: Norman Bancroft HuntContributors: Roger Kean,Angus Konstam,Warren LapworthProject editor:Warren LapworthMaps and design: Roger Kean

Printed and bound in China

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1This book is printed on acid-free paper

Picture acknowledgmentsAll illustrations by Oliver Frey except for – Jean-Claude Golvin: 22-23, 26–27, 29 (bottom), 65, 76–77; John James/Temple Rogers: 56–57 (top);Roger Kean/Thalamus: 2, 5, 12–13 (all), 20, 25 (both), 36 (inset), 41 (top), 47 (plate), 48 (both), 56-57 (all pots/panel), 63 (top, all 6), 73 (topright), 76 (bottom right), 80 (center), 88 (top left); Mike White/Temple Rogers: 3, 28 (left), 28–29 (bottom), 32 (bottom, all 4), 33 (top and cen-ter), 36 (main), 42 (top), 44-45 (top), 46 (top), 63 (bottom).

Photographs – Archivo Iconigrafica/Corbis: 24, 60, 85; Dave Bartruff/Corbis: 77; Christies Images/Corbis: 41; Corbis: 8;Gianni Dagli Orti/Corbis: 23, 59 (right), 61 (top and centre), 76 (bottom, 78 (bottom), 84 (bottom) Kevin Fleming/Corbis: 37;Mimmo Jodice/Corbis: 21 (left), 59 (top); Daid Lees/Corbis: 22 (inset); Francis G. Mayer/Corbis: 59 (bottom);Vanni Archive/Corbis: 29, 78 (top);RogerWood/Corbis: 59 (left), 84 (top)

CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION

Place in History 6

At the Dawn of Democracy 7

Landscape and Climate 9

A History of Greece, 2600–146 BCE 10

Table of Major Dates 12

Chapter 1: Land of Gods and Heroes

From the Beginning of Time 14

Roles of the Olympian Gods 16

Greek Heroes 18

Oracles and Mystery Cults 20

A Day Out at Delphi 22

The Greek Temple 24

The Great Panathenaic Festival 26

Death and the Underworld 28

Chapter 2: Living off Land and Sea

Ownership of the Land 30

The Farming Year 32

The Colonies—in Search of Farming Land 34

The Abundant Sea 37

Putting Food on the Table 38

Wine and the Symposium 40

Chapter 3:The Greeks at Home and Work

The Family—the Role of Women 42

Marriage and Divorce 44

Birth and Children 46

A Boy’s Education 48

The Gymnasium and Military Training 50

An Athenian Merchant’s Home 52

What the Greeks Wear 54

Crafts and Trades—Pottery 56

Crafts and Trades—Sculpture 58

Crafts and Trades—Metalworkers 60

Crafts and Trades—Carpentry and Architecture 62

Chapter 4: Peace and War

Heart of the Polis—the Agora 64

Money Makes Trade Easier 66

Merchant Shipping and Travel 68

Democracy, Greek Style 70

A Democrat’s Duties 72

Athletics—Training for War 74

International Peace—the Olympic Games 76

The Hoplite Goes to War 78

The Army in Battle 80

The Navy 82

Chapter 5: Culture and Science

The Development of Literature and Thought 84

Philosophy and Medicine 86

Scientists and Inventors 88

A Day at the Theater 90

Glossary 94

Index 96

Place in History

6000 BCE

4000 BCE

3500 BCE

2340 BCE

1900 BCE

1600

BCE

1100

BCE

539

BC

E

3100 BCE

2686 BCE

2200BCE

2040BCE

1782

BCE

1570

BCE10

70BC

E

747

BCE

332

BC

E 30B

CE

2600 BCE

1100

BCE

800

BC

E

500

BC

E 146B

CE

753

BC

E

509

BC

E 27B

CE

7

In a long and glorious history,

ancient Greece gave the world a

wonderful legacy of art and

literature.The invention of an

alphabet that allowed for the

development of sophisticated prose

and poetry led to the invention of

the theater and complex drama.

Western art reached its peak as

Greek sculptors created the first

truly lifelike statues and their

architects developed a style of

public building that has lasted until

today.The Greeks also invented

coinage as a means of payment, but

above all, they established a form of

government that today we call

“democracy.”Thanks to the Greeks

the voice and will of the people is

paramount in government.

476C

E

800CE

1200 CE

1350 CE

1450 CE

INTRODUCTION

At the Dawn ofDemocracy

8

1

2

18

19

20

21

23

22

24

25

34

5

6

7

8

9

14

15

1617

Most land suited to agriculture is foundalong the coastal plains and in a few

area of the Peloponnese.Within the sparselypopulated mountainous interior, manycommunities were isolated from each other,and even more so from the more inhabitedcoastal regions.This isolation led to societiesthat developed in very different ways.

Climate, too, played a role in increasingsocial isolation. Mountain passes, blocked bysnow in the extremely harsh winters, cut offcommunication even between neighboringvalleys for several months of the year.Thespring melt made the few tracks impassablefor a further period.

With pastoral land rare, the great plain ofThessaly was the only place for raisinghorses, which made Thessalians the strongestin cavalry. For much of the rest, travel andbattling on foot was the norm.

The Spartan heartland in the Eurotasvalley of the Peloponnese was very fertile,but it was a cradle surrounded by the cragsof Lakedaimon.As a result of their locationSpartans developed as a proud and fiercelyindependent race, but also domineering and,as their population expanded, territoriallyaggressive toward other Greek nations.

Athens, on its protective gulf, surroundedby sea, naturally developed as the dominantseafaring nation.Athenian traders becamethe logistics carriers for the region, althoughmany other seaside cities also used the sea asa means of communication.

A look at the map of Greece shows themany long fingers of land and islands, so it isno wonder the Greeks became the mostadventurous of Mediterranean sailors afterthe Phoenicians.The poor quality of theirland forced many Greeks to leave theirmainland homes and seek lands overseas tosettle—the Aegean islands, the coast of AsiaMinor (modern Turkey), Sicily, southernItaly, and even as far off as southern France.In Sicily, Greeks and Phoenicians wouldbattle for supremacy over many centuries.

9

INTRODUCTION

Landscape and ClimateFew civilizations in the ancient world were as much a productof their geography as Greece. Three-quarters of Greece ismountainous, and only one-fifth of the land can be cultivated.

26

27

28

10

11

12

13

1. Nicopolis2. Olympia3. Pylos4. Sparta5. Epidaurus6. Thermum7. Patra8. Delphi9. Thermopylae10. Iolkos11. Chalkis12. Marathon13. Athens14. Corinth15. Mycaenae16. Argos17. Tiryns

18. “Heel” of Italy19. Corfu20. Cephalonia21. Zante22. Cythera23. Ionian Sea24. Sea of Crete25. Gulf of Corinth26. Euboea27. Aegean Sea28. Mount Olympus

While the Stone Age tribes of mainlandGreece were beginning to establish

primitive urban settlements, on the island ofCrete a great Bronze Age civilization arose,known as Minoan. Centered on the greatcity-palace of Knossos, Minoan Creteflourished between 2600 and 1250 BCE,exporting its culture throughout thesouthern Aegean.

The civilization began to decline after1628 through a series of disasters. First thevolcanic island of Thera (modern Santorini)exploded, sending a massive tidal wave tocrash into the northern shore of Crete.Warwith the mainland Mycenaeans erodedwealth and an invasion of the Sea People,who later attacked Egypt, and then theDorians fatally weakened the Minoans.

Mycenaean heroesThe Mycenaeans (named after their mostimportant city of Mycenae) were Indo-Europeans who migrated into Greece in

1900–1600 BCE.With a knowledge of horsesand bronze technology, the Mycenaeans soonmade the inhabitants of the scattered Greeksettlements their subjects.

Most cities of the time were derived fromMycenae—Sparta,Thebes,Athens, and Pylosbeing the most important. Mycenae was thehome of Agamemnon, the high king wholed the Greeks across the Aegean Sea tomake war on Troy.Along with them wentthe legendary heroes of Homer’s Iliad, menlike Achilles,Ajax, and Odysseus.Troy wasdestroyed in about 1200, when Mycenae wasat its peak. By this time, an early form ofGreek writing had been established.

The Sea Peoples who destroyed theMinoans are also blamed for the collapse ofthe Mycenaean age, but there was anotherwave of invaders called Dorians, who mayhave been a part of the Sea Peoples oranother Indo-European race altogether.What is certain is that by 1100 BCE Greecewas plunged into a Dark Age.

The Dark Age lasted 300 years, duringwhich time Greece remained a mysteriousand barbaric land, a patchwork of smallsettlements, each ruled by a “barbarian”Dorian warlord.


A History of Greece, 2600–146 BCEA patchwork of small, fiercely independent city-states,constant inter-city warfare prevented national unity andeventually weakened the Greeks, who fell to external threats.

Troy wins outRomans claimeddescent from thesurvivors of Troy,who fled to Italy afterGreeks destroyedtheir city. An irony,then, that “Trojans”came back 1100years later asRomans to stealGreek freedom.

By 800 BCE, things had settled down, tradereturned, and small independent city-statessprang up. New iron technology broughtimprovements in farming tools andweaponry.Agriculture improved dramatically,paid for by the cities, which in turn jealouslyprotected the immediate countryside aboutthem.The time between 800 and 500 isgenerally called the Archaic Period.

This was also a time when the greatmigrations of colonists began to settle alongthe coasts of the Black Sea, in Sicily andsouthern Italy, and along the North Africancoast. Colonies expanded trade, and theaccumulation of wealth promoted the birthof the Classic Period of Greek history.

War and the development of politicsThe ancient Greek word for “city” is polis.Ametropolis is a “mother city,” and politics isthe business of governing a city-state. MostGreek cities were still ruled by warlords, butAthenians experimented with other types ofgovernment.“Oligarchy” was government bya self-elected council of aristoi (aristocrats).Sometimes the aristoi chose a single man torule, called a “tyrant.”

However, this concentration of powerirritated the growing mass of wealthycitizens, who had no say in the governmentbut yet were expected to supply the men

and arms for the numerous petty wars withother city-states.

Eventually, by 510 BCE internal strife and awar with Sparta brought power to the demos(people). Except for Sparta—which retainedits kings—the other Greek cities soonadopted democracy, or “rule by the people”(see pages 70–73).

War with PersiaIn 490 BCE, the expanding Persian Empireunder Darius I invaded. Because of war withSparta,Athens stood alone to face the threat.A band of 10,000 Athenians defeated twiceas many Persians at the battle of Marathon.

Darius died in 486, and his son Xerxes—delayed by events in Egypt—attacked in 480with a vast army.This time Sparta sent 300soldiers, who held the Pass of Thermopylaefor days before they were cut down.Theirbravery bought time for Athens to ready itsfleet. In the great sea battle of Salamis,Athens trounced the Persians and broke theback of the invasion. Sensing victory, all theGreek states joined in and decisively defeatedXerxes at the Battle of Plataea in 479.

Athens and Greece fallAthens now became the premier city ofGreece, using its wealth to erect some of thefinest temples and public buildings ever seen,including the Parthenon. But austere Spartahated its rival and war broke out in 431.ThePeloponnesian War lasted until 404,eventually dragging in most cities on oneside or the other. In the end, worn out,Athens fell to Sparta’s military might.

The war had devastated Greece and pavedthe way for the rise of Macedon. Under firstKing Philip II and then his son Alexander,Macedon conquered Greece.Alexander wenton to conquer the Persian Empire and found aseries of Hellenistic (Greek) dynasties thatfragmented after his death in 323. Furtherpower struggles continued to reduce Greece,and even Macedon was unable to resist the newpower in the Mediterranean—the Romans.

Philip V supported the Carthaginiangeneral Hannibal against Rome, and inreturn the Romans invaded in 171 BCE. By146, all of Greece was under Romandomination, and thereafter it would remain aprovince of the Roman Empire.

11

INTRODUCTION

Below: Thisreconstruction showsthe city of Mycenae atits peak in the 13thcentury BCE. The largebuilding in the center isthe megaron, or throneroom of the palace.Mycenaean buildingsused massive stones intheir construction, astyle called “cyclopean”by later Greeks. Theybelieved that mencould never have raisedsuch heavy blocks andinstead these citieswere built by the giantone-eyed cyclops.

12

PEOPLEANDCULTURE

MAJORTIMEFRAMES

MILITARYANDPOLITICS

• Early civilizationemerges on theCyclades islands

• Great palaces builtin Crete, foremostamong themKnossos, c.2000• Linear A script inuse, c.1700, evolvesinto Linear B, c.1500• Volcanic eruptionon Thera contributesto fall of Knossos,c.1628• Mycenaeans bringthe Bronze Age tomainland Greece,c.1900–1600

• Iron is introducedfrom the East• Mycenaeancolonies established,cities protected bymassive “cyclopean”walls, c.1500• Great frescoes ofThera painted

• Allied Greek forcesraze Troy to theground, c.1200• Minoan culturewiped out by SeaPeople, c.1250• Mycenaean culturewiped out by SeaPeople and Dorianinvaders, c.1100

• Greece is reducedto a patchwork ofsmall settlementsunder the thrall ofDorian warlords• Greek coloniesfounded at Miletos,later at other Ioniansites

• Greek alphabetappears• Homer and Hesiodlay foundations ofGreek literature• Mainland Greekpopulation increasesafter its Dark Age• Geometric style ofpottery decoration onutensils and cultfigurines, c.750• First OlympicGames held, c.776• First temples ofstone built

• Hoplite phalanxsystem of organizedfighting adopted bysouthern Greekstates, c.700

Table of Major DatesAll dates BCE 3000 2000 1500 1000 800

Bronze Age Dark AgeMycenaean Age

Minoan Era

Archaic Period

Fragment from a

Mycenaean vase of the

13th century showing

warriors with typical

horned helmets and

cutaway shields.

Gold face mask, c.1500.

The archaeologist who

found this treasure

thought it represented

King Agamemnon, who

led the Greeks to

destroy Troy.

A warrior figure dated

from the end of the

Dark Age.

Detail from the Blue

Dolphins fresco at

Knossos, Crete.

13

INTRODUCTION

• Greek coins beginto appear• City-states increasein power• First kourai andkorai (boy andmaiden) statuesappear• First black-figuredecoration on pottery• Dramatic choralplays are introducedat Athens

• Beginnings ofdemocracy in Athens• Sparta is thedominant power ofthe Peloponnese

• Aischylosintroduces firstwritten play, c.490• Age of Pericles• Thinkers andwriters include:Euripides, Herodotus,Socrates, Thucydides,Aristophanes, Plato,and Aristotle• First red-figuredecoration on pottery• Temple of Zeusconstructed atOlympia

• Persian invasionsunder Darius I (490)and Xerxes I (480) arethrown back• Slave rebellion inSparta, 464• First part ofPeloponnesian Warstarts, 461–451• Second part ofPeloponnesian Warstarts, 431–404• Athens defeatsSparta at Sphakteria,425• Argive Leaguedissolved by Sparta,418• Athens’ fleet isdefeated by Chios,one of the islandstates in revoltagainst Athens, 411• Besieged andstarved, Athenssurrenders to Sparta.404

• Praxiteles thesculptor astonisheswith his lifelike work• Mausoleum ofHalicarnassusconstructed

• Athenian revival• Athens and Corinthfight Sparta in theCorinthian War,395–386• Philip II comes topower in Macedon,359• Macedon defeatsAthens and Thebes atChaeronea, 338• Alexander succeedsPhilip and reimposeshis will on Greece,336• Alexander beginsconquest of AsiaMinor, 334• Alexander conquersEgypt, foundAlexandria, c.331• Alexander dies atBabylon, leavingbehind a series ofwarring Hellenistic“Successor States,”323

• The Altar of Zeus iserected at Pergamum• Statue known asVenus de Milo is thepeak of neo-Classicalstyle• Winged Victory(Nike) sculpted forSamothrace• “Hellenisticbaroque” stylereaches Petra in thekingdom of Nabataea

• Ptolemaic,Seleucid, andAntigonid successorstates battle forsupremacy in AsiaMinor, Thrace, andGreece• Celtic Gauls invadeGreece in 279, latersettled in Galatia inAsia Minor• Macedonian Wars,214–205 and200–196, bringgreater Romaninfluence to theregion

• Greek literature,philosophy, sculpture,and architecturebegins to influencethe Romans• Despite his hatredof the Hellenizinginfluence, PorciusCato the Elderconstructs the firstGreek-style basilicain Rome, c.184

• Rome declares waron Macedon inretaliation for itssupport of Hannibal,171• Macedon becomesa Roman vassal, 168• The AchaeanLeague opposesRoman influence inthe Achaean War, 147• Roman forcesdefeat the league’sarmy between Thebesand Athens, thenmarch on Corinth anddestroy the city;Achaean Leaguedissolved and Greecedeclared a Romanprovince, 146

• Greek prose writerand historian Plutarchborn near Thebes, 46

• King Mithridates VIof Pontus massacres80,000 Romans inAsia Minor and freesmost of southernGreece from Romanrule, 88• Roman generalSulla defeatsMithridates, burnsAthens, ransacksGreek shrines, anddemands reparationsfor rebellion, 86• Caesar’s adoptedson Octavian andMark Antony defeatRepublican forces inMacedonia. Antonymakes Athens hiscapital, 42• Ptolemaic Egyptbecomes a Romanprovince after thedeath of Cleopatra,last Greek queen, 30

600 500 400 300 200 100 AD

Classic Period Hellenistic Period Roman Empire

Statue of Nike (Victory)

erected near the Temple

of Zeus at Olympia by

the allies of Athens in

celebration of their

defeat of the Spartans

at the battle of

Sphakteria.

Coin showing Alexander

wearing the ram’s horn

of Egyptian god Amun.

Athenian orator

Demosthenes railed

against Alexander.

Head from a portrait

statue of Philip II of

Macedon, father of

Alexander the Great.

Before the creation of the world, therewas only Chaos. From Chaos emerged

Gaia the mother—first of the Titans, godsand giants who ruled the earth before theiroverthrow by Zeus.Without mating, Gaiaproduced a son called Uranus, whorepresented the heavens. Gaia then matedwith Uranus and they had many Titanchildren.These included Rhea and Cronus(Father Time), who came to rule afterdefeating Uranus.

Cronus and Rhea had many children, butfearing for his own position, he ate them allas they were born, until Rhea tricked himinto eating a rock instead of the newbornZeus. Later, Zeus rebelled against Cronusand made him disgorge all his siblings.Thenhe banished Cronus and the other Titans tothe Underworld.

Other important TitansMeanwhile, Oceanus (oceans) and his sisterTethys produced the rivers and 3000 waternymphs, while Hyperion married his sisterTheia, who gave birth to Helios (the sun),Selene (moon goddess), and Eos (the dawn).

Iapetos married a nymph and fatheredPrometheus (god of forethought andwisdom), Epimetheus (god of afterthoughtand stupidity), and Atlas. Unlike his brothers,Atlas supported Cronus against Zeus, andwhen Zeus won he punished muscular Atlasby making him support the world on hisback. Zeus then ordered Prometheus andEpimetheus to create humankind.

The sky godsThese are the Greek myths of the creation.But myths always represent some sort ofreality.The overthrow of the Titans (theearth gods) by Zeus and the Olympians (thesky gods) represents a major change in

14

CHAPTER 1

From the Beginning of TimeIn a time before real Greek history came to be written down,there was a golden age, when gods and heroes walked theearth alongside ordinary mortals.

Land of Gods and Heroes

After the titanicstruggles, Zeusemerges as the ruler ofall the gods. From thecloud-capped summit ofMount Olympus, he isassisted by an extendedfamily, an inner circle of11 other Olympians(shown here in thefamily tree, with theirroles listed overleaf ).

prehistoric Greek society.The originalnatives of Greece worshipped the female-ruled earth gods, but the Indo-EuropeanDorians—who invaded from the north inabout 1100 BCE—worshipped the male-dominated sky gods called Olympians.

Later Greek writers explained this changeby reorganizing the way the pantheon(collection of gods) worked.They say thatZeus drew lots with his brothers, Hades andPoseidon, to become supreme ruler. Zeuswon, and became ruler of the sky, Poseidonreceived the seas, and Hades ended up in theUnderworld, to rule over the dead.

From this time onward the Olympians werethe brothers and sisters of Zeus, as well as his

children born of many goddesses andnymphs, including his sister and jealous

wife Hera.

Jealous and bad-tempered godsThe Greeks believe the sky gods dwell ontop of sacred Mount Olympus, from whichthey get their collective name. But the familyis riven with jealousy. In the myths, theOlympians are always arguing and usemortals to help them get their way.

This interference in human affairs bringsbenefits but also great dangers to the favoredperson, who is almost certain to earn theenmity of another god or goddess as a result.During the Trojan War, Zeus took theGreeks’ side, while Apollo favored thepeople of Troy, and almost all the godsinterfered in the adventures of Odysseus.

So, the Greek gods are not necessarilybenign, and accounts of their plotting andtreachery make it clear that they suffer fromall the common sins of humanity—only on agrand scale. Given the gods’ erratic and oftenbad-tempered natures, Greeks spend moretime in their temples trying to keep themhappy than they do hoping to follow theirdivine example.

15

CHAPTER 1: LAND OF GODS AND HEROES

Chaos

Gaia Eros Tartarus Erebus(love) (Underworld) (Underworld)

Uranus Mountains Pontus Gaia(sky) (sea)

Cyclops Hecatoncheires Cronus Rhea Coeus Phoebe Oceanus Tethys Iapetos Clymene(One-Eyed (Hundred-Headed) (time) (Mother of (mind) (moon) (oceans) (fertile (mankind) (a nymph)

Giants) Ones) the Gods) seas)

Hestia Hades Poseidon Demeter Zeus Hera Leto Zeus Zeus Dione Atlas Prometheus Epimetheus Pandora(hearth (Underworld) (sea, horses, (agriculture) (rain, (marriage) (gentleness) (wisdom) (stupidity) (…of the

& home) earthquakes) thunder) box)

Persephone Hecate Athena Ares Hebe Hephaestus Maia Zeus Zeus Semele(spring) (witchcraft) (no mother, born (war, (youth) (fire, metalwork) (mountain (a mortal)

from Zeus’ forehead storms) nymph)in full armor)

Apollo Artemis Aphrodite Hermes Dionysus(prophecy, arts, (hunting, (love, desire) (the messenger) (rebirth, wine)

medicine) wild animals)

=

=

=

= = = =

= =

=

= = =

Origins of the Greek deities and first men

TI

TA

NS

The 12 Olympian gods are shown in bold

16


Roles of the Olympian GodsThe number of Greek divinities is staggering—someone tolook after every aspect of life, occasion, and event. Here arethe primary roles of the Olympians; lesser gods appearthroughout this book, accompanied by a brief description.

Hera: marriage, birthThe wife of Zeus is always jealousof his many love affairs. Shepunishes her rivals and their childrenwith terrible fury. Zeus—who rarelystands up to her—resorts to trickery,by hiding his children or changingthem into animals to disguise them.

Poseidon: sea, earthquakesAs god of the sea, sailors pray tohim for a safe voyage—but he isnot always reliable. In a bad mood,Poseidon strikes the ground withhis trident and causes earthquakesand storms, shipwrecks anddrownings.Among his numerouschildren are the half-human andhalf-fish Triton, the flying horsePegasus, and (according to some)Theseus, a king of Athens.

Athena: war, wisdom, arts, justiceIt is said that Zeus feared that his first wifeMetis, goddess of wisdom, might bear a sonmightier than himself, so he ate her. Inside,she began making a cloak and a helmet forher daughter.The hammering caused Zeusgreat pain and made him cry out.At thatHephaestus split his father’s skull open andfrom it emerged Athena, fully grown andwearing Metis’s robe and helmet.

Athena contested her uncle Poseidon for a certain city they both wanted. He made awell spring up, but the salty water did notplease the people.Athena’s gift was an olivetree, which gave the citizens oil, wood, andfood. So they acclaimed her the winner andnamed the city after her—Athens.

Apollo: music, prophecy,medicine, poetry

Apollo is identified with Heliosthe sun god. He is also the godof plague—according toHomer’s Iliad,Apollo shotplague-infected arrows into theGreek camp in the TrojanWar. His most importantcult center is at Delphi,which he occupied afterslaying a dragon called thePython. He thendedicated the sanctuaryand gave oracular powersto a priestess—thePythia—to whompeople go to seekanswers to the future.One of his sons isAsclepius, the god ofhealing (see page 86).

Artemis: hunting, wildanimals, fertility

Her main role is to hunt lionsand wild game in the forests,attended by her nymphs, andarmed with a bow and arrowsmade by Hephaestus.Artemis isquick to punish any man whoinsults her.When a young hunteraccidentally saw Artemis and hernymphs bathing in a pool, sheturned him into a stag.Then she

set his own dogs on him and,thinking he was just another stag,

they chased and killed their master.

Hades: ruler of the dead andthe Underworld

Hades has a helmet which makes himinvisible. He rules the dead, helped by hisassistants, the ferryman Charon and thethree-headed hound Cerberus. Becauseeveryone’s wealth finally comes to Hades, heis referred to as “the Rich One.” Of all thegods, Hades is the one who is liked the least,even by the gods. He abducted Persephonefrom the upperworld to be his wife.

17


Hermes: messenger and herald of the godsHermes is also patron of literature, weightsand measures, merchants, shepherds, athletes,thieves, and travelers. In this last guise helooks after roads and boundaries, which iswhy the marker stones at intersectionsand frontiers are called “herms.”Athenians place herms outsidetheir houses to fend off evil.As a herald, it is also hisduty to guide deadsouls to theUnderworld; andwhile they sleep hebrings dreams tomortals.

Hephaestus: fire, metalworkersHephaestus is the patron of allcraftsmen, especially thoseworking with metal. He is alsothe god of volcanoes. He isknown as the lame god,because he was born weakand disabled. Hephaestusmakes weapons and armorfor the other gods andheroes, as well as thethunderbolts Zeus throws.He also made the sunchariot in which Heliosrides every day across the sky.

Ares: war and destructionWhere his ugly brother

Hephaestus is kind, handsomeAres is vain and cruel. Heenjoys bloody battles, withlittle care for which sidewins—the other godsdislike Ares almost asmuch as they do Hades.

Aphrodite: love, desire, beautyShe was so beautiful that Zeusmarried her to Hephaestus, thesteadiest of the gods, to keep herin check. But Aphrodite, whoenjoys laughter and glamor, isnot pleased at being the wife ofhard-working Hephaestus. Sheis loved by many gods andmortals. Her festival is the

Aphrodisiac, celebrated in manycenters.Aphrodite is associated

with the Mesopotamian Ishtar.

Hestia: the hearth fire, domestic lifeHestia swore to remain a virgin.She has no throne, but tends the

sacred fire in the hall onOlympus and every hearth

on Earth is her altar. Sheis the gentlest of all the

Olympians.TheRomans call herVesta.

Mt. Olympus(Zeus, all gods)

Dodona(Zeus)

Delos(Apollo)

Pergamum(Athena)

Lindos(Athena)

CRETE

RHODES

LESBOS

Major temples and sanctuaries in the Greek homeland

Zeus was bornon Mount Dicte.

Trophonius (Lebadea) is ason of Apollo and an earlyGreek oracle.

Clarus (Apollo)

Didyma (Apollo)

Delphi(Apollo)

Olympia(Zeus)

Mt. Dicte (Zeus)

Nemea(Zeus) Isthmia

(Poseidon)

Eleusis (Demeter)Lebadea (Trophonius)

The origins of the hero cult lie in the10th century BCE, and are associated

with the development of a particular part ofGreece, such as Heraeus, founder of the cityof Heraea (from which the word “hero” isderived).

Greek mythology contains many accountsof the actions of gods, goddesses, nymphs,and satyrs, but the central characters areusually heroes. Many of them are thechildren of the gods, or at least of royalparents particularly blessed by the gods.Although they are raised above commonmortals, they share their human lifespan.

Heroes in the Trojan WarThrough the writings of Homer (in his Iliadand Odyssey), most of these heroes areassociated with the Mycenaean era (endedby about 1100 BCE).This is the period of theTrojan War, when King Agamemnon ofMycenae led a fleet and army to besiege thecity of Troy (Ilium to the Greeks), on the farside of the Aegean Sea.

Agamemnon’s companions are theultimate Greek heroes—warriors such asAchilles,Ajax, Menelaus, Nestor, Diomedes,Philoctetes, and Odysseus.They are matchedby the heroism of their Trojan rivals—Priam,Hector, and Paris.

As an infant,Achilles had been dipped ina sacred pool whose waters made himinvincible, save for the heel by which hismother held him. Helen, Spartan wife ofMenelaus, was reputedly a child of Zeus, aswas her brother Pollux.The goddess Athenaprotected Odysseus on his post-war travels.

Tales of fate and ironyThe Greeks believe in this blend of heroismand divinity because the characters arehistoric to them.They had lived only a fewcenturies earlier, and in the same part of theworld.The place names mentioned byHomer are real and can be visited by anyGreek traveler.

The common theme in these tales is fate.On returning from the Trojan War as heroes,they are still unable to escape their mortalfate.Agamemnon is murdered by his wife ina palace coup when he returns to his capital.Odysseus spends ten years wandering theseas trying to get back home, only to have tokill his wife’s new suitors, after she had givenhim up for dead.

This notion of irony and fate is acontinual theme, from the tale of KingOedipus of Thebes (who, through aconfusion of events, unknowingly kills hisfather and marries his mother), or Icarus, theson of Daedalus, to Theseus, who slays theMinotaur.The blend of moral statement,heroic deed, and revenge over enemies andunfaithful partners binds the Greeks to theirheroes—superhuman, and yet mortal.

18


Greek HeroesThe heroes of Greek mythology stand between the gods and mortals. These cultfigures include real warriors as well as those of legend. In a world where the deities’example is not necessarily one to follow, they are an inspiration to ordinary people.

The fate of IcarusThe inventor Daedalus built the labyrinth thathoused the monstrous Minotaur of KingMinos of Crete. But when he helped the heroTheseus of Athens to kill the Minotaur andescape the maze, Minos imprisoned Daedalusand his son Icarus. Unable to escape the islandby sea, Daedalus used his skills to buildwings for himself and Icarus. Daedaluswarned Icarus to fly at moderatealtitude.Too high and the sunmight melt the wax fasteningthe feathers to the wings—too low and the seamight dampen thefeathers.

Alas, young Icarus,excited by the flight,ignored his father’swarning and flewever higher andhigher.The sunmelted the waxand the boy fellinto the waterand drowned.

The myth explores a favorite theme of aman attempting to equal the gods and

suffering retribution for his presumptionand arrogance. It also points out that the

young often suffer for ignoring their parents’ wisdom and experience.

Jason and the Argonauts

19


King Pelias of Iolcos,fearing Prince Jason’sambition, sent himon an impossiblemission to bringback the fabledGolden Fleece fromdistant Colchis. Jasonand his crew—theArgonauts—sailedoff in their ship, theArgo. On the voyage,they became the firsthumans to passthrough theClashing Rocks.

In order toreceive the fleece,the king of Colchisdemanded that Jasonplow a field usingfire-breathing oxenand sow it with theteeth of a dragon.Then he must defeatthe warriors whospring from these“seeds.” Finally, Jasonhad to overcome the

sleepless dragon whoguards the fleece.

He was helped inthese deeds byMedea, the king’sdaughter.Afterobtaining theGolden Fleece, thetwo fled back toIolcos, whereMedea murderedKing Pelias. Later,Jason deserted herfor another woman.Medea took herrevenge bymurdering the brideand her children.Jason was killedyears later whena piece oftimber fromthe Argostruck himon the head.

This myth describes theprobably real coup thattook place at Iolcoswhen the half-legendary King Jasoncame to power there.But it mingles with theearliest accounts of

Achilles’ heelAchilles, son of the mortal Peleus and the nymph Thetis, was themightiest of the Greek heroes in the Trojan War.Thetis made herbaby immortal by dipping him in the River Styx, whose sacredwaters make everything it touches become invulnerable.But she held him by one heel, which remained dryand unprotected.Years later, in the war,Achillesdistinguished himself by many deeds and wasrecognized on both sides as an undefeatablewarrior. However, when Paris, son of the Trojan

King Priam, shot Achilles in theunprotected heel with an arrow,

Achilles died of the wound.

Greek traders whoventured through theHellespont strait (theClashing Rocks, knowntoday as theDardanelles) into theBlack Sea, whereColchis was supposedly

situated. The irony ofJason’s fate is that hisfamous ship kills him.

Fate, it seems, isinescapable, even forthe greatest of heroes.

In a civilization with so many gods toplease, festivals are common. Religious

observation in Greece is virtually a constantactivity, since to omit the worship of a god isto invite divine retribution—and no onewants that.

To an outsider, many of these festivalsmight appear far from religious.They includeevents such as panhellenic (all-Greek)athletic games (see pages 74–77), theatricaldramas (see pages 90–93), and civicprocessions designed to please those takingpart and those watching. But every one isdedicated to the gods and held in locationsthat have a religious significance for theGreeks. Many of these have been dedicatedto one or more of the Olympian deities.

And all festivals are linked to a certainmystery cult, or the worship of a particulargod or goddess.

The big festivalsMost religious festivals begin with aprocession, where the god’s cult followershonor their deity, while other citizens withtheir wives and children—gather on the sidesto offer observance.Those in the processioncarry food offerings for the god, such ashoney, bread, and cake. Sometimes livestockis slaughtered in a sacrificial ritual. Dancingand singing often feature in these events,which can last for several days.

Large cites like Athens,Thebes, andCorinth hold several festivals every year, andeven larger events every two, three, or fouryears.The most famous of these is theAthenian Great Panathenaic procession, aweek-long festival held every four years inhonor of the goddess Athena.

A United Nations of GreeceMost cults are local affairs, but several festivalsunite all of Greece.These “panhellenic”festivals are often held in locations ofparticular religious importance, such as atDelphi (dedicated to the god Apollo) orEleusis (cult center for Demeter).These sitesare lavishly provided with festival buildings,temples, and sports stadiums.

Here, especially during festivals, the sacredground is neutral, so even warring city-statesmay meet each other in safety.Theirdelegates can even discuss peace or tradetreaties.Almost every city-state of Greece hasits treasury on the grounds of Delphibecause the gods’ scrutiny provides security.

Demeter and EleusisOne of the oldest cults is that of Demeter, thegoddess responsible for the earth’s fertility,particularly the growth of cereal crops. Sheended mankind’s nomadic existence byteaching the skills of plowing and sowing.Her cult center is at Eleusis, a complex some14 miles northwest of Athens with the greattemple of Telesterion at its heart. It has grownover centuries, as the plan opposite shows.

20


Oracles and Mystery CultsReligious festivals are often the only break from daily routine that most citizensenjoy, so they are widely popular. They allow the free population of a city to jointogether for religious devotion and civic entertainment.

One of the mostmysterious of cults isthat of the Pythianoracle of Apollo atDelphi. This red-figurepainting on a plateshows a king consultingthe priestess Pythia at Delphi, seated on herthree-legged “tripod”stool.

Wisdom of the oracleThe most famous oracle in Greece is that ofApollo at Delphi (see also pages 22–23). Itwas discovered long ago that a cleft in theside of Mount Parnassus emitted a gas thatcaused seizures among the goats that grazednearby.When a goatherd was also affected,the locals interpreted his convulsions andravings as divine inspiration.

This became the place decreed by Apolloto be the omphalus (navel) of the world.Delegations now travel from all over Greeceto seek advice, the words of Apollointerpreted through the medium of thePythia, high priestess of Delphi.

The Pythia is crowned in laurel and seatedon a tripod perched over the vaporous cleft.Any man (women are not allowed in thesanctuary) wishing to ask a question aboutthe future must first be ritually purified bywashing in the Castalian Spring, which iswhere Apollo killed the Python dragon.

The request is written down and given tothe Pythia by a priest. Her utterances areusually so disjointed that her servant-priestsare needed to interpret the answer—eventhen, they often get it wrong, to thequestioner’s usually dreadful misfortune.

Worship and funSince most cults are limited to men, thefestivals of Dionysus (god of wine) arepopular, since women may also take part.The festivals involve drinking a great deal ofwine, mass chanting, and frenzied dancing(see also page 41 ).

The antics of the Dionysian cult may notlook like worship, but celebrating their godsthrough festivals is an important part ofGreek religious belief.And while theycelebrate, they are also free from theconstraints of normal daily life, which makesGreek festivals a unique combination ofdevotion, entertainment,and spectacle.

21


800–500 BCE

500–350 BCE

350 BCE –CE 300

acropolis

Telesterion

cisternsgymnasium

Periclean walls (5th century BCE)

4th-century walls

6th-century walls

“sacred house”

Megaron (throne room)treasury

sanctuary of Hades

sanctuary gatesEleusis

lesserpropylaea

greaterpropylaea

houses triumphal arch

triumphal arch

fountainbaths

Temple ofArtemis

Sacred Way

terrace

Temple of Kore

Sacred Way

0 150ft

0 50m

NLeft: The worship ofDemeter is based onthe mysteries of natural cycles.

Right: The Pythia,seated on her tripod,goes into a trance toutter the words ofApollo.

procession continues up past the Porch ofthe Athenians.This stoa (a covered walkway)is built in the Ionic order, and has sevenfluted, or grooved columns, each made froma single stone.According to the inscription, itwas erected by the Athenians after 478 BCE

to house the trophies taken in their navalvictories over the Persians.

The Sacred Way now bends around totake the last, steep rise up to the great Dorictemple dedicated to Apollo. Inside is theadyton, the seat of the Pythia.

Facing the steps to the temple’s entrance is the large altar of the sanctuary. It was paidfor and erected by the people of Chios, inthe 5th century BCE.The monument is madeof black marble, except for the base andcornice, which are of white marble, resulting

in an impressive color contrast.


A Day Out at DelphiDelphi is located on the southern slopes of sacred Mount Parnassus, about 12miles from the Gulf of Corinth. While some come here to question the oracle, mostattend the site to celebrate a festival of Apollo or Dionysus.

This reconstructionshows the entire Delphicomplex, from thestadium at the top tothe Sanctuary of Athenaat the very bottom-right. The area of theplan is indicated in red.

The celebrant climbs a steep road towardthe sanctuary entrance at its eastern

corner. During a major festival this road islined by numerous stores selling the pilgrimsfood, mementoes of their visit, and sacrificialofferings to place on the many altars. Fromthe gate, the Sacred Way rises steeply in azigzag, between the votive altars and thenthe state treasuries of several city-states.

It takes a sharp bend in front of theAthenian treasury before passing close to the

rock on which in ancient times themythical prophetess Sibyl sang

her predictions in Gaia’sshrine. From

here, the

0 150ft

0 50m

N

hall ofKnidos

sanctuary ofNeoptolemus

Rhodian chariot

serpent column ofPlataeae

monument of Craterus

temple of Apollo

ancientthreshing

floor

Sibylline rock

sanctuaryof Ge

column ofAemiliusPaulus(Roman)

altar of the Chians

Corinthiantreasury

Cyreneantreasury

kings of Argosmonument

Athenian votive altarArcadian votive altarSpartan votive altar

Argive votive altar

Tarentinevotivealtar

Knidiantreasury

Bouleuterion

Athenian treasury

Sikyoniantreasury

Siphniantreasury

Thebantreasury

Prytanaion

porch of theAthenians

Naxiancolumn

porticoof Attalus

Thessalianmonument

boundary wall of thesanctuary (further uphillis the stadium)

sanctuary ofDionysus

theater

Bull ofCorcyra(Corfu)

monument of theseven Epigonoi

Sacred Way

23


Drama and recreationIn addition to the many altars, Delphi hasa large theater with 35 rows of stonebenches, where dramaticperformances associated with thecult of Dionysus are given. Beyondit, just outside the wall, is the largestadium where the panhellenicPythian Games take place.

Outside the southwestern wallstands the gymnasium.This complexof buildings is used by the youths of

Delphi for their education andathletic practice. It is constructed ontwo levels, with a free open space usedfor running practice on the upper, andon the lower a palaestra (exercise yard),the pool, and the thermae (baths).

All these many and varied activitiesform a part of the experience ofvisiting Delphi.

gymnasium of two stories

The theater is animportant part of thereligious activities.

In Greek worship, the main focus for thecelebrants is the altar. In its earliest form,

the altar was little more than a simple blockof stone standing in the open air.Thisexplains why, even at great religious centerslike Delphi, there are so many altars—smalland large—standing within the sanctuarywithout the protection of a building. Evenwhen a temple is erected, its associated altaris placed outside to the east of it and notinside the building (see the plan on the previouspage, altar of the Chians).

The temple itself is designed to be anoikos (house) for the god’s cult statue.Thebasic plan of the earliest Greek temple wasbased on the ground plan of a house, andgrander temples based on a Mycenaeanpalace megaron (throne hall). Like a simplehouse, these temples consisted of a cella, orsingle room, with porches at the frontsupported by columns.To distinguish thedivine house from a mortal one, the templewas made longer, with the cult statue placedat the back of the cella.

Temples become more elaborateLater temples have a peristyle, an outer seriesof posts supporting extended roof eaves.Thiscolonnade provides a covered ambulatory(roofed walkway) and distinguishes thebuilding from purely civic architecture.All these early temples were constructed ofwood, or from mud brick, with timberingand a thatched or clay tile roof.

After about 650 BCE, the Greeks began to visit Egypt regularly and saw themonumental stone buildings there.This

inspired Greek architects, and they began toreplace their simple wooden pillars withstone columns, architraves, and cornices.However, they retained much of the originalwooden structure in the new stone forms—so the triglyphs represent the ends of woodenbeams (see Parthenon diagram, right).

In time, three distinctive styles of columns,and the capitals that topped them andsupported the roof, evolved.The three typesof arrangement are called “orders” andknown as Doric, Ionic, and Corinthian.Theearliest, Doric, is simple and severe inappearance, while the latest, Corinthian isvery elaborate in its decoration.

Doric styleThe Doric order arrived in the later seventhcentury BCE. Its parts—simple, baselesscolumns (fluted or plain), spreading capitals,and the triglyph-metope frieze (alternating


The Greek TempleThe temple is the greatest expression of civic Greek pride. A temple is the house of a god, so much attention is given to building and decorating it.

Below: The three Greekorders of architecture.Only the capitals (tops)are relevant, thecolumns are for displaypurposes. Althoughearlier columns areplain, later designs areusually fluted.A) Doric—severeand plain.B) Ionic with volutes.(C–E) Corinthian,showing the increasingcomplexity ofdecoration, withacanthus leaves as thecommon form ofadornment.

volute

The Tholos (a round temple) whichstands outside thesanctuary of Delphi is a4th-century monumentwith a circular peristylesurrounded by 20 Doriccolumns.

A B C D E

vertically ridged and plain blocks) above thecolumns—are an aesthetic development instone of the structures used functionally inearlier wood and brick construction. Dorichas long remained the favorite order of theGreek mainland and western colonies, andhas hardly changed throughout its history.

Ionic orderThe Ionic order evolved later in about 600BCE, in eastern Greece.While the basicproportions and construction style of Doricis retained, columns with capitals elaboratelycarved in floral hoops, known as “volutes”distinguish the Ionic style—borrowed fromoriental models.

Corinthian orderThe most slender and ornate of the threeGreek orders, Corinthian is characterized bya bell-shaped capital with its double row ofcarved acanthus leaves, and an elaboratecornice.The earliest example dates fromabout 420 BCE, but the Greeks themselvesmake little use of the Corinthian style—although the Romans love it.

The Acropolis of AthensThe most impressive examples of Greekarchitecture of the high Classical Periodwere built on the Athenian Acropolis forPericles.The Acropolis architecture—while itis a clear display of civic pride—showssubtlety of design in the use of the Doricand Ionic orders.The Athena Parthenos, orParthenon—designed in the Doric style bythe sculptor Phidias and architects Ictinusand Callicrates—contrasts with theErechtheum.This temple, which housesseveral cults, provides a decorative Ioniccounterpart to the severe Parthenon.

The Parthenon is the cult house for agreat statue of Athena by Phidias, a statuethat honors the city goddess; the oldest cultof Athena is housed in the Erechtheum.

25


Akroterion,floral sculptures,adorn the top andends of the pediment.

The upperworks of the pediment,cornice, triglyphs, metopes, andarchitrave are called theentablature.

architrave

Guttering, unnecessary on astone building, is a decorativedevice left over from woodentemple construction.

cornice

Triglyphs andmetopes: themetopes containhigh-reliefsculptures thatmust be in placebefore the roofis built.

Pediment, decoratedwith high-relief, painted

sculptures.

Reconstruction of the west end of the Parthenon

capital

Fluted Doric column:the corner columnsare slightly wider thanthe others and leaninward to avoid theoptical illusion ofbeing thinner, sincethey are the only onesseen against the sky.

Stylobate: traditionally, three steps all around. It is not flat—likethe columns, the architects use tricks to avoid the illusion thatlong, straight platforms appear to sink in the middle, so eachcurves upward as it nears its center. The long sides are 4.3 incheshigher and the east and west ends 2.3 inches higher.

This west end of the temple is not the main entrance—that is atthe east end, with the altar beyond it. The room behind the doorsseen here guard the Delian treasury, the funds raised by the Greekisland allies of Athens to fight their common enemies.

The triglyphs,metopes,pediment andcella friezes areall brightlypainted.

Columns are never straight. To avoid the “slimming”illusion that tall, straight sides give, they bulgeoutward by about an inch one-third of the way up,and are narrower at the top than at the base (theeffect is exaggerated in this illustration).

6.25 feet

34 feet

26


The “all-Athenian festival” is one of theoccasions when women can get out of

the house and take an active role in a publicfunction. Even Metics (foreign residents) andfreed slaves may participate in some of thefestival’s events.The holiday starts on the lastday of the first month of the Athenian year,which is Athena’s birthday. It lasts for awhole week, and brings great joy throughthe ahtletic and musical contests, sacrifices,feasting, and the great procession.

Proof of fitness and skillThe contests include athletics, music, singing,equestrian events, torch relay races, and boatraces.The last are not a usual part of Greekfestivals, but the citizens honor Athena’sassociation with boat-building (she helpedconstruct Jason’s ship Argo).The varioustypes of athletic competition are covered inthe section on the Olympics (pages 74–75 ).

All these events, except for the torch andboat races, are open to boys (aged 12–16),ageneios, or youths (16–20), and men.Thefirst- and second-place winners receive jarsfilled with olive oil as prizes.The olive treeand its fruit are sacred to Athena (see page 16)and the oil is a valuable commodity almostanywhere in the world. Prize-winnersusually sell their oil for cash.

In three cultural competitions, contestantsshow their musical ability in singing whileplaying on the stringed kithara or the aulos(a reed woodwind instrument), while aulosplayers perform without singing.Winners of these contests are also well rewarded.Therhapsodes (“stitchers of song”) are also highlyprized.These are not singers, but reciters ofepic poetry, particularly Homeric poems.

The Panathenaic processionThis is the festival’s highlight. Starting beforedawn, the procession proceeds along thePanathenaic Way through the agora (see page64 ) toward the Acropolis, stopping only forsacrifices offered on the Areopagus hill.

The Great Panathenaic FestivalThis festival takes place every four years in Athens. It is thegrandest in all of Greece, matched in importance only by theOlympic Games.

1

5

1. The PanathenaicProcession approachesthe Acropolis from theAreopagus hill (offto the left of thepicture).

2. Only Athenian citizensmay enter the Acropolisprecinct up the greatramp which leads to…

3. The propylaea, ormonumental gateway.


At the Acropolis only Athenian citizens mayclimb the ramp to pass through themonumental gateway called a propylaea.

The focus of the procession is in front of asmall templed called the Erechtheum, wherea newly woven peplos (a traditional woman’sgarment of the Archaic Period) is placed on

the giant statue of Athena, guardian of thecity. The peplos is so large that it has to becarried on the mast of a ship on wheels.Theparade concludes with a huge animalsacrifice at Athena’s altar, followed by abanquet of meat, bread, and cakes.

1

2

3

4

6

4. Athena’s giant statue.

5. Erechteum, namedafter a legendaryAthenian king.

6. The Parthenon.

28


Death and the UnderworldUnlike the Egyptians, who believe in reanimation of the deceased, the Greeks seedeath as one of the harsher lots of mankind, and the Underworld a shadowy placepopulated by disembodied souls.

Preparing for the funeralAs soon as the physician has declared a mandead, the women of his family take charge ofthe body. It is important to place a coin inthe deceased’s mouth to pay Charon theferryman, who will take the soul across theRiver Styx to enter the realm of Hades.Thosewho do not pay are stranded on the shoresof the Styx and may come back to haunttheir families—not an appealing prospect.

The body is washed in perfumed water,clothed in festal white, and the head crownedwith vine leaves. Now, properly dressed forthe funeral, the body is laid out on a couchin the front doorway of the house, with theface turned toward the street to greet anyonewho comes to pay their last respects.

When a person dies, their shade (spirit)leaves the body to enter the kingdom

of Hades, god of the dead.What is leftbehind is just a phantom image, which musteither be buried or cremated—wealthgenerally decides the choice. Slaves aresimply buried in small pots, and few poorpeople can afford a cremation.

Since women usually own little in the wayof property, their funerals are simple affairs,but a man must prepare carefully for his

Above: A sensible manmakes sure his will is inorder, to avoid familysquabbles over hisproperty after his death.

Above: After payingtheir respects, peoplewash their hands beforeleaving the deceased’shouse because death isthought to be unclean.

Dead souls pay Charon the Ferryman to row themacross the River Styx to Hades’ kingdom, also knownas the Underworld. The three-headed dog Cerberusguards the entrance to the Underworld.

A funeral procession makes its way toward theprepared pyre.

death. As soon as a man senses his end isnear, he makes out his will. Failure to do somay result in acrimonious lawsuits among hisfamily. Because widows rarely inherit, the willdetails who will look after his wife anddaughters. It says how his wealth is to beshared among the male family members andmay mention certain favorite slaves to receivefreedom. It gives directions as to the style ofhis tomb and finally names those he wants toexecute (carry out) the will’s instructions.

A noisy lamentationA wealthy Greek man expects to receiveelaborate funeral rites, and in some cities ithas become necessary to limit the amountspent, otherwise great sums may literally “go up in smoke” on the funeral pyres.

The mourning is loud and protracted.The widow beats her breast, tearing her hair(unless she has already shaved it off), whilethe other women sprinkle ashes on theirheads. By contrast, when a man buries hiswife, the behavior is more restrained.

In the background, the slave women keepup a loud moaning and even the visitingmen shed tears and utter loud lamentations.Outside, the hired dirge singers maintain amelancholy chant, beat their breasts, andalmost convince passersby that they arefrantic with grief.

The funeral processionBecause a person’s shade cannot enter theUnderworld until all the funeral rites havebeen completed, it is essential to proceedwith the funeral by the second day afterdeath.This is held as early as possible in themorning, before sunrise.

Male relatives carry the funerary bier,following behind the hired dirge singers.Thecorpse has a honey cake put in his hands anda flask of oil placed under their head.Thegrieving widow, chief heir, and other malerelatives follow the bier.Women under theage of 60 are not allowed to join a funeralprocession unless they are first cousins orcloser kin of the deceased.

The procession takes a long time, not onlybecause it proceeds at a slow pace, butbecause the cemetery is placed along a mainroad beyond the city walls.

The burialAt the appointed place, a funeral pyre isalready prepared.There are no priestspresent, no prayers are said or hymns sung.The ashes are placed in a small urn andburied. Later, a simple stone monument maybe erected above the urn or coffin, and onthe third, ninth, and 30th days after thefuneral there are simple religious ceremonieswith offerings of garlands, fruits, andofferings of wine at the new tomb.

29

Greek funerarymonuments are usuallyrestrained in size andappearance. Depictionsof the deceased aregraceful and oftentender. On this stela(marker stone) a son isseen fondly greeting hisfather. At the oppositeend of the scale fromthe modesty of mostGreek funerarymonuments is theMausoleum atHalicarnassus (nowBodrum in Turkey). Builtto house the body of thetyrant Mausollus ofCaria and completed in350 BCE, the outer wallsare filled with statues.The burial chamber sitson a pillared podium,topped by a pyramid-shaped roof. On itssummit, a marblestatue of a chariotpulled by four horsesdominates thestructure.

Three-quarters of Greece is mountainous,rocky and barren, and only one fifth of

the land can be cultivated, as the map belowshows. Despite this drawback, most people inGreece make their living from farming. Eventhe citizens of towns often have a farm inthe country to provide their main income.

The best farming land is found around thecoastal plains, parts of Attica, and in Thessaly.

However, with hot and very dry summers,the main crops are called “Mediterranean”—ones that thrive on winter rainfall and needno rain in the summer.These crops includewheat, barley, grapes, pomegranates, figs, andolives.

Rural areas are often very isolated, withcommunities separated from their neighborsby steep ridges and mountains. Here, life canbe poor, with farmers producing onlyenough food for their own needs. Nearer tothe sea, the better quality land provides awider variety of foods, as well as a plentifulsea catch and products imported fromelsewhere, especially cereals from Egypt.

30

CHAPTER 2

Ownership of the LandGreece is divided into numerous small city-states that claimownership of the surrounding countryside. Within each state,most citizens are farmers, but what they own is dictated bytheir wealth—or lack of it.

Living off Land and Sea

Patras

PELOPONNESE

ATTICA

T H E S S A LY

MACEDONIA

T H R A C E

Cultivatable land and land useless for farming in Greece

A S I AM I N O RE P I R U S

Larissa

Thebes

cultivatable land

Mediterranean crops

rough grazing (sheep / goats)

uncultivatable land

Athens

Sparta

Knossos

Corinth

Thessalonica

Pergamum

Ephesus

Halicarnassus

Byzantium

Thassos

Samothrace

Imroz

Lemnos

A E G E A N S E AI O N I A NS E A

M E D I T E R R A N E A N S E A

Lesbos

Ikaria

Crete

Samos

Cos

Rhodes

Naxos

Andros

Scyros

Zante

Cephalonia

Leucas

Corfu

Cythera

Chios

A farmer’s hard lotOnly citizens of a polis (city-state, or citizen-state) may own land, but being a citizen andland-owner does not necessarily make aperson rich. Greece is full of smallholders,who can barely make a living from theirland. In the countryside of Attica most of thepoorer farmers produce wheat and barley,while the wealthy and nobility own estatesthat produce wine and olive oil.

Although wheat is important, wheat-farming is not well managed.The farmers donot have enough land to practice croprotation (moving crops between fields eachseason), so the soil’s fertility gradually reduces.If crop production falls, it is the poor farmerwho suffers because the wealthy Greeks cansimply import what they need.This alsopushes down the price the local farmer canget for his produce, and so he has to borrowmoney and get into debt—usually to a richerperson, who then takes land as payment.

Sometimes, in order to pay off debts, theaverage farmer is forced to sell his

children, wife, and even himself into alimited form of slavery. Situations like thisexplain why, from time to time, the ruralpeople explode into rebellion against the city-dwellers who have claimed all the wealth.

Important farm animalsWealthier farmers—especially the nobilitywho live in the big cities—employ poorcitizens as managers and use slaves to farmtheir land.The young are often employed asherders to look after the goats and sheep thatgraze on the upper pastureland.

Given the rocky nature of the land, goatsare the most important animals, since theycan cope easily on the almost barren hilltops.The lack of suitable grazing means that cowsare rare, and horses even more so, affordableonly by the rich.

CHAPTER 2: LIVING OFF LAND AND SEA

Below: A typical Greekfarm. They are usuallyquite small, and onlyproduce enough food tosupport a single family.

1. The best soil, closeto the farm buildings, isreserved for raisingfruits and vegetables.

2. Wheat and barleyare the main crops, andthis farm is lucky tohave sufficient land fora sizeable wheat field.

3. Goats and sheepcan graze on thescrubby grass of thelower hillsides.

4. Grapes are alsogrown on lower hillsidesthat face the south.

5. The higherground, with itspoor soil—useless for anyother crops—is

planted witholive trees.

11

2

34 5

The grain harvestGrain sown in October grows during thewettest months of the year. Oxen pull theplow, steered by one man, while anotherfollows, scattering the seed by hand (1).Depending on the amount of winter rainfall,grain is harvested between May and Julyusing sickles (2).

It is then threshed from the stalks in amanner similar to that employed byEgyptians, by driving mules over it on acircular stone threshing floor (3). Many ofthe early religious sanctuaries grew uparound a threshing floor (see map of Delphi,page 23, and also pages 90–93).

The threshing process also removes thechaff, or outer husk of the grain kernels, andso threshing floors are often positioned in aplace where the wind helps to blow thelighter chaff away. Otherwise, the young boysof the family winnow it by throwing thegrain into the air on sieves (4).


The Farming YearGreece is a land of farmers, and for those with a surplus ofproduce to sell the agora, or marketplace, is the center oftheir world.

The agora is the heart of every Greek cityor town of reasonable size (see page 64 ).

Early morning is a time of frantic bustle, asthe farmers set up stalls of olive oil, pork,cheese, grain, fruit, eggs, and animal hides.Once they have sold their produce, thecountry people return to their farms,smallholders on foot, the better off riding the

empty cart pulled by one of their oxen.Selling is only a tiny part of the farmer’s

life—growing crops in poor soil is the moredifficult part.The Greeks do not practicecrop rotation.They sow crops one year andleave the field to lie fallow for the next togive the soil time to recover.This puts evenmore pressure on the scarce cultivable land.

2

4

1

3

LivestockWhile horses are rare—except in Thessaly,where there is lots of pasture—most farmerskeep oxen, donkeys, and mules as draftanimals. Sheep and goats provide wool, hides,meat, and milk, which is also used to makecheese. Pigs are kept close to the farmhouse,where they can be watched to prevent themfrom scavenging in the vegetable patch, andin winter they provide extra heat oncepenned inside the house. Poultry is alsovaluable for both meat and eggs, but ducksand chickens have to be closely guarded fromfoxes, which are everywhere.

Farming wealth—vines and olivesHill farmers keep bees and produce thehoney that is the Greeks’ main sweetener.Peas, lentils, beans, garlic, onions, and cabbageare plentiful, but the major source ofagricultural wealth comes from cultivatingolive trees and vines.

The vineyard owner needs themoney he makes, because it takes alot of workers to cultivate andharvest the vines—and slaves are notso numerous in rural Greece as inother countries (except aroundAthens, where they outnumber thecitizen population).The vines aregrown on terraced hillsides to get thebest of the sun. Once ripened, the grapes arepicked in September.They are then troddenunderfoot in large vats made of wood ormortar, which slope down to an outlet.

The juice is collected in clay jars and left toferment for about six months in a cool cellar.When the fermentation process has stopped,

the wine is poured into large clay vesselscalled amphorae for ease of transport (seepage 68 ).

Olive trees take about 16 yearsbefore they begin to yield usable fruit.Once again, only a wealthy farmercan afford this kind of investment, but

the returns are huge. Olives aregathered by shaking the branches and

collecting the fallen fruit in baskets.Thefruit is pulped in a hand mill before the

oil is extracted in a stone press.Olive oil is used for cooking, lighting,

washing, and in many beauty products;athletes rub themselves down with it. Greekoil is prized all around the Mediterranean.

33


After harvesting thegrapes, men pulp thefruit underfoot in largevats to make wine.

Below: Picking olivesby shaking the fruitloose and squeezing outthe oil in a press.

M A G N AG R A E C I A

Siris

ScidrusElea

Poseidonia

Cymae

Pithecoussae

RhegionLocrisCaulonia

Matauros

HipponionMedma

Crotone

Terina

Sybaris

Satyrion

MetapontionTaras

PixousNeapolis

Gravisca

Spina

Alalia

Caralis

Nora

Kinyps

Leptis Magna

Carthage

Greek colonization of the Mediterranean, 11th–6th centuries BCE

Greek homeland, 11th–10th centuries

Etruscan city-states, c.500

Phoenicia, c.500

coast under Greek influence

coast under Phoenician influence by 6th century

Greek colonies and settlements11th–10th centuries9th century8th century7th century settlement or trading post6th century settlement or trading post

Sulcis

Tharros

Agathe

Emporion

Hemeroskopeion

Malaca Sexi

Lixus

Mainake

Massilia

Utica

Motya

Selinus

MylaiZankle

Minoa

Laos

AcragasGela

Camarina

SoloeisHimera

Panormus

NaxosCatanaMegaraLeontinoiSyracuseAkrai

SICILY

SARDINIA

CORSICA

BALEARIC ISLANDS


AD

RI A

TI C

SE

A

S a v a

In theory, a Greek colony is the property ofits mother city, or metropolis. But in most

cases the colonies are allowed to actindependently.The creation of a new colonyis a highly organized process.The settlement isset up as a mirror image of its metropolis, withthe same political structure, laws, and evenreligious temples or cults as the parent city.

Colonies are almost always established ona coast for ease of communication by seawith the metropolis, and in areas wheretrading links have already been established.Greek colonies now exist all over the Aegeanand Mediterranean Seas and on the shores ofthe Black Sea.The principal areas of

settlement beyond the Aegean are in Libya,southern Italy, Sicily, and even the coast ofsouthern France.

All these regions produce goods that canbe exported to Greece: wool from NorthAfrica, Italy, and Asia Minor; grain from theBlack Sea coast and the Crimea; grain, dye,and hides from Sicily; and cereals andpapyrus from Egypt.

34


The Colonies—in Search of Farming LandFertile land is in short supply in mountainous Greece, and land hunger drives many Greeks overseas to establish colonies. Before long, many of these emigrantfarmer-communities have grown into major city-states in their own right.

The Phoenicians, amercantile people whooriginated on theeastern Mediterraneancoast, colonized vastareas of theMediterranean beforethe Greeks. Their colonyof Carthage opposedGreek colonizationalong the North Africancoast, in Sicily, andsouthern Spain.

Right: Pythagoras ofCrotone (569–500 BCE)is a mathematician andthinker, best known forhis geometric theorem.

Archimedes of Sicily(287–212 BCE), scientistand engineer whodiscovered waterdisplacement anddeveloped the screw.

MethymnaSigeion

Madytos

Byzantium

Cytorus

OlbiaBerezean Island

Tyras

Istrus

Callatis

Odessus

Phasis

Dioscurias

Theodosia

Eresus

PhocaeaChios

TeosSamosPriene

MiletosCos CnidusKameiros Nagidos

Naukratis

Aziris

Memphis

E G Y P T

P H RY G I A

T H R A C E

Tell Sukas

Sidon

Byblos

Mesad Hashaviahu

In 531, the philosopher andmathematician Pythagoras moved from Samos to Crotone.

Tyre

Soloi

KelenderisAl Mina

MytileneMyrina

Erythrae

Scioni

Eretria

ToroneSane

AcanthusStageirus

NeapolisThasos

AbderaMaroneia

ElaiousAbydosLampsacus

Methone

Epidamnus

Corfu

Sparta

Corinth

Chalcis

Cydonia

Gortyn

Megara

Athens

Apollonia

Apollonia

Barca

MendePoteidaea

Limnae

ChalcedonCeiros

HeracleaTios

Sesamos

SinopeMesembria

Apollonia

Phanagoria

PanticapaeonMirmekion

NymphaionCimmericon

Hermonassa

KersousTrapezus

CardiaAinos

Ilium

ClazomenaeColophonLebedos

EphesusMyusHalicarnassus

IalysosLindos

Daphnai

Platea IslandCyrene

PtolemaisTaucheira

Eusperides

Phaselis

Side

Knossus

CRETE

CYPRUSRHODES

C Y R E N A E A


B L A C K S E A

Danub e

So dense is the level of colonization insouthern Italy and Greece, that the regionhas become known to the Romans as MagnaGraecia (Greater Greece).Astonishing as itmay seem, a handful of Greek cities hasspawned hundreds of colonies clusteredaround the Mediterranean—as Socrates putsit,“like frogs around a pond.”

35


The first colonies wereset up in the 8thcentury in southern Italyand Sicily. The city-states of Athens andSparta were most busyin developing colonieshere, but the Corinthiancolony of Syracuse isthe most prosperousSicilian settlement,

closely followed byAcragas. In the early7th century, colonieswere founded aroundthe Black Sea and theHellespont strait(Dardanelles), mostestablished by theisland city-state ofMiletos. The Libyancolony of Cyrenespawned further

colonies of its own onthe North African coast.The Ionian Greeksettlement establishedat Massilia (Marseilles)in about 600 BCE hasexpanded into a thrivingport that dominatestrade between Greeceand the Frenchcountryside.

The Greek colonieshave produced some ofthe finest minds of thetime; a handful of themost famous are shownon these pages.

Colonial history

Aesop of Samos(c.620–564 BCE), isfamous for his fables, short tales with a moral.

Zeno of Elea (490–425BCE), mathematicianand thinker, bestknown for Zeno’sParadox.

A red-figured cupshows a youthhoping for a catch.

37


The ringing of the “fish bell” toannounce the arrival of a fresh catch is

the signal for a rush of householders to theagora. Such is the eagerness for fish that a taleis told about a recital by a lyre player whoseentire audience dashed off when they heardthe fish bell ring, with the exception of onedeaf man.When the musician thanked himfor staying to listen to the end of his playing,the old man looked up in horror and said,“What! Did I miss the fish bell?” and rushedoff as fast as he could.

The catchFish are even more important to thenumerous island-dwellers of the Aegean Sea.Few of these rocky outcrops are capable ofraising substantial crops, and most foodstuffshave to be imported at great expense fromthe mainland, while the readily availableseafood is cheap.

Large quantities of sardines are caught inPhaleron Bay at Piraeus.As the leastexpensive fish, sardines form a large part ofthe poorer classes’ diet. For the better off,tunny is also plentiful, but the most prizedare the great eels that are brought from LakeKopaïs in Boeotia. Salted and smoked fishare brought in from the Black Sea ports andthe colonies of the Spanish coast.

Fishing is a serious businessThe Greeks mainly use nets for fishing, butthey also angle with hooks and lines. Squidand octopuses are caught by spearing themwith tridents, usually at night by the light oftorches.

Small sailing boats, crewed by up to tenmen, go out at night and fish with nets andtorches that attract the fish.The boats areusually owned by a single family, and thecrewmen are paid for their work either incash from the eventual sale, or in kind by ashare of the catch. Sometimes a cooperativeowns a boat between several poorerfishermen. No one regards fishing as arecreational activity; it is always a seriousbusiness and, besides, the proper sport foryoung aristocrats is hunting.

The Abundant SeaWith such a long coastline and so many islands, it comes asno surprise that fish is a popular item in the Greek diet,especially for the poorer classes.

Fishermen on the Gulf of CorinthA fishing boat has justpulled into shore tounload a catch. Oneman has already arrivedto start bargainingbefore the fish reachthe agora, hoping to getthe best for his family.

A young boy fishes witha line and hook, holdinga landing basket in onehand. He has set alarger basket in thewater to hold thecaught fish, whichkeeps them fresh untilhe gets them home.

In the foreground, afish-seller carries a basket laden withherring toward theagora. A pair of tunnyfish are secured to thecarrying pole over hisfriend’s shoulders.

Life has not changedmuch in 2500 years—this modern Greekfisherman attracts fishusing an electricallypowered light in placeof the flaming torch theancients would use.

Fact boxThe modern Greek word for “fish,” psari, isderived from the ancient Greek word opsarion,meaning “delicacy.”

Bread plays a very important role in every-day life. Common breads for ordinary

meals are made by kneading flour withwater, or with water and honey, sometimeswith oil or honey and wine (oinomelo).Thebreads vary in the manner of baking as wellas in shape, and whether they are “raised” byusing grape yeast or left unleavened.

By adding fresh or dried fruit, cheese andherbs, or olives, many different luxury breadsare made, especially for festivals and holidays.The Greeks have more than 50 kinds ofbread. In the cities, public bakeries and ovensare built by the government for everyone’suse and they have become popular places formen to visit the neighbors and discuss thestate of affairs.

Three meals a dayMost food is produced in the region aroundthe polis, although maritime cities like Athensalso import luxury goods and foreigndelicacies.Typically, Greeks eat three meals aday, in the early morning, at midday, and in

the evening. Breakfast is normally a lightmeal—bread dipped in wine or a lump ofcheese is common at all levels of society.Lunch is a little more substantial, oftenincluding olives, figs, cheese, bread, and wine.The main meal of the day is dinner, usually abarley porridge accompanied by fresh andcooked vegetables.

Among the wealthy, dinner often involvesinviting male friends home for a meal, oreven eating at a “dining club” (equivalent ofa restaurant).The evening meal is eatenwhile reclining on an anaklintra (couch), andslaves bring food, wine, and finger bowls tothe diners.The women of the household areexcluded from these formal dinners, exceptas slaves or as hetairai (see page 43 ).

Meat for the tableAlthough sheep, pigs, goats, and some cattleare raised for the table, meat is a luxury.Athome, a family is more than happy to havethe occasional sausage or perhaps a locallytrapped hare. Pheasants and chickens areavailable to boost at least one meal a week,and cheese made from the milk of sheep andgoats is produced in great volume.

Fish, shellfish, squid, and eels areconsumed in many different ways: fried,baked, stewed, dried, and smoked. Richerfamilies may extend their diet to caviar,oysters, and turtles.

38


Putting Food on the TableFor the average Greek, the main diet is simple, and largelyfree of meat because of its expense. But dining in a wealthierhome provides a huge variety of appetizing dishes.

Two men lounge outsidea civic bakery and chatas they wait for theirloaves of bread to finishbaking. A boy brings abag of grain to handover to get bread madefor his family.

Preserving for the winterFruit and vegetables are readily available freshduring the summer. Fruits are eaten in allpossible manners, while vegetables—if notcooked in a stew—are preferred raw with anolive oil dressing. In the late summer, it isnecessary to preserve fruit and vegetables forthe winter. Fruit is preserved by sun-dryingand then packing it in clay jars, or by placingfruits in honey, carefully ensuring that noone fruit touches another. Green vegetablesare preserved simply, by putting them in avessel treated with pitch.

In a wealthy home, any meat—such aswild game, freshly caught fish, and pork—ishung in the chimney, where the fires of thekitchen “smoke” and preserve it for laterconsumption (see illustration on pages 52–53,point 6 ).

Seasonings and flavoringsThe Greeks love to combine sweet and sourflavors, the basic ones being honey, vinegar,and garos (a sauce based on fermented saltedfish). Many herbs and spices are also used—mustard, coriander (cilantro), cumin,oregano, dill, parsley, mint, pine nuts, poppyseeds, sesame, fennel, and aniseed are amongthe most popular seasonings.And few Greekmeals remain unflavored by garlic andonions.

The Greek general and historianXenophon amusingly remembers how theguests at a dinner laughed at the newly-wedyoung man who refused his portion ofonions in order to keep hisbreath sweet for his bride.

39


This newly-wed lovesonions, but fears hisdear bride will not.

A collection of everydayeating bowls, utensils,and food from the late5th century.

The symposium (a feast or formal meal) ofwealthy men—usually held at home—is

typically Greek. Eating and drinking is asocial activity, an opportunity to meet othersand discuss politics, listen to music, playgames, and enjoy companionship.Asymposium often lasts from the earlyafternoon until late at night.

Men are the only guests, because—apartfrom eating and drinking—the importantpart of a symposium is the conversation aboutphilosophical, artistic, and political matters.These are mental exercises fit for men, butnot for women, who the Greeks believecannot understand these subjects properly.

As the guests lie down on their anaklintra

(couch), slaves serve oinomelo, wine mixedwith honey, and bread.The dishes thenfollow in a strict order. First come severalappetizers and fruit, then fresh fish and meatprepared in several interesting ways.

The symposium’s second phase is called theepidorpion, which means dessert, but it ismuch more than a selection of sweets.Several kinds of pies, sweets, dried fruits,nuts, and cheeses are brought in.

A popular sweet is baklava, the bakedconfection of nuts and honey between layersof thin bread dough that Greek mercenarysoldiers brought back from Assyria centuriesbefore.Along with these delights comes themost important item—more wine.

40


Wine and the SymposiumWine is the common drink of poor and rich alike, but winesvary in quality and therefore in price. Among the wealthy,drinking wine is an important part of the evening banquet.

A symposium in its finalstage: as the guestsnibble sweets, morewine is served, andentertainers take to thefloor to bring the night’smeal to a merry close.

Mixing wine and waterThe host decides how much water should bemixed with the wine.Wine, stored in anamphora vessel, is strained through fine clothto catch sediment deposited from thefermentation process, to be mixed withwater in a large vessel called a krater.Themixture is then transferred from the krater toa jug called an oinchoe for pouring into cups.

In general, the dilution starts with severalparts of water to one part of wine, but as theevening progresses the wine begins todominate, until the guests are drinking theirwine undiluted.

The host is responsible for getting hisguests drunk, but not before they haveenjoyed debate and argument, and recitedpoetry.As they become less capable of speech,the entertainment begins—professionaldancers, musicians, even acrobat performances.

With the symposium concluded, the hostcan retire to his bedchamber, while his guestsstumble to their homes, their way lit byslaves bearing torches.

The importance of wineThe success of a symposium reflects on thestatus and wealth of the host, never more sothan in the quality of his wine.The bestwines come from the Aegean islands,especially Lesbos and Chios.Wine is available

in the three basic types—white, red, and “black” (avery deep-bodied redwine).

It is categorized asbeing sweet, thehoneyed, theripe, and thesoft.The veryexpensive blackwines are so heavy that isonly sensible to dilutethem with water—atleast at the start of asymposium!

To the Greeks,wine-drinking is morethan an enjoyment, it also has religioussymbolism—it is the only drink able tosoothe even the quarrelsome gods ofOlympus. Dionysus, god of fertility, wine,and theater, is honored at the time of thegrape harvest and when the first new winesare ready to drink in February.

This, the most important Dionysianfestival, is called the Anthesteria and itcelebrates the god through processions andwine-drinking contests (see also page 47 ) inwhat is effectively a week-long symposium—but with the difference that women mayattend the festivities.

41

Dionysus with a satyrdrinking wine. The half-men, half-horse satyrsare associated withDionysus and wine.

The Victorian painterLawrence Alma-Tademapainted a Dionysianfestival scene (below).Behind the femaledancers, a celebranthas slumped under theinfluence of the wine.

With the exception of Sparta (see “TheSpartan difference” ), Greek women

have very limited freedom outside the home,and have no legal and few social rights.Thekyrios or head of the household (the father,husband, or other male relative) legally ownsall the women under his roof, an ownershipthat passes from father to husband when adaughter marries.

Women have no right to vote or to legalhelp, and with few exceptions they may notown or inherit property.The role of a wife isto run the household, bear children and takecare of them, manage slaves and servants, andattend to her husband’s needs.

Stuck at homeShe is a virtual prisoner within her homeand rarely leaves it, except during certainreligious festivals, such as the PanathenaicProcession and the festivals of Dionysus.Other special occasions are few, beyondattending weddings and funerals, and visitingfemale neighbors for brief periods.

Wives of poorer citizens may be morefortunate than those who are better off, sincethey sometimes have to work outside of thehome as servants or craftspeople. On theother hand, in a family with few or noslaves, the poor housewife has to do almosteverything, whereas women do not do thehousework in a wealthier home.

The housewife’s dayFemale slaves look after the cooking,cleaning, and work in the fields.A male slavewatches the door, to make sure no onecomes in when the husband is away, andanother acts as a paedogogus (tutor) to theyoung male children.

Women do not even go out to do theshopping. It is the task of men to leave for

the agora in the morning to shop for dailyrequirements such as fish, cheese, olives, andvegetables, and occasional luxuries such astrinket boxes and jewelry.

A woman’s day is mostly spent in herquarters, called the gynaeceum, spinning yarnand weaving. She makes all the clothes forthe family and the slaves, hangings tobrighten the walls and cover the windows,bed blankets and cushions. Fortunately, this isnot viewed as being a boring job, but isconsidered a noble task, even for aristocraticwives and daughters.

Young girls are expected to spend theirday with their mothers, learning how to runthe home and to spin and weave, ready forthe time when they get married.

42

CHAPTER 3

The Family—the Role of WomenGreek women are more subordinate to men than even those in Mesopotamia orEgypt. From the poorest to the richest homes, women are considered the propertyof their father, and later of their husband, and are treated accordingly.

The Greeks at Home and Work

The right of life and deathThe head of the family has complete controlover the household, including grandparents,unmarried sisters, widowed aunts, and anyorphans. His wife has no legal rights, evenover her children. If the family cannot affordto feed another mouth, or a child is sickly ordeformed, the father can decide to leave anewborn infant on a remote mountainsideto die.

With this level of power, it is notsurprising that women are considereduntouchable by any other than theirhusbands. But it is not so for the men, or forthe one type of female who might beconsidered to be free, the hetaira.

The Spartan differenceThe role of women in warlike Sparta isquite different from other parts of Greece.There, women can own property—in factmore than a third of Spartan land isowned by women—and daughters areallowed to inherit as well as sons. Spartanwomen are given a good education inboth the arts and athletics (something noother Greek city would allow), and oftenhold real political power within the polis.

The reasons for this difference can beexplained by Sparta’s warrior-nationcharacter.The nation, not the family, is thecenter of life for every man. Boys leavehome to begin their military training atthe age of seven and because, as husbands,men are rarely at home and take no partin child-rearing, Spartan women are freeto take charge of almost everythingoutside of the army.

43

The hetairaAmong men, the wordhetairos means a malecompanion, and the use ofthe word in a feminineform—hetaira—implies thatfemale companions are expectedto be trained and sociable in a waythat wives are not. Hetairai areprofessional courtesans who entertainthe male guests at a symposium.

They are expected to be good at recitingpoetry, playing music, and dancing. Mostimportantly, they must be capable ofholding an intelligent conversation among

men—which means discussingpolitics, philosophy, and the arts.

This is how Greek men dividewomen.A hetaira is almost anhonorary male, a companion almost

as good as a man but blessed withfemale beauty, whereas wives and

daughters are essentially property.Apart from their maternal

qualifications to run a household, beingintelligent is considered unnecessary forfemale relatives, any more than it is for aslave. Even the celebrated philosopherAristotle writes that the ability to think is notfound in slaves, nor in women.

Left: On the rareoccasions when amarried woman goesout, she is accompaniedby a slave for herprotection, and perhapsanother to fetch andcarry.

Right: A regretful fathertears a baby from itsweeping mother toexpose the child in aremote place.

Upper left: Marriedwomen and daughtersspend their time in thegynaeceum, weavingand making the family’sclothes.

CHAPTER 3: THE GREEKS AT HOME AND WORK

While married women rarely leave theirhome, young girls are hardly ever let

out of its female quarters—they shouldremain unseen even by male members oftheir own family. (This is in sharp contrast toSparta, where young girls train openly atsports with the young men.)

Girls are considered to have reachedmarriageable age at puberty, and certainlybefore 16. Given her housebound seclusionthere can be no question of courtship with aprospective husband, and most couples nevereven meet until the wedding day.When thehead of the household (kyrios) decides adaughter is ready to be married, he chooses ahusband for her and negotiates with theprospective bridegroom’s family.

The happy outcome of this is the gamos ormarriage, which happens in two parts, firstbeing the engeyesis or engagement ceremony.Again, there is no romance involved—this isa thorough and legally binding verbalcontract between the two families whichdoes not concern the girl.The engeyesis ispledged by the future husband and the girl’sfather clasping hands.The agreementincludes settling a dowry (a gift from the bride’s family); all oaths aresworn in front of witnesses.

A man is usually about 30 when hedecides to marry, so he is perfectly capable ofmaking up his own mind as to whom heshould marry—or more to the point, towhich family he should ally himself. He maywell consult his father about this; fathersoften arrange marriages for their sons inorder to strengthen the family position.Status and self-interest are the main motives.

Purifying bride and groomThe second part—ekdosis, the marriageceremony—involves giving away the brideto the groom.This begins on the eveningthe bride moves to her new home andconsists of three important preparations. Firsta sacrifice is made to the gods and goddesses

who protect the marriage-bed—Zeus, Hera,Artemis, and Apollo.The sacrificial offeringusually consists of all the bride’s toys and anyobjects associated with her childhood.

Next, a torchlit procession is led to aspecial fountain known as a callirhoe to bringback water in a long-necked vase called aloutrophoros for the ritual sacred bath.

In his own home, the bridegroom alsoritually bathes in sacred water taken

from the fountain.

The wedding dayOn the wedding day bothhouses are decorated with

garlands of olive and laurel.Aftera sacrifice in the bride’s house, she istaken to the place of the wedding

feast accompanied by her sisters,girlfriends, and her nympheutria

or maid of honor. From theother direction comes thebridegroom with hisparochos or best man.

Men and women areseated apart at thebanquet, which includessesame cakes—a symbol

of fertility.After eating, the

44


Marriage and DivorceFor most Greeks, being in love is not a reasonfor getting married. There are far more importantmotives for a wedding than romance.

Ritual bathing of the bride and groom

guests offer their presents to the bride, andthen she is taken to her new home, riding ina wagon pulled by mules or oxen.With hershe carries a sieve and a cooking gridiron—symbols of her domestic role.

Relatives and friends follow on foot,carrying torches to the music of flutes andlyres.At the groom’s house, the couple areshowered with nuts and dried figs, andoffered a wedding cake made with sesameand honey before they retire to the thalamosor bridal chamber. Outside, the weddingguests sing wedding songs as loudly aspossible to scare away evil spirits.

Divorce for menA man can always divorce his wife—even if there is no real reason. But he is forced bylaw to divorce her if she is caughtcommitting adultery, otherwise he is liable to iatimia—the loss of his rights as a citizen.There is one check against an easy divorce:a husband who returns his wife back to herfamily home also has to return her dowry.

Greek men marry to have children, sofailure to bear any is a common reason for a man to divorce his wife. Daughters canmarry into other families, thus formingalliances, but sons are needed to continue a father’s line and to bury him with full rites.There must be at least one son to guaranteethe cult honors which he, the father,performed for his ancestors, and which areessential for the well-being of the dead.

Divorce for womenIt is much harder for a woman to divorce ahusband, since she is presumed incapable ofmanaging her own affairs. She can appeal inwriting to the archon (minister) responsiblefor justice, but her husband’s unfaithfulness isnot considered a reason for divorce becauseGreek society accepts complete freedom formen. If she can prove violence against her orill-treatment the archon may consent, but shefaces many problems.

A wife divorced by her husband mayreturn to her family home with littledisgrace, but everyone frowns on a womanwho divorces her husband. Shunned byneighbors and even by family, there is littlefuture for her. Many such women are thenforced to become another man’s mistress or ahetaira (see page 43).

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Below: A man candivorce his wife andsend her back to herown family, whilekeeping their childrenwith him. She maynever see them again.

Leading a happywedding procession, thenew couple reach thegroom’s house.

Left: In Athens it is acustom for a youngboy—whose parentsmust still be alive—togo about with a basketof cakes and say, “I fledfrom misfortune, I founda better lot.” Thissymbolizes the sensiblemove the groom ismaking in marrying andstarting his own family.

To avoid having too many children,abortion and exposure of newborn

infants are practiced.Abortion is legal, sincethe law considers the unborn child to be itsfather’s property.A mother, however, needsher husband’s consent for an abortion, and aslave girl that her of her owner.

Infanticide is also allowed as long as thechild has not been named or accepted as amember of society.The father does not killthe child but abandons it—so weather,starvation, or wild animals are responsible forthe death. Not all exposed children die—sympathetic foster parents rescue some,others are enslaved.The rescued baby is acommon theme in Greek mythology, themost famous being that of King Oedipus,who later returned home to unknowinglykill his real father and marry his mother.

In harsh Sparta, newborn children arepresented to the elders and tested byimmersion in ice-cold water.Those who failthrough being weak or sickly are exposed onMount Taygetos in order to protect thestrength of the race.

ChildbirthChildren are born at home, with all thewomen of the household crowding aroundthe mother.The most experienced inbirthing helps with the delivery, but if thereis a problem a doctor or a midwife can besummoned.

The world at large is informed of a birthby the family hanging something over thefront door—an olive branch for a boy, a stripof woolen material for a girl.A week afterthe birth, a family festival known as theamphidromia is held, a purification ceremonyfor the mother and all those who helpedduring her labor.

The ritual also admits the baby as amember of its social group. From now on,the child is an accepted member of thecommunity and the father no longer has theright to end its life.

The baby is named on the tenth day afterits birth, with the family members allassembled for another sacrifice and abanquet.The relatives bring gifts for thebaby, in particular amulets for good luck.

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Birth and ChildrenAlthough a daughter may be desirable and a son essential,the Greeks do not have large families because of poverty orto avoid estates being divided among too many male heirs.

Above: A goose andrider and a jointed dollare just some of thetoys to amuse children.

Right: A boy plays witha hoop on a red-figuredcup decoration.

A grandmother preparesto feed her daughter’shungry baby, whichcries for attention andshakes its rattle. Thechild’s high chair actsas a potty too. Mother isbusy chatting with avisiting friend.

Festivals and the phratriaTwo important festivals mark the early life ofa boy when he is about three years old, theAnthesteria and the Apatouria.The first is afestival dedicated to Dionysus, and youngboys, crowned with flowers, are encouragedto compete in the festival’s second-day eventknown as Wine Jugs.

In this, the competitors are given ameasure of diluted wine in a special jug.At acommand, everyone empties their jugs, andthe first to finish drinking is the winner.Adults taking part must drink almost half agallon, so it is as well that children are givenmuch smaller jugs!

The Apatouria is a gathering of thefather’s phratria (clan or family association) inOctober, when the boy is introduced.TheApatouria is a time to catch up on news,make sacrifices, and register new members ofthe family.The father swears that his son isborn to him of a citizen-mother, whichestablishes the boy’s rights to citizenship later.

Toys and gamesGreeks love to give their children presents oftoys, which they can buy from sellers in themarketplace (agora). Some toys are made athome by the children themselves—houses,wagons, and ships out of strips of leather. Ina larger courtyard, or outside in thefarmyard, there may be swings, and boys playwith kites, hoops, model carts, whipping tops,and wheels pulled along with poles.

While babies have rattles made fromhollow containers with pebbles inside toentertain them, older boys play team gameswith balls made of pigs’ bladders, whippedalong with sticks. Games of leapfrog,piggyback, and blindman’s buff are allenjoyed. But playtime comes to an endwhen a boy reaches the age of seven, and itis time for school to begin.

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Only a son can continue the family line.As for his sister, once a girl is married

her future happiness is the responsibility ofher new husband and she is unlikely to seeher father again.As a result it is only theboys who get a proper schooling.

Pupils living in cities are taught to becomeproductive members of their democraticsociety. Because all male citizens are expectedto take an active part in debates, justice, andlocal or city government, they must be fluentin reading, writing, and basic arithmetic. Incountry regions the level of education islower than in the cities.

Vocational trainingSince most states imitate Athens’ institutionsand social organization, it is best to see howeducation of boys is handled there.Athenshas no state-run education system, sofamilies unable to afford the cost of privateschooling apprentice their sons to a mastercraftsman or a merchant.

The apprenticeship system encouragesyoungsters to improve their education whilelearning a useful trade.Apprenticeships, of atleast six years, are usually begun at 12 yearsof age for such occupations as builder,merchant, potter, carpenter, or shipwright.

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A Boy’s EducationIt is a father’s civic duty to provide for hisson’s education. After a care-free early childhood, boys are schooled to becomemodel citizens—statesmen or soldiers—while girls are prepared for marriage.

Above: Fragments of ared-figured vase show aschool at work. To theleft, one youth practicesmusic. In the center, ateacher holds up analphabet chart foranother boy to read out,under the stern eye ofhis paedogogus.

Left: A boy practiceswriting with a stylus ona three-leaf wax tablet.

Below: From the age of12, physical educationbecomes an importantpart of schooling.

Privileged school networkFor the sons of wealthier citizens, theoptions are far more appealing.When he isabout seven, the boy is removed from hisnurse and given to the care of a paedogogus, aselected household slave who accompanieshim everywhere and is permitted to punishthe boy if he behaves badly.

The paedogogus takes the boy to schooland stays with him to ensure he paysattention to his lessons and works hard.Classes are held in teachers’ private homes.Since music is such an important part of lifein Greece, boys are also taught to sing andplay the lyre and flute.

There is a law that forbids children to beon the streets in the hours of darkness, soclasses take place from about half an hourafter sunrise until half an hour before sunset.This makes for a particularly long day in thesummer, but a mercifully short one in winter.

A girl’s education stops at the point herbrother starts school. Slave girls may teachthe finer points of manners and the skillsrequired to run a household, while hermother teaches the arts of spinning andweaving cloth.

From school to gymnasiumWhen he comes of age, every male Greekcitizen is expected to be a soldier at somelevel, from hoplite (infantryman) to strategos(general)—the army is the route to the highestpolitical positions.Therefore, physical fitness isconsidered every bit as important as academiclearning, if not more so.

Once a boy reaches the age of 12, hiseducation expands to includephysical training, which now takesprecedence over any other subject.The relative calm of the privateteacher’s home is replaced bythe noise and activity of thelocal gymnasium. It gets itsname from the Greek wordgymnos, meaning “naked,”for at this school the boysundergo their physicalexercises without anyclothing as they learn tocompete with eachother and how to cooperate in teams.

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Hurrying home before itgrows dark, boys andtheir paedogogi leaveschool.

Education in SpartaLike his Athenian counterpart, a Spartanboy is taken from his family at the age ofseven. However, his education iscompletely different. He is raised in adormitory class, where his group learns theskills needed to become first-class soldiers.

Conditions are literally spartan. Clothingis minimal even in the harshest winter,punishments severe, and academic tuitionalmost non-existent. Spartans are trained toaccept tough campaign conditions withoutcomplaining. Food is strictly rationed as apart of this hardship training.The youthsare often hungry enough to steal. If caught,the child is punished severely—not forstealing, but for being caught in the act.

At 12, boys are introduced to militarytraining, which continues until the traineereaches 20 years of age. Most youths areaccepted into the army, while those thatfail to make the grade serve in militaryadministration and form a pool of reservists.

There is no other option than a life inthe army for a Spartan man, until he iseither too old to serve or dies in battle—

whichever is the sooner.

A hungry boy stole a fox and hid it under hiscloak. But the fox began biting him. Rather thanbe caught out, the boy gritted his teeth and let thefox tear at his stomach until it killed him.

All gymnasia are centered around an open-air sports ground called a palaestra—

which takes its name from the principalexercise of pale (wrestling).A paedotribesteaches the boys gymnastics—with the aid ofa long stick when necessary.They limber upto music, then compete in sports such aswrestling, running, and discus- and javelin-throwing.With exercises concluded, the classretires to a bathhouse to clean up.

Academic lessons take place in the cool ofthe covered arcade, or colonnade, thatsurrounds the palaestra, with classes arrangedby age, taking turns in lessons and physicaltraining. In Athens the older youths mightalso attend an academy for tutoring in thefiner disciplines, such as appreciation andparticipation in music, science, and the arts.Athens is a society that emphasizes culturaldevelopment.

Coming of ageSchooling lasts for about 12 years, ending atthe age of 18, but boys are considered tohave come of age at 16. On the third day ofApatouria, October’s family gathering, a boycuts his hair to show that his childhood isover.And once he has completed his last twoyears in the gymnasium, the young man iseligible for military training and specialeducation in religious and political duties.

His first task as a man is to report to andregister his name with his deme (localcommunity) and prove his right tocitizenship. Normally, this is a formality, sincehis father will have registered this right withhis clan (phratria) when the boy was agedthree (see page 47 ).

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The Gymnasium and Military TrainingBetween the ages of 12 and 18, boys undergo rigorous physical training while stillfitting in lessons between bouts of exercise. It is a system designed to create fit,healthy, and educated leaders of men.

A healthy mind in ahealthy body is theGreek ideal. In a busygymnasium, one groupof youths are putthrough their paces bythe paedotribes on thepalaestra, whileteachers give academiclessons under the coolshade of a colonnade.

Becoming a full citizenAn ephebos may continue his academiceducation while he is under militaryinstruction, if he wishes to.This isadministered by sophists (“wise men”) hiredfor the purpose.These roving tutors adviseon the skills considered vital for civicadvancement and statesmanship—oratory,persuasion, rhetoric, reasoning, philosophy,and logic.

Many sophists have set up their owninstitutes of higher learning, the most famousof which is the Academy run by Plato.Theresult is a breed of skilled young civicleaders, eager to further their political andmilitary careers through the advancement ofAthens.These leaders have helped shape allof Greece and share responsibility for itssuccesses and failures.

At the age of 20 a youth is no longer anephebos. He can attend the ecclesia (citizens’assembly) and begin his life as a citizen.However, while he remains fit and healthyhe will continue to bear arms when the staterequires it (see page 80 ).

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The oath of an ephebosYouths between the ages of 18 and 20,known as epheboi, are subject to the rigors ofarmy life.An ephebos spends two years ofmilitary service on the frontiers of Attica, theregion surrounding Athens. He also plays animportant part in some religious events, suchas the Eleusinian Mysteries and thePanathenaic Festival.Along with the othernewly conscripted recruits, he swears anoath, binding on him as a citizen:

n I will not disgrace these sacred arms.n I will not desert my companions in

battle.n I will defend our sacred and public

institutions.n I will leave my fatherland better and

greater, as far as I am able.n I will obey the magistrates and the laws

and defend them against those who seekto destroy them.

My witnesses are the gods… and theboundaries of the fatherland.

Unlike the Greeks’ marvellous temples,ordinary houses are built of mud

bricks.There are few windows to theoutside, and the heart of the home is thecourtyard.This open space may be large infarm-estate houses, but much smaller intown houses like the one illustrated here.The house usually has a single floor, with thereception rooms, slave quarters, kitchen,private rooms, and bedrooms surroundingthe courtyard. Some city houses boast anupper floor for the family bedrooms.

Few homes have a bathroom.The menbathe at the gymnasium, while women washin clay basins—bronze if the family canafford it—often mounted on a pedestal.

Wives are expected to spend their lives inisolation, permitted to run a household butrarely allowed to mingle with people outsidethe home. Even when the man of the houseentertains, his guests will be other men, andthey dine in a suite of rooms separate fromthe rest of his family.

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An Athenian Merchant’s HomeMost ancient Greeks’ homes are small dwellings, but in the larger cities, such asAthens, wealthier merchants can afford more luxury. But even the homes of the richare not very large by modern standards.

andron(dining room) with

mosaic floor kitchen

Plan of the house

porch courtyard

veranda

shrine

stairs toupper floor

veranda

street

backdoor main reception rooms

anteroom to andronwith mosaic floor

lower level storeroom

private familyroom or guest

bedroomsteps down

and door

dried goods store andchimney

1. The chimney is justa covered opening inthe pantile roof.

2. In the andron, ordining room, themerchant’s male guestsrecline on anaklintraecouches to dine. Theyare served by householdslaves and entertainedby a musician.

3. Anteroom to theandron. A slave bringsfood from the kitchen.

4. Storeroom, with adoor to the street, forkeeping grain,preserved dry goods,and fresh food.

5. Slaves cook food inthe large kitchen. Theyare usually paid for theirwork and will be welltreated.

6. The room next to thekitchen doubles as achimney. The smoke isdrawn through holes inthe kitchen wall. Fishand meat are hung onits wall and becomesmoked, in order topreserve them forconsumption in winter.

7. Porch. A janitorguards the front door.

8. Staircase to theupper floor gallery.

9. The herm. Thesestatues are used tomark street cornersand larger houses.

10. Courtyard opento the sky, witha smallhousehold shrineat its center. Thisis the heart of theGreek home, wherethe children play andthe family spends thedaylight hours. It hasa covered verandaaround all four sides.

11. Gallery on upperfloor around thecourtyard.

12. The wife in thegynaeceum, her privatechamber, working at herloom. Wives anddaughters make all theclothes, blankets, andwall coverings for thehome.

13. Mud-brick wallsbuilt on a stone base.Floors are of mortar.

14. Greek houses onlyhave a few, smallwindows to the exteriorto keep the heat out insummer and retain heatfrom small braziersduring winter. Most lightis provided by the opencourtyard.

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10

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Greeks calla burglar a “wall digger”because in theabsence of windows, he simply burrowsthrough the flimsy mud walls.

All Greekclothing is

essentially made fromone or two large square piecesof cloth flung skillfully around the body andsecured by a few well-placed pins.Thiscostume is easily adjusted—it can beexpanded into flowing draperies orcontracted into an easy working dress by afew artful hitches.

The most common form of dress for bothmen and women is the chiton, a largerectangular tunic of wool or linen cloth,extending to the knee for men and the anklefor women.

Chiton and himationWith men the chiton’s left side is left open,fastened by fibulae, elegantly wrought pins ofsilver, gold, or bone. In the closed side thereis a slit for the arm.A girdle is usually wornabout the waist, and, if one wishes, the skirtof the chiton may be pulled up through it,and allowed to hang down in front, givingthe effect of a blouse.

The arms are left bare, as is the head,

although leather sandals, a hat, and a cloakcalled a himation provide extra protectionfrom the elements when outdoors. Epheboicadets and younger men often wear anothershorter type of cloak called a chlamys,particularly when out hunting or riding.

A lack of tailorsMen working at a trade frequently wear ashort skirt, belted at the waist, while a longerversion extending from the waist to the anklesis sometimes worn in the evening at a feast(symposium). Male nudity is not consideredscandalous, particularly when taking part insporting events, at the baths, or in the home.

A man’s simple woolen garments haveusually been slowly and laboriously spun andwoven by his wife and daughters, so they arehard-wearing and last for a long time.Andfashions (at least in the cut of the garments)seldom change.A consequence of this is thatthere are very few Greek tailors, only clothmerchants, bleachers, and dyers.

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What the Greeks WearIn a land where the climate is generally warm—frequentlyextremely hot—and in which the human body isconsidered a beautiful object, loose, flowing garments are desirable.

Woolen or flaxen tunics(chiton, seen far right),short for men, ankle-length for women,are the basic form ofclothing. The tunic iscomplemented by along, flowing peplos forwomen, sometimescovered by a cloak orhimation (seen in red).Outdoors, womeninvariably cover theirheads with a veil or theraised himation, butthey are shown hereuncovered so theclothes may be easilyseen. Men may alsosport a himation(brown) or the shorterchlamys (blue).Footwear ranges fromlight sandals to sturdywalking boots.Workmen (above) andlaboring slaves usuallywear only a loincloth.

The ladies’ peplosWomen also wear a peplos over the chiton, along flowing robe, tubular in shape, thatranges in design from the plain and simple tothe highly decorated.A peplos is placed overthe head and made to fit closely at theshoulder with fasteners and held at the waistwith a girdle.The arms are left bare.Thelower edge is often finished with a coloredbraid.The peplos is open at the right side andhangs in folds from the shoulder.

Saffron yellow is a very popular color, butclothes are also dyed violet, purple, or red.Very dark blue colors, such as indigo,indicate a person is in mourning.

HairstylesOnce, men wore their hair long and sportedlong beards, but now a much shorter cut ispopular, with a clean-shaven face or perhapsneatly trimmed facial hair for older men.

Women usually cover their hair when outof doors, either by pulling up the himation orwearing a veil.Their hair is worn long, andoften dyed. Girls like to style theirs in aflowing manner or in ringlets, but marriedwomen usually wear their hair up, secured inplace by ribbons, pins, headbands, or scarves.

Bracelets, rings, earrings, necklaces and

cosmetics give more adornment. Eyes aredarkened with mascara, the skin paled withlead powder and cheeks rouged. Creams andbeauty lotions are popular.

However, the modest matron wearscosmetics with caution—an Atheniancomedy play observes:“If you go out insummer, two streaks of black run from youreyes; perspiration makes a red furrow fromyour cheeks to your neck; and when yourhair touches your face it is blanched withwhite lead.”

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A young womaninspects her hair in apolished bronze mirror,while a servant girlholds open a case witha necklace for hermistress. Beside herstands a thymiaterion,or incense burner, andon the low table aresmall pyxides, in whichthe cosmetics are kept.

Archaic Period Classic Period Hellenistic Period

While women take abath at home, the menuse the baths at thegymnasium.

Greek pottery is intended for everydayuse, but as well as being functional it is

usually beautifully decorated with paintings.These depict mythological scenes, famousheroes and their deeds, sporting events, andscenes of everyday life.

Skilled Greek potters are found in a city’skerameikos, or the pottery quarter.Theirworkshops are usually quite small, employingonly five or six men. Here, they make largestorage jars, cooking pots, lamps, roof tiles,and beautiful domestic ware such as vases,plates, bowls, jugs, wine cups, and kraters formixing wine and water.

The more decorative pots are made bytwo people—the potter and the artist whopaints it.

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Crafts and Trades—PotteryThere may be few tailors about, but the Greeks have manyother jobs to occupy them. The most widespread is thecraft of pottery, which the Greeks have raised to a high art form.

A wealthy foreigner, ametic, shops for a gift inthe display area of thisAthenian pottery. Therear of the house is ahive of activity:

1. Most pots are madeon a wheel, with anapprentice turning thewheel for the potter.

2. Large, complex potsare made in separatepieces and joinedtogether. Handles areshaped by hand andjoined on with wet slipclay later.

3. Once the finished pothas dried out, an artistdecorates it.

An amphora is a two-handledstorage jar for wine, oil, andfree-flowing commodities,such as grain.

A hydria is a jar for fetchingwater from public fountains.It has three handles; twoshort ones on the side forlifting, and a third—herefacing directly out of thepicture—for pouring. Calyx krater

1

The Athenians use two types of potterydecoration.The first, black-figure ware,fashionable from about 550–480 BCE, andthen red-figure ware, developed after 530BCE.The red-figure technique is moresophisticated but harder to paint. In bothtechniques the artist paints what will beblack in the finished pot, so on a red-figured pot the details are created by notpainting them, that is painting aroundthem making a drawing in reverse.

The areas that will be black are paintedwith a mixture of clay, water and wood ash.Small details can be scratched in this “slip”to let the red show through.At a certainpoint in the firing process, the kiln’s ventsare shut.This cuts off the oxygen supplyand causes a chemical reaction that turnsthe whole pot black.When the temperaturedrops and the vents are reopened, the areaspainted black stay black, but the rest of thepot turns a clear red color.

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Making black and red figure ware

A krater is a large vase formixing wine with waterbefore serving. The oneabove is a volute krater.

From a krater, diluted wineis transferred into a jugcalled an oinochoe, above,ready to be poured intowine cups.

Black-figured decoration The same image as red-figured decoration

Drinking cups have big handles to make them easy to hold by people lying on couches. These three shapes are the most popular.Skyphos

Kylix

Kantharos

2

3

The decoratedpots are fired

(baked) ina beehive-

shaped kiln. Ithas three

openings: aloading door, a top

air vent, and afurnace opening in

which wood orcharcoal is burned to

heat the kiln.

Statues are used to decorate temples andpeople’s homes, to commemorate famous

men legendary and real, and to mark graves.Five materials are used for sculpting—clay,terracotta (which means “baked earth”),wood, bronze, and stone (usually limestoneor marble).

The mountainous nature of Greece meansthat there is plenty of stone available, but it isdifficult to transport from the quarries to thesculptors’ workshops in the cities. Largeblocks are usually cut in the quarry to therough shape of the statue, to reduce its sizeand weight.The detailed carving is thendone in a workshop.

A finished statue is painted in lifelikecolors, and sometimes colored glass, stone, orivory is inlaid for the eyes. Details such asgarlands, crowns, weapons, or horse tackle aremade of hammered or cast bronze and fittedonto the stone.

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Crafts and Trades—SculptureThe visitor to ancient Greece cannot help but notice how many statues greet the eye at every turn. These sculptures depict many different subjects, but most importantly the human form.

Reconstruction of the giant statue of Athena in theParthenon, created by Phidias. Given the scale, it isamazing to think it was made from ivory and gold.

Below: In a busy studio,ready sculptures arepainted. The finishedwork of the sculptor inthe foreground may be seen on page 74.

Wood, bronze, and terracottaWooden statues and carvings are suitable fordecorating a home, but because the woodsoon decays, it is not a popular material forexterior use. Bronze statues are made inthree different ways (see page 60 ).

Terracotta is not suitable for large pieces,and is mostly used for small figurines andplaques for temples and homes. Perhapsbecause of the material’s humble nature, themost popular figurines depict scenes ofeveryday life—barbers at work, a butchercutting meat, scenes in the home, and so on.

Small versions ofAthena made in clay arepopular souvenirs withvisitors to Athens.

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Early Greek sculptorscopied Egyptian posesfor statues of youngmen, called kouroi.As they became morelifelike, there was aninterest in the nudefemale form as well.

A superbly realisticracing horse of bronze.

Clay toysAlthough making figurines from clay is apart of the potters’ art, there are potterswho specialise in this craft and rarely makepots. Clay statuettes are both handmade andturned out in quantity from baked claymolds.The variety is astonishing. Figures ofhorses—with and without riders—and dogsare popular. Dolls, models of boats andarticles of food, miniature pots, householdfurniture, even tiny roof tiles and mirrorsmay be found on the modeler’s well-stacked shelves, ready for sale to a dotingparent to delight his children.

Plaques in relief portraying deities,priestesses, and warriors are mass-producedfor votive offerings at temples, especiallythose of Asclepius, the god of healing (seepage 86 ).

The picture below,based on a Corinthianfactory, shows themodel-maker pressingclay into a mold. Amold for a doll’s torsoand finished examplescan be seen besidehis hands. Anarrangement ofpainted figurinesstands on the table tothe left. A boy carriesa tray of finishedfigurines to thestorage shelves undertheir protective roof.

BronzeCopper arrives from Cyprus and the easternMediterranean, and tin from the mines ofSpain, Brittany, and even far away Cornwallin England.When the two are smeltedtogether, the bronze alloy is the result.

Bronze is used for many everyday itemssuch as kitchen utensils and ladies’ mirrors.It is also a popular medium for statues. Earlystatues were made from sheets of bronzehammered over a wooden frame; later, smallstatues were made fromsolid metal cast in molds.

The “lost-wax”casting method is usedfor small statues andespecially for large oneswhere the final weightof the finished productis greatly reduced bybeing hollow, such as the4th-century bronze horseseen on the previous page.

In this, a rough shape ismade in clay. Bronze pins areinserted and a detailed waxmodel is built around the claycore.The wax model is thencovered by an outer clay mold.Next, the clay molds are fired in akiln and the heat melts away thewax model, leaving a perfectimpression of its shape on the insideof the outer mold (the inserted bronzepins keep the central core in place asthe wax melts).

Next, molten bronze is poured inbetween the outer mold and the inner core,and when it has cooled, the outer clay moldis cracked away to reveal the finished bronzefigure.The inner clay core is broken andremoved through a small hole in the statue’sbase. Bronze is also used to make militaryarmor (see pages 78–79 ), but for weaponssuch as swords and spearheads, iron is amuch tougher metal.

IronIron is more useful than bronze when itcomes to edged tools and weapons, as it canbe made harder and sharper. It was first usedin Greece in about 1050 BCE, but since thenmanufacturing techniques have improved. Iniron-making, the furnace needs to be a muchhigher temperature than for bronze.

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Crafts and Trades—MetalworkersThe craftsmen who work in metals have their quarter near the temple of theirpatron god, Hephaestus. Here, the air rings with the clamor of hammering andsmelting from the numerous small and large workshops.

The bronze“Vix krater”

(named after theFrench town where it

was discovered) ishuge. At 5.4 feet high, itweighs 458 pounds,and holds an amazing317 gallons of wine—enough for more than20 symposiums!

Making statues byhammering bronze overwood.

Gold and silverPrecious metals are used to make jewelry,luxury goods, and coins. Some statues aremade of ivory and gold, such as the statue ofAthena in the Parthenon illustrated on page58.The most widespread use of silver is inminting coins (see page 66 ).

Silver is mined at Laurion, near Athens,and the city owns the workings, which areleased out to private contractors.Theconditions are dreadful, with miners workingshifts of up to ten hours.The philosopherAristotle defines slaves as “possessions thatbreathe, tools that happen to be alive,” andthe unluckiest slaves in Greece are thoseforced to mine for silver at Laurion (below ).

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Down the mine1. Ventilation shaft

2. Vertical accessshafts less than 6ftwide lead down into themine. The miners usewooden ladders.

3. Ore is hauled up tothe surface in a basketsuspended from a roller.

4. Rock pillars are leftto support the roof.

5. Oil lamps provideillumination.

6. Miners use chiselsand hammers.

Right: A gold chestmade to hold thefunerary ashes of KingPhilip II of Macedon,father of Alexander theGreat.

Above: Smelting iron.

Left: A gold thumb ringwith scenes of a fertilityrite.

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34 5 6

The mine is 300ft beneath the surface.

Most furniture in a Greek home is madefrom wood, and its style varies little

between the poor and the wealthy—richpeople just have more ornate and highlydecorated furniture.The finest pieces areintricately carved, and probably have inlaysof ivory, gold, and silver. Items such aslampstands are made of bronze, with potterylamps on top.

The architect’s skillDomestic architecture is of little interest tothe Greeks and private houses are relativelysimple affairs of mud brick. Instead, theGreeks devote themselves to publicbuildings.These provide a focus for bothcivic pride and religious feelings—and themore there are, the greater the city’s status.A description of architectural styles and theseparate elements of a Greek temple may befound on pages 24–25.

However, the construction of these publicmonuments owes a great deal to theengineering skills of carpenters, who mustbuild the scaffolding and erect the liftingengines.And when the building is almostcomplete, they are called on to provide theroof frame and ceilings, which are usuallymade of wood.

A public building essentially consists ofstone blocks and stone columns. Limestoneand marble are the normal materials, butsofter sandstone is also used in the westerncolonies.The roughly hewn blocks arrivefrom the quarry, and are shaped on theground by masons using hammers and chisels.

Columns are made of cylindrical pieces ofstone, called drums.The fluting grooves arestarted while each drum is still on theground and only finished when an entirecolumn (of normally 11 drums) is in place.

Ropes and pulleys are used to haul theheavy stone blocks to the building height.They are then maneuvered into place withlevers. Each block has a pre-made groove cutinto its ends so it can be joined to the nextblock by means of a piece of metal called acramp. It is joined to the cramps above andbelow it with metal rods called dowels.

Column drums are also lifted by a block-and-tackle pulley system.When the drum isbeing prepared on the ground, the masonleaves four spurs sticking out, and ropes arepassed around these for lifting. Once inplace, the stone spurs are knocked off.

When the blocks and drums are in place,apprentice masons go around and polish theirsurfaces with a hard stone and a lubricant.

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Crafts and Trades—Carpentry and ArchitectureCarpenters are divided into two trades—domestic and structural, the first making furniture, the second a vital part of the architect’s craft.

SeatingThe commonest seat isa stool, with either fixedor folding legs and aleather or woven clothseat.

Couches and bedsBeds and the diningcouches calledanaklintra are similar indesign. Leather strips orwoven cords are

The klismos is a chairwith a back, popularwith ladies.

The head of the familysits on a thronos, alarge chair with a backand arms. The back ispadded, as is thecomfortable seat.

StorageWood is used for avariety of chests andsmaller boxes to holdpersonal items rangingfrom jewelry to clothesand bed linen.

TablesTables come in severalshapes and sizes, butthey are usually low sothat they can be pushedunder couches whennot in use. Most tableshave three legs or acentral pedestalsupport.

strung across thewooden bed frame. Amattress and cushionsare placed on top, and

beds have a cover.

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Building a templeTwo workmen at theright lower the finaldrum of a column intoposition. The lowerdrum has a block ofwood set in its center toaid in alignment. Thecolumns are set up withonly rough fluting,which is finishedafterward to ensureprecision jointing. Thelifting spurs will beknocked off once thedrum is firmly in place.In the foreground, otherworkers maneuver ablock into position,while a third gives theblocks a fine finish. Themetal I-shaped crampssecuring theunmortared blocks areclearly visible.

Altars stood in the openair, usually in front of atemple, for purposes ofpublic worship andsacrifice. Most weresimple stone slabs, butcould be as ornate asthe one above.

Common types ofpublic building

Above: Treasuries are smalltemple-like buildings atsanctuaries used for storingvaluable offerings, such as warbooty in honor of a god.

A tholos is a roundbuilding or temple witha conical roof. In Athensthe prytani meet in theTholos (see page 71 ).

A stoa, or porch, is abuilding forming awalkway on one or twofloors, with opencolonnades at the front,often used for shops oroffices.

Right: Votive statues are erectedto honor famous events orheroes.

A propylaea, or propylon, is an elaborategateway to a religious sanctuary, such asthe one on the Acropolis of Athens.

At the heart of every Greek city is theagora. It is the center of a city’s

commercial life, and a social focus wherepeople gather to meet friends.The finestagora in all Greece is found in Athens, whichwas once the place where an ancient racetrack existed for the annual religious games.

Gradually, it developed into a market, andfrom there to the political hub of the city.

Farmers from the surrounding region stillcome to the central open space, erect theirstalls, and sell meat, poultry, fish, vegetables,cheese, fruit, and eggs.Around the edgescraftsmen have their numerous workshops,while here and there knots of men lookingfor work gather in spots where employers areknown to hire for particular trades.

The political hubTo the east and south are the great stoas, orporches, colonnaded arcades that offerwelcome shade and also provide space forsmall shops and business offices.The shopsare open rooms with a counter across thefront, and since they cost more to rent than amarket stall, they tend to sell luxury goods.

On the western side of the agora sit thevarious government buildings that house theBoule (see below and page 71 ) and theStrategion.This is the center of the Athenianmilitary command. In times of war, the Bouleappoints a supreme commander—thestrategos—who is responsible for the navy andthe army. In other times, there were anumber of strategoi, who acted as generals.

Together with altars and temples, you havein one place the essence of a Greek city.

64

OldBouleuterion

temple of Apollo

stoa of Zeus

Archaic Period building

temple ofHephaestus

ColonosAgoraeos

(Agora Hill)metalworkers

quarter

Areopagus

Archaic Period building

royal stoa

Npainted stoa

shops

Eschara

altar of theOlympian gods

The Agora of Athens

ArchaicPeriod

racetrack

NewBouleuterion

A

B

B

C

seats

Tholos

prison

triangular shrine

southwest fountain house

SE fountainhousesix houses of the

Classic Period

old southstoa

newsouthstoa

east building

stoa of Attalus(built over earlier houses and shops)

southsquare

middle stoa

Hellaea

mintshoemaker’sshop

Strategion(army HQ)

old lawcourt

squareperistyle

shops

PanathenaicWay

to Dipylon Gate

PanathenaicWay

toAcropolis

buildings c.500 BCE

buildings c.380 BCE

buildings c.200 BCE

A Athens is governedby an assembly of 500elected members—called the Boule—whomeet in the New andOld Bouleuterion.A “steering committee”of 50 selected Boulemembers, called theprytani, meets in thecircular Tholos, whichalso houses the officialweights and standardmeasures.

B The old law court(top right) fell intodisuse early on andcases are heard in theHellaea, which isincorporated in the newsouth stoa.

C The ancient racetrack has disappearedunder the agora’scenter, which is filledwith market stalls andsmall stores.

CHAPTER 4

Heart of the Polis—the AgoraThe Greek agora, or marketplace, is a natural place forexchanging gossip, debating matters of state, and for publicdiscussion. It is the center of trade and of politics, where thegovernment meets and from where wars are conducted.

Peace and War

Key to a city’s commercial heart

0 100 200 ft

0 50 100 m

Dipylon Gate

Sacred Gate

Piraeus Gate royal stoastoa of Zeus

temple of Hephaestus

Old BouleuterionTholos

Strategion

Hellaea

New Bouleuterion

Parthenon

odeon of Herodes Atticus(Roman Period)

Pnyx

theater ofDionysus

Olympeion

Temple of Zeus

Lyceum

Cynosarges

south stoaA G O R A

A R E O PAG U SA C R O P O L I S

painted stoa

PanathenaicProcessions begin atthe Dipylon Gate

route ofPanathenaicProcession

to Academyof Plato

A

A

A

B

C

C B

Sacred Wayto Eleusissanctuary

ceramicus(cemetery)

old law court

DEME OFSCAMBONIDAE

DEME OF CYDATHENAEON

DEME OF COLLYTUSDEME OF

KOILE

DEME OF

MELITE

mint

A Plato’s Academy, theLyceum, and theCynosarges are thethree great gymnasia ofsuburban Athens.

Athens, mid-4th to mid-5th centuries

B An arena for meetings of the Assembly,built in 404 BCE.

C Literally “Hill ofAres.” The god of warwas tried here formurder—now it is thecourt for tryinghomicides and otherserious crimes.

Below:Reconstruction of Athens at its peak duringthe Roman era.

The first coins arrived a long time ago atthe end of the 7th century BCE from a

small state called Lydia, in Asia Minor.Withtheir capital at Sardis, the Lydians tradedwith the Greeks of the Ionian coast, andfrom there the use of coins spread to all ofGreece and its colonies.

Early coins made of electrum—a naturallyoccurring alloy of gold and silver—may still

be found in circulation in backward places,but most coins are made of gold or silver,which guarantees the purity of each coin.

It is a matter of pride for a Greek city-state to mint its own coins, which is a sign ofits independence.The only exception to thisused to be Sparta, which continued to useiron rods instead of coins until the 4thcentury BCE.

66


Money Makes Trade EasierNeither Mesopotamians nor Egyptians used coins for trade,but the Greeks do. While a barter system still operates inpoorer rural regions, coinage is the currency of the agora.

The first Greek coins were stamped from lumps ofelectrum with the symbol of the issuing polis to show thattheir weight and purity were guaranteed by the state.

After 480 BCE, the human face and intricate scenes beganto appear, due to better minting techniques.

In 600–480 BCE animals most commonly appeared oncoins, usually the symbol of the issuing polis orassociated with the city’s main religious cult.

In the Hellenistic Period, coin quality improved andheads of rulers began to appear.

Coin from Aegina, c.560BCE. The sea turtle isassociated with the cultof Hera. It has a simplestamp on the back.

Silver coin fromSyracuse, 413 BCE,showing a charioton the front andthe head of thenymph Arethusaand dolphins, thecity’s symbols.

Left: Gold stater ofPhilip II of Macedon,359–36 BCE. Right:silver coin showingAlexander the Great,334 BCE.

A silver tetradrachm from Eretria,c.525 BCE. Eretria was one of the firstGreek mints to strike coins in silverrather than electrum. This face is thereverse, which depicts a squid.

Obverse (front) Reverse (back)

Obverse (front) Reverse (back)

Greek coins

The city-state ensures people shopping inthe agora are not cheated by its traders.AtAthens, the official standard weights andmeasures are kept in the Tholos, the circularbuilding next to the Bouleuterion. Fromhere, the various officials take their weightsand measuring jars into the agora to checkagainst those being used by traders.

Ten metronomoi are chosen annually tocheck the weights and measures.Their

colleagues, the agoranomoi, check the qualityof goods on sale, and the sitophylakes look

after the grain trade.Thegrain trade is so vital to theeconomy—since Athens hasto import two-thirds of whatit needs from the Greekcolonies—that it is a capitaloffense to be caughtexporting any grain.

Above: A standardmeasure jar and, right,a typical trader’s stoneweight.

Standardizing weights and measures

The insistence of cities to issue their owncoinage means that merchants who want totrade with another city have to go to amoney changer before any business can bedone.They earn their keep by charging a feefor exchanging one currency for another.

In the agora of every city, money-changers—called trapezitae, or “table men”—can be found at their distinctive tablestouting for business. Competition is steep,with each attempting to offer better rates ofexchange than their neighbors. Despite this,trapezitae do very well, and some havebecome so rich that they can afford to lendmoney to merchants and citizens.

In Athens, privately owned trapezae, or

banks, have become an essential part of long-distance trade.To feed its citizens the cityrequires hundreds of ship cargoes.Almost allof these cargoes are dependent on loans.

Because the trapezae have arrangementswith fellow bankers in distant ports, amerchant can travel with a trusted guaranteefrom his own bank to pay the seller’s bank atthe other end, in return for paying intereston his loan. In this way he avoids thedangers and inconvenience of transportinglarge and heavy amounts of cash with him.

The innovation of banking hasrevolutionized trade, and made Athens andits port of Piraeus the most importantmercantile centers in the Mediterranean.

67

Money exchange and bankingThe business ofchanging money isusually done by Metics,or foreign residents.They are happy that thefiercely independentGreek city-states allissue their own coinagebecause the money-changers make a profiton every transaction.

There are many safe harbors along theGreek coasts, and most merchant-

captains are happy to take fees for carryingpassengers. Sea travel has its risks, however.Storms are common—and so are shipwrecks.Ships can be stranded from lack of wind ordriven off course. Pirates are a plague; andunscrupulous captains have been known torob their passengers once they have put outto sea.

The sensible sea-voyager lines up at thealtar near the harbor to make a sacrifice toPoseidon to ensure a successful trip.

The merchant shipFew merchant ships have much of asuperstructure, so there is noaccommodation, although the captain mightfit out a small cabin for himself on a largervessel. Merchant ships are not large, so theyrarely sail during bad weather. Shipping hugsthe shores to be close to land should a stormarise, and to put in at night, with the crewand any passengers sleeping on the beach.

Metics and slavesForeigners living and working in Greekcities (which includes Greeks from othercity-states) are called Metics.They form anessential part of the state—Athens alone has25,000 Metics.The majority are merchants—few Athenians enter into mercantile tradethemselves—who manage the shipping andimport businesses that make Athens rich.Metics also include artisans, physicians,philosophers, teachers, and leading artists.

However, although Metics as non-citizensare not allowed to own property or land, andmay not vote, they pay taxes and can becalled up for military service in times of need.

Slaves come below Metics, but they alsoform a vital part of the economic and socialstructure.There may be as many as 100,000slaves in Athens and Attica—roughly half ofthe entire population. Elsewhere, slaves arenot so numerous.

The trade in slaves is a busy one. Slavescome from all over the known world, butparticularly from around the shores of theBlack Sea,Thrace, the Middle East, and alongthe coast of Asia Minor.

Most slaves are well treated and have somerights under Athenian law.They may evenhave an income, and their ranks includehighly skilled craftsmen. However, slavesemployed in the silver mines of Laurionwork in terrible conditions where their lifeexpectancy is very short.

68


Merchant Shipping and TravelThe mountainous nature of mainland Greece, its far-flung colonies andisland territories, and the almost perpetual war between the Greekstates, makes sea travel the most practical way of getting about.

the mast comes fromThrace, Macedonia, orPhoenicia (Lebanon).

Large amphorae arecarefully designed toallow for tight stackingin multiple layers. At itsdestination, theamphora can be stoodupright in loose sand.

A merchant shipequipped withoars as well asa sail is calleda kerkouros. Itusually has aram at the prow(front) to fightpirate ships.

Timber for ship-buildingis scarce in most ofGreece, so the pine forthe hull structure andthe flexible spruce for

Land travelThe good roads in Greece usually onlyconnect a city with the neighboringreligious centers, such as Athens and Eleusis.The rest are in poor condition, most barelymore than tracks, and there are hardly anybridges spanning rivers, which means landtravel is hard.Taking into account thecontinual wars between states and thebrigands who control the lonelier areas, andoverland journeys are also dangerous.

Oxen-drawn carts are used overshort distances, and usually near amajor town where the roadsurface might be reasonable.Longer distances requiredonkeys or mules, accustomedto carrying heavy weightsover poor and hilly terrain.

For most travelers ajourney means going on foot,in groups to deter bandit attacks,or well armed if alone. Major routesoffer some inns for overnightaccommodation, but they provide only abed, not meals, which means travelers mustcarry food supplies in addition to any otherbaggage.Travelers may arrange to stay withrelatives along their route, and in towns theycan sleep under the colonnades of publicbuildings.

69

CHAPTER 4: PEACE AND WAR

The diolkos of CorinthAlthough the isthmus of Corinth is narrow,the height of the rocky land makes itimpossible to dig a canal. Instead, the cleverCorinthians have constructed a diolkos—apaved slipway—connecting the SaronicGulf to the Gulf of Corinth.This cuts over185 nautical miles off a ship’s journeybetween the Aegean and Adriatic Seas.

Ships are borne by slaves across theisthmus on a wheeled vehicle called anolkos.The diolkos itself is a 10-foot widepavement of limestone blocks.

A section of the diolkos,showing the pavementheavily grooved by thewheels of the ship-bearingolkos.

Flax or hempropes are tiedto the squaresail’s cleats(deck fittings).

Cargo isstored belowthe covereddeck.

Ships aresteered by two

rudders at thestern (back).

AegeanSea

SaronicGulf

Gulf ofCorinth

the long route

IonianSea Peloponnese

Corinth

theshortroute

to Adriatic Seadiolkos

Athens

Thanks to the political reforms of thestatesman Cleisthenes (c.570–c.508 BCE),

Athenians enjoy democracy and have theright to vote on administrative matters andto run for election to public office. However,only registered citizens of the polis enjoy thisright—all other social groups, such aswomen, Metics, and slaves, are excluded.A citizen must belong to a local communityof Attica and be registered with his tribe.

The local organization of AtticaBased on the reorganization of Cleisthenes,Attica (Athens and the surrounding area), isdivided into 170 demes (local communities),each with its own demarchos (mayor) andlocal government.All eligible voters arelisted according to their deme, even if theymove to another part of the state.

According to ancient custom, each manalso belongs to a phyle, or tribe. In Attica

there are ten phylae, each named for alegendary hero of Attica’s history.

The phylae are political

70


Democracy, Greek StyleThe city-state, or polis of Athens has evolved the most sophisticated form ofgovernment anywhere in the known world—demos-kratos, or people-power—andall other Greek states except Sparta would like to imitate it.

ATHENS

ATHENS

Alopeke

Euonymon

Anagyrous

The 170 demes of Attica in their 10 phylae ortribes (numbered on the map and below)

1 Erectheis 6 Oineis

2 Aigeis 7 Cecropis

3 Pandionis 8 Hippothontis

4 Leontis 9 Aiantis

5 Akamantis 10 Antiochis

geographic divisions (trittyes)city

coast

plain

deme (only the larger are shown)

vassal territory of Athens

1 ScambonidaeMelite 7

Koile 8

3 Cydathenaeon

2 Collytus

Thorae

Anaphystos

Phrearrhioi

Thoricus

Cephale

Prospatta

Myrrhinous

Philaidae

Probalinthos

Thria

Cothocidae

The political divisions of Attica:demes, phylai, and trittyes

8

8

8

6 4

4

4

10

10

10

99

10

6

7

7

7

1

1

1

9

5

22

3

3

3

2

5

5

6

Oinoe

Rhamnous

Demes

CityTrittyes

CoastTrittyes

The Phylae

PlainTrittyes

Phyle 1

Phyle 2

Phyle 3

Phyle 4

Phyle 5

Phyle 6

Phyle 7

Phyle 8

Phyle 9

Phyle 10

Three geographicdivisions of 10

Trittyes each

Decelaea

Marathon

Halae Arapherides

Erchia

Athmonon

Paionidae

O r o p u s

M e g a r a

B o e o t i a

S a l a m i s

Cropidae Cephisia

CatoPaiania

Sphettos

Sounion

Phaleron

XypetePiraeus

Eleusis

Elaious

Halimous

Phyle

Aixone

Teithras

Ikarion

Aphidna

Hecale

Acharnae

Pallene

HagnousCatoLamptrai

Cholargos

PerithoidaeColonus

0 10 mi

0 10 km

AT

T

I

C

A

A member of theBoule has a hardtime persuading theekklesia of a newlaw’s benefits.In the foreground,latecomers’ tunicsare marked by reddye from the ropesthat slaves use toround them up—absence is nottolerated.

units, since each phyle is given demes inapproximately equal proportion.This createsten political blocks, each containingapproximately 17 local demes.

The demes within each tribe are furtherdivided into trittyes (thirds), based on threegeographical groupings: City, Coast, or Plain(inland Attica).The result of this elegantdivision is that each deme contains a cross-section of the people, both urban and rural.

Because the phylae are scattered acrossAttica, they have to cooperate with theirfellow phylae in different locations tosafeguard their collective tribal interests.The system is complicated, but the map onthe left helps to explain how it works.

The Council Each phyle elects 50 men (a political

block known as a prytani) to serve onthe 500-strong Boule (Council).Toensure fairness between the tribes, every36 days one prytani is selected on a tribalbasis to take responsibility for the day-to-day running of the state.The prytani onduty sits in the Bouleuterion in theAthenian agora and the men take theirmeals at the state’s expense in the Tholos,which they must keep manned day andnight to deal with any emergencies.

The primary function of the boule is todraw up new laws and policies to put to theAssembly of the people.

The AssemblyEvery citizen has the right to speak and tovote at the ekklesia, or Assembly, which meetsabout once every ten days on a hill called thePnyx (see also the map on page 65 ).The ekklesiadebates proposals put forward by the council,and decisions such as the allocation of publicmoney, declaration of war, or the forming ofan alliance are decided by the vote.

Of course, not every one of the 40,000citizens in Attica can get to the Pnyx everytime there is a vote, and the usual numberpresent is more like the minimum 6000necessary for a vote to take place. If too fewpeople attend, slaves in the state’s pay are sentout in groups holding ropes dipped in redpaint to round up latecomers and shirkers.Anyone found with red paint on his clothesis shamed and fined.

71


Government inSpartaThe Spartangovernmentincludes amonarchy—unlike otherstates, which haveno king—acouncil of elders,and a popularassembly. Spartahas two royalfamilies and twokings, who ruletogether. Kingsare responsible forleading the armyin war; at home,their powers arelimited toreligious duties.

The gerousia(council) is madeup of the twokings and 20councillors, menover the age of 60who are electedfor life by theapella, or Assembly.The apella consistsof all citizens overthe age of 30.Unlike theAthenian Ekklesia,the Apella cannotdebate or amend ameasuresubmitted by thegerousia, only vote“yes” or “no.”

The archonsNine officials or ministers called archons areselected annually by lot from among thecitizens to prepare legal cases for trial in theekklesia and organize religious ceremonies.Three archons are more important than theothers and have special duties.

The Polemarch Archon is charged to dealwith the legal affairs of Metics. He is also incharge of games and offerings in honor ofmen killed in battle.

The Eponymous Archon chooses the menwho are to finance the choral and dramacontests of the Dionysian festival (see pages90–91 ). He also handles lawsuits involvinginheritance.

The most senior, the Basileus Archon,presides over the court specially set up to trymurder cases, which hears cases on theAreopagus hill. He also arranges religioussacrifices, rents out temple lands, andsupervises the Dionysia.

72


A Democrat’s DutiesThe freedom to vote on the state’s direction and policies brings additionalresponsibilities. It is every citizen’s duty to take an active part in how thegovernment and legal system operates.

The three mostimportant of the ninearchons of Athens,clockwise from the topleft: Basileus,Eponymous, andPolemarch.

The great strategos andgifted politician Pericles,who used the DelianLeague’s fighting fundsto beautify Athens.

Below: The strategosThemistocles leads theAthenian army againstthe Persian invaders.

The strategoiThe highest-ranking state officials are the tenstrategoi, or generals, one representing eachphyle, elected by the citizens. Holding officefor a year—though he can be re-electedmany times—a strategos wields immensepower over both the army and the economy,implements decisions voted on by the Bouleabroad and at home, and acts as anambassador to other Greek states and foreigncountries.A strategos answers to the Assemblyfor his actions and for the money he spends.

The power of PericlesThe most famous strategos is Pericles, leaderof Athens in the mid-5th century. He tookpower after the Persian Wars and forged analliance of friendly cities into an Athenianempire.This was known as the DelianLeague because its treasury was initially kepton the island of Delos. But Periclescontrived to have it moved toAthens, where it is kept inthe Parthenon—one ofthe many fine buildingsPericles had built withthe league’s money.

73


Left: Jurors give theirverdict by handing in adisk with a solid centerfor innocent or a hollowcenter for guilty.

Themistocles wasostracized when he fellout of favor withpowerful politicians. Theostrakon pictured hereis one that a citizenhanded in as his vote to

exile the strategos.

The lawIt is every citizen’s duty to participate in therunning of the legal system, and theyexercise great power through the law courts.Strategoi who lose battles can be brought totrial to account for their failures. Pettylitigation is widespread, especially overproperty and inheritances.

All citizens over the age of 30 areexpected to volunteer for jury service.Asmall payment is made by the state to makeup for lost earnings and to ensure that evenpoorer citizens may take part.There are noattorneys or judges, but a presiding archonsees that a case is properly tried, whileoffering no opinion on the matter.

A minimum of 201 jurors is required at atrial, selected from the volunteers using akleroteria machine. Each side is then allowedequal time to present its case.This ismeasured against a water clock, and when aspeaker’s time has run out, he has to stopimmediately.

Each juror is given two bronze disks, onewith a solid center (innocent), the otherhollow in the middle (guilty).At the trial’send, the jurors hand the appropriate disk toan official and a simple majority decides theaccused’s fate.

Justice is administered by the city officials,and punishments include death, mutilation,imprisonment, house arrest, fining, and exile.

Pot punishment—ostracismExile is a common means of punishingcriminals and getting rid of unpopularfigures—usually politicians.A vote ofostracism is held once every year in theAssembly. Each citizen who attends scratchesthe name of the person he wants to seeexiled on a piece of broken pottery, called anostrakon.

A minimum of 6000 votes is required for aman to be banished, or “ostracized,” and theunlucky citizen has to leave Athens within ten

days and remain in exilefor ten years.

A kleroteria machinestands outside everycourt, which is used toselect jurors. Atheniancitizens place bronzeidentification ticketscalled pinakia in theslots. Black and whiteballs dropped randomlyinto a tube at the sidedetermine which row ofcitizens will serve on ajury for the day.

The Greek passion for athleticism isrooted in civic pride and the idea that

fitness is a civic responsibility. From the ageof 12, every son of a citizen is expected tobecome proficient in all manner of athleticsports, training with his gymnasium (see pages49–51 ). Soldiers (or future soldiers) need tobe in prime physical condition to fight fortheir polis.The sporting arenas and gymnasiaare an alternative to the barracks square, and

the emphasis on physical trainingensures that the majority of

young males will be fitenough to fight.

74


Athletics—Training for WarAthletics have a religious significance to the Greeks, but since every citizenmust be ready to take up arms for his city when called, maintaining a regimeof physical exercise is a duty as well as a pleasure.

Foot racesBeing swift of foot is essential for any soldier,whether in charging an enemy or fleeing tofight another day. For this reason, running isthe oldest sporting event.Youths train forthree main races based on the length of thestandard Greek stadion (stadium), which isabout 600 feet long.The stade is one length,the diaulos two lengths, and the mammothdolichos 20–24 lengths.

Skill contestsThrowing the discus and javelin form part ofthe standard pentathlon competition andrarely feature as standalone events. Javelinsare equipped with a thong wound around

the shaft.This gives the missile a rotarymotion that makes it fly a greaterdistance.There are two kinds ofjavelin event: throwing for distanceand throwing at a target from

horseback.The long jump is anotherpart of the pentathlon.To extend the lengthof the jump the competitor carries a weightin each hand which he swings while runningalong the ramp.The weights are released justbefore landing.

PentathlonThis contest consists of five events: running,wrestling, the long jump, and discus- andjavelin-throwing. It is designed to find thebest all-around athlete, and requires greatstamina. One of Greece’s most famoussculptures is of a pentathlete throwing thediscus.

PankrationThis combination of boxing and wrestling isvery rough. It is not unusual for pankrationathletes to be seriously injured or evenkilled.The event involves a series of pairedfights that continue until one of the athletesconcedes.Almost anything is allowed exceptgouging the eyes and biting. Soldiers areusually the best at this sport.

The sculptor Myron’sDiscobolus is a superbimage of the Greekpentathlete.

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Equestrian eventsThe basic horse race is run over a distance ofabout three-quarters of a mile. Jockeys ridebareback and accidents are common.

Chariot races for teams of two or fourhorses with one rider consist of 12 laps.Asmany as 40 chariots take part, so excitingcollisions are frequent. Equestrian events areexclusive to the aristocratic and wealthybecause entrants must own their horses.

The winnersPrizes given in many festival games such asthe Panathenaic are financially rewarding.But in panhellenic events such as theOlympics athletes seek only the honor oftaking part and the glory of winning.Winners are presented with an olive wreath,palm branches, and woolen ribbons.

To add to their prestige in the games,some cities are happy to sponsor successfulsportsmen, and some athletes make a decentliving in this way.

Fact boxThe marathon is a modern race. It wasconceived for the 1896 Olympics in Athens,first Olympics of the modern era.The raceis said to commemorate the 26-mile runfrom Marathon to Athens made by amessenger in 490 BCE to inform the Boulethat the Athenian army had defeated thePersians at the battle of Marathon.

Wrestling and boxingThe object in wrestling is to throw theopponent so that his shoulder touches theground, while the adversary remains on hisfeet.The first man to fall three times loses.Tripping is allowed, but no punching. Boxersbind their hands with soft ox-hide thongs forprotection.A contest can go on for severalhours and ends when one boxer concedesdefeat or loses consciousness. In both eventsopponents are chosen at random, so athletesof different weights and sizes may find themselves matched.

Cheats never prosperCheating does sometimes occur.The firstrecorded Olympic cheat was Eupolus ofThessaly who, in 384 BC, tried to fix hisboxing bout by bribing the judges. Somecities bribe others’ athletes to throw a race ordiscus shot. If a city is caught the heavy fineis used to erect statues of Zeus along theroad leading to Olympia. Individual cheatshave their names inscribed on plaques at theathletes’ entrance to the stadium.

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International Peace—the Olympic GamesThe Greeks celebrate several panhellenic games, involving competitors from across the country and its colonies, but the most prestigious are those held in honor of Zeus every four years at Olympia.

Youths warm upfor a contestwith a game ofball, whileanother trainsusing weights,which are alsoused in jumpingcontests.

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In the year of the Olympic Games,messengers travel all over Greece and the

colonies, announcing the date of the gamesand inviting people to attend. In this sacredfestival, athletes perform for the gods as muchas for their city-state or themselves.Athleticprowess is venerated, and Olympian heroesare honored throughout the Greek world.

At the announcement all wars must stopto allow competitors and spectators to travelto Olympia and return home in safety.Andso for a few short weeks, the quarrelsomeGreek city-states bond into a united whole.

A mystical place of peaceOlympia, situated in the northwesternPeloponnese, is recognized as a non-politicalsanctuary. It sits in the sacred wood of Altis,beneath the Hill of Cronus, named after thefather of Zeus. It is a place of mystery, myth,religion, and legend—a fitting venue forsporting heroes.

Olympia is an impressive complex speciallybuilt for the games, at the heart of whichstands the great Temple of Zeus.

No women allowedThe athletes compete in the nude, as they doat the gymnasium, and for this reason nowomen may compete or even attend thegames. In fact, no woman may approachOlympia during the games (see “Otherpanhellenic games”).

Chariot racing is the only event a womanmay win if she owns a horse. She may notactually race or be present to watch herjockey take part. However, if her horse wins,she will eventually receive the prize.

The order of eventsReligious festivals and diplomatic gatheringsflank the central sporting events, so thecelebrations last for almost two weeks.

On the first day the opening ceremonyinvolves religious celebrations and sacrificesto the gods. On the second day the stadionrace is held, the most prestigious contest ofthe games.The stadion, surrounded by bankscapable of seating about 40,000 spectators,serves as the focal point for most of theOlympic events.

Over the next three days the pentathlon,wrestling, boxing, pankration, and equestrianevents are held, finishing with the dolichosrunning race.When the last event has beenheld, the prizes all awarded, the religiouscelebrations concluded, the brief moment ofbonding and unity is over, and it is time topick up the many wars where they left off.

Other panhellenic gamesThe Isthmian Games are held every twoyears in the isthmus of Corinth.Thelocation is symbolically important,representing the unity of thePeloponnesian Greeks with fellow Greeksto the north.The Pythian Games are heldin Delphi every four years and are thesecond-largest sporting event after theOlympics.

A separate festival for women, theHeraia, is held every four years in honorof the goddess Hera. It consists of threerunning events for girls of different agegroups.


The starting line forfoot-races in thestadion.

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1. Hill of Cronus.

2. Woods of Altis.

3. Prytaneion: housesthe sacred fire used tolight the fires on all thealtars at Olympia.

4. Temple of Hera.

5. Treasuries of theGreek colonies.

6. Gymnasium: trainingarea for running andthrowing events.

7. Palaestra and baths:training area for jumpingand wrestling events.

8. Thokoleon: seat ofthe Olympian priests.

9. Leonidaion: hotel forvisiting dignitaries.

10. Bouleuterion:meeting place of theOlympic officials.

11. Temple of Zeus:houses the god’sstatue. One of theSeven Wonders of theWorld, the statue ismade of ivory and gold,and stands over 43 feettall.

12. Stadium, where allathletic events are held.

13. Athletes’ tunnelentrance to the stadium(and cheats’ list).

14. Hippodrome, wherethe chariot races areheld.

15. River Alepheus(Alph).

good armor and weapons, and becameheavily armed foot soldiers, known ashoplites. By the 7th century BCE, hoplitesdominated the Greek army.

The call-upThe ephebos has finished his two years’military training; what can he expect as hiscity goes to war? At the call of his tribalstrategos (general), he collects his militaryequipment—which his slaves havemaintained in mint condition—and gatherswith others of his phyle (tribe) at anappointed place.The state has not suppliedhim with any equipment because it is hishonorable duty to provide all he needs toprotect his fields, home, and family.

A man’s wealth and social statusdetermines the quality of his armor andweapons.As a result, he now stands in rankwith fellow citizens whose armor type andquality varies considerably. Less wealthycitizens who cannot afford arms and armorare used as light infantrymen.Their functionis to harass the enemy, screen the hoplites, anddrive off other light troops.

When a youth reaches the age of 20, hismilitary training ends (see pages

50–51 ) and he is no longer an ephebos. Untilhe is 60 he will remain on the active servicelist, although men over 50 are sent into thereserves to be used in garrison duties.

Excepting Sparta, there are no professionalstanding armies.When a city goes to war, itscitizens are called to the ranks, bringing theirown equipment and provisions with them.

Development of the hopliteThe warlord and his retinue of aristocraticcavalrymen dominated armies before theArchaic Period, supported by a few poorlyarmed spearmen.While horses wereexpensive and only aristocrats could affordthem, so was bronze armor and iron forswords, which meant few men could affordto be in an army.

In the Archaic Period (800-500 BCE), thecity-states developed and armed militia wereraised to defend their polis.

With increased trade, the middle classesbegan to prosper.They could now afford

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The Hoplite Goes to WarThe blare of trumpets, the early sun glittering on iron spears and bronze shields,the chants of war cries—all familiar sights and sounds to the people of Greece. The city-states battle each other for the slightest reason.

1. A hoplite’s roundshield is about 3 feet indiameter, large enoughto protect his body fromneck to thigh. It is madeof bronze andtoughened leather. Itsouter surface is usuallypainted with theemblem of his city—aninverted V for Sparta, agorgon’s head (amongother designs) forAthens, and the club ofHercules for Thebes.

2. The hoplite wears alinen cuirass, made ofmany layers of materialglued together to form astiff shirt 1/4 of an inchthick. From the waistdown slits in the cuirassallow for easymovement, and asecond layer of stripsoverlaps the outer to fillthe vulnerable gaps.

3. Bronze leg guards,called greaves, protecthis knees and shins.

A hoplite’s equipment

Hoplite weapons are astraight, short ironsword (4) and asarise—a long woodenthrusting spear tippedwith an iron head, about9 feet in length (5).

6. His helmet is madeof bronze, usually fromone piece of metal.Styles vary dependingon the city, and theyhave changed over theyears (see panelopposite ).

Called to arms:Attended by his wifeand family, an Atheniancitizen hoplite preparesto go to war. He fastensa shoulder strap, whilehis eldest son proudlyholds his helmet andsword ready. Clutchingthe spear, grandfathervividly recalls similaroccasions in his ownpast, while the wifecontemplates futuredangers her sons willlikely face.

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Helmets

Thracian and Attic: The later Thracian (left) andAttic (right) helmets offer good visibility. The Atticstyle will be adopted by Roman legionaries.

Corinthian: An earlystyle that made itdifficult for the wearerto hear or see.

Illyrian: Made in twopieces joined at thecrown with twoprotective ridges alongeither side of theseam.

On the marchThe hoplite must also bring his own food.Typical rations include barleycorn, cheese,wine, and salted meat and fish. Servants orslaves accompany the army, carrying spareweapons and provisions for their masters, andcooking for them when fires are permitted.During a march, the hoplite straps his shieldto his back, and clothing, bedding, orprovisions can be tied to it, or hung from theend of his spear.

The Greeks march in long columns, withthe horse-drawn baggage in the middle. If anattack is anticipated, they form a square toprotect the baggage in the center.

Camps are established each night or whena battle seems imminent.These camps arerarely fortified, and troops sleep information, surrounding their supplies.Sentries are posted to warn of attack.

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The Spartan army is organized differentlyfrom other Greek forces.The soldier

lives with his comrades in barracks, not withhis wife or family.The army is comprised ofsix moroi (battalion-sized units).A mora,commanded by a polemarch, is sub-dividedinto four lochoi. Each lochos (company) of 144men is led by a lochagos, and under him fourentomarchs command units of 36 men, knownas enemotia.

The whole army is commanded by one ofthe Spartan kings.The first mora is the army’selite force and forms the king’s bodyguard.

Spartans march into battle accompaniedby helots (slaves), each carrying the armorand weapons of one soldier. Spartan soldiersare never expected to lose. If the unthinkableshould happen, they will die fighting ratherthan retreat or surrender.

Athenian army organizationThe Athenian army is formed by units fromeach of the ten tribes of Attica, which is whythe word for “regiment” is the same as“tribe”—phyle. Of the ten strategoi (generals),only one or two are sent out into the fieldwith each military expedition.

Sacrifices and religious services are acommon aspect of campaign life, and omensare interpreted to predict the outcome ofbattles. Before fighting a battle, the strategoimeet to discuss how and where to fight, andsacrifices of livestock are offered to the godsto ensure victory.

In most cases, the army forms into a singleline.The right wing of the line is the mostvulnerable to a flanking attack because thesoldiers at this end are partly unshielded (seebelow ). Since the enemy will be aware of thisweakness and attempt to exploit it, the mostexperienced units are posted on the right ofthe line.

The phalanxHoplites fight in a formation known as aphalanx, a block of soldiers of between eightand 12 ranks wide and more in depth.Themen are armed with the sarise (spear), whichturns a phalanx into a spiky battering ram.

When a soldier in the front line iskilled or injured, the man behind himtakes his place.The phalanx can alsoform into a formidable hollowsquare, defying any cavalry attack.

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The Army in BattleThe most formidable army is that of

Sparta. This polis is designed tosupport a permanent army, the

best fighting force in Greece.Yet in battle, the hoplites ofAthens are often thevictors.

A Spartan soldier andhis fallen Persianadversary. Spartanswear their hair long.

For the phalanx to beeffective, the men mustmove as a unit. Theyuse flute music to helpkeep in step. The manseen above playing theflute wears the Scythianapparel typical ofAthenian archers.

The cavalryAlthough hoplite foot soldiers form the bulkof the army, horsemen are useful as scoutsand to break up enemy phalanxes. Each ofthe ten Athenian tribes is responsible forsupplying one squadron of cavalry to a totalforce of a thousand men and horses.Thecavalry is led by two commanders, calledhipparchs, each in control of five squadrons.

When present, cavalry is either splitbetween the two flanks or kept together as amobile reserve and used to scatter enemycavalry or light infantry that threatens todisrupt the line.

Auxiliary soldiersPoor men who cannot afford the armor andweapons of a hoplite serve in lightly armedauxiliary units.They include archers, stoneslingers, and pilsoi—men armed with clubsand stone maces.

The peltastPeltasts are based on the principal troops ofthe Thracians, who found the combinationof fighting and skirmishing abilities suitedthe rugged terrain of their homeland.Thepeltast is a light infantryman but he is alsowell armed.

Peltasts dash out from cover and hurljavelins into a phalanx, and then retreat. If aphalanx gets broken up, the peltasts go in andpick off individual hoplites.To counter theirritation of peltasts, fit, young hoplites calledekdromoi (“runners-out”) run out of thephalanx to drive them off.

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On the charge, the firstfive ranks lower their 9-foot spearshorizontally, projecting alethal 6 feet ahead ofthe front rank.

Triremes measure between 120 and 135feet long, with a width of about 15 feet.

The addition of an outrigger framework tosupport the oars increases the width by 2.5feet on each side.They carry crews of up to200 men, of whom 170 are oarsmen.

The remainder consists of 12–15 sailors,who man the sails or the steering oars, asimilar number of marines (including aboutfour archers), a flautist, whose rhythmic toneshelp the rowers keep in time, and the ship’scommander, known as the trierarch.

The trierarch is usually a rich man, chosenby the state to pay for the running of theship for one year, which indicates what anhonor the role is for him.The same can besaid for the oarsmen, free men andprofessional sailors mostly recruited fromamong the poorer citizens. However, in thetime of war, even the elite are honored toman the oars of a Greek warship

Three tiers of rowersThe rowers each use a single 14-foot longoar, and they are arranged in three banks,one above the other. On each side of thetypical galley, 27 oarsmen known as thalamitesform the lowest of the three tiers.Theserowers place their oars through circularrowing ports.

The next tier of 27 oarsmen, zygites, sitabove and slightly further outboard of thethalamites.Above them a top tier of 31rowers, thranites, sit slightly outboard of thezygites, resting their oars on the outriggerframe.

Bulwarks (usually open at the upper level)protect the rowing benches, but above themthe deck is partially covered, providing abroad fighting platform for hoplites, javelinmen, and archers.A pair of helmsmen steerthe trireme with a large oar at each side,However, the length and shape of the hullmakes turning extremely slow, unless theoarsmen help in the maneuver by counter-steering on one side of the vessel.

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The NavyUnlike the landlocked states of inland Greece, Athens basesher power mainly on her navy. The fast fighting ship of thefleet is the trireme, maneuverable and deadly in battle.

Early Greek warshipsThe earliest—and smallest—type of long,low galley ship was the pentaconter (seenabove, passing a cargo ship) powered by 25 oarsmen on either side.The shipsdescribed by Homer in his Iliad andOdyssey are biremes, galleys rowed by ahundred oarsmen, in two banks of 25 oarsper side.Although fragile vessels, theywere fitted with a projecting bronze beakfor ramming enemy vessels. By the mid-6th century a third bank of rowers hadbeen added to the typical warship, creatingthe trireme. By the end of the century thetrireme had become the standard type ofwar galley in the eastern Mediterranean.

No sailing at nightIn ideal conditions, a trireme can travelunder oars at about 10mph, but speeds areusually lower, due to fatigue, barnacle-encrusted hulls, and bad weather.A singlecentral mast fitted with a simple square sailhelps the rowers during long voyages, butboth mast and sail are stowed before a battle

On long passages, the oarsmen work intwo or three watches, or work periods sothat they can get some rest.Triremes areunsafe in stormy weather, and there is noroom onboard for the crew to cook or sleep,so most ships hug the coast and find asheltered bay and beach for the night.

In battleTriremes use ramming tactics, rowing atspeed into the flank of an enemy vessel topierce its hull with a metal-tipped ram.When marines are carried, the trierach hasthe rare option to engage in boardingattacks. Otherwise, naval battles involvesearching for a weak point in an enemyformation, then attacking, ramming, andsinking the ships.

A favorite tactic is to row at full speedtoward the enemy ship, but swerve away atthe last moment.The rowers on the sideapproaching the enemy vessel pull in theiroars and the trireme glides past the enemyship, breaking off its oars.The disabled shipcan then be rammed and boarded.

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Above: A battlebetween biremes.The prow (front) of thebireme and later triremeis equipped with abronze or iron beak,used for ramming andsinking enemy ships.

Below: Ancient shipsrarely sailed at night,the crew taking theirmeals and rest on thenearest shore.

The earliest Greek writing system wasdeveloped by the Minoan culture of

Crete. It was a form of hieroglyphic (picture)writing, which evolved by about 2000 BCE.By 1700 BCE, the Minoans had introduced asecond script, known to us as Linear A. Somesecrets of the hieroglyphs are understood, butLinear A remains a mystery.

By the 15th century BCE the MycenaeanGreeks had learned the art of writing from

the Minoans and developed a script knownas Linear B.With the coming of the DarkAge in about 1100 BCE, when Mycenaeancivilization ended, the art of writing was lost.

When it was rediscovered in about 800BCE, the new writing system came from thePhoenicians, a proper alphabet developedover centuries from Ugarit cuneiform, inturn descended from that of the Sumerians.However, the Phoenician alphabet containedonly consonants and the Greeks extended itby adding vowels.The system was sosuccessful that Greeks were able to create themost sophisticated literature of the time.Theword alphabet is derived from the first twoGreek letters, alpha and beta.

Lyrical poetryThe Greek alphabet and the development ofwriting made literary composition possible.The tales told by traveling poets of gods andMycenaean heroes were the first stories tobe written down.The most famous bard isHomer, who at some time about 850–750BCE retold in writing the traditional storiesof the Trojan War in his two epic poems, theIliad and the Odyssey.

Written poetry was first read aloud byperformers. Poetic recitations involved oneor more performers. Poems were sometimesrecited with dramatic flourish, and sometimessung.A musical accompaniment of flute orlyre became common, leading to thedevelopment of large choral works, includingreligious odes, epitaphs for the dead, andsongs of celebration. Music, singing, poetry,and prose eventually developed in thegreatest cultural achievement of theGreeks—drama (see pages 90–93 ).

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CHAPTER 5

The Development of Literature and ThoughtThe Greek alphabet and writing system is the most sophisticated in the ancient world. The greatest achievements of the Greeks are made possible through the written word.

Culture and Science

Phoenician Greek ModernALEPH ALPHA A

BETH BETA B

GIMEL GAMMA C

DALETH DELTA D

HE EPSILON E

VAV F

HETH ETA H

TETH THETA th

YOD IOTA I

KAPH KAPPA K

LAMED LAMBDA L

MEM MU M

NUN NU N

SAMEK XI x/ks

AYIN OMICRON O*

PE PI P

SADE

KOPH Q

RESH RHO R

SHIN SIGMA S

TAW TAU T

UPSILON V

PHI f/ph

CHI X

PSI ps

ZAYIN ZETA Z

OMEGA O*

The Greeks adapted the Phoenician form of the alphabet after the Dark Age.

Detail of MycenaeanLinear B script. Expertscan read it, but the claytablets contain only listsof goods.

Above: The PhaistosDisk (c.1600 BCE) iscovered in signsrepresenting a Minoanhieroglyphic script.

* Omicron represents a short “o” vowel sound, Omega a longer one.

Left: Homer, the greatstoryteller.

Early proseThe Greeks were the first people to recordtheir hopes, fears, and emotions in writing.Prose developed later than poetry.Philosophers, scientists, and historians usedprose to clarify their search for truth throughreasoned argument and observation. Later,prose became a vehicle for dramaticexpression—the world’s first novels.

Although designed for the middle andupper classes, they also show a sophisticationof emotion and description that makes themtimeless, and still relevant today.

Creating historyIn the 5th century BCE, a series of Greekwriters produced the world’s first historicalnarratives, free from mythology, religion, andpoetic license. Unlike other ancient histories,this Greek historical writing attempts todistinguish between fact and fiction and givestraightforward accounts of human endeavor.

Herodotus is considered to be the fatherof modern history. He wrote his History in

about 440 BCE, detailing the recent warbetween Greece and Persia.

In 404 BCE, the Athenian generalThucydides wrote a history of thePeloponnesian War between Athens andSparta. He gives an impartial account ofevents, drawing on archived records, writtenstatements, and first-hand accounts in asimple, direct, and concise style.

Thucydides died before the work wascompleted, but an Athenian noblemannamed Xenophon finished it for him.Xenophon went on to write his ownmasterly Anabasis (up-country expedition),covering the campaigns of a Greekmercenary force against the Persians,culminating in the Battle of Cunaxa (401)and the retreat of the Greeks fromMesopotamia to the coast of the Black Sea.

The tradition established by these firstGreek historians has provided modernhistorians with a scholarly and literarybenchmark.

CHAPTER 5: CULTURE AND SCIENCE

Herodotus includedfirst-hand accounts andpersonal memories. HisHistory is not only theearliest example of pureGreek prose to survive,but also the world’s firsttrue history book.

Above: Thucydides wasa general in thePeloponnesian War, buthis failure to relieve abesieged Athenian-heldcity in 424 BCE led to hisostracism (see page 73 )from Athens. On hisreturn in 404, he wrotehis memoirs as thehistory of a soldier.

Xenophon’s Anabasiswas based on his ownexperiences as a soldiermarching against thePersians. When theGreek leaders werebetrayed and slain,Xenophon tookcommand and brought

the Greek forcessafely home (right).

Musicians accompany apoetry recital on thisred-figured vasedecoration.

Philosophers are people who attempt toexplain man’s place in the scheme of

things and how people should behave orwhat would be the ideal political system.

The basic elementsThe first philosophers,Thales of Miletos,Anaximines, and Empedocles the Sicilian,argued about what substances were the mostimportant in the composition of theuniverse—water, air, fire, or earth.

Pythagoras of Samos dominated the nextgeneration of Greek philosophers. In about531 BCE he moved to the Greek colony ofCrotone in southern Italy, where heestablished a religious academy.Apart from

his famous mathematical theorem,Pythagoras advocated the portrayal of musicas a mathematical exercise.

The next school of philosophers sprangup in Athens, when the statesman Pericles(c.495–429 BCE) befriended Anaxagoras. Hispupils Democritus and Leucippus took thedebate about life a stage further, when theyargued that matter consisted of tiny atoms,two millennia before the concept would betaken seriously.

Socrates (469–399 BCE) questioned theaccepted order of society, morals, andreligion to such an extent that he wasconsidered a menace. Sentenced to death, heelected to drink poison. Socrates was somodest that when the Oracle of Delphipronounced him the wisest man in Greece,he replied that his wisdom stemmed from hisacceptance that he knew nothing.

His greatest disciple, Plato (c.427–348BCE), continued Socrates’ methods, but


Philosophy and MedicineWriting allowed philosophers to commit their arguments to paper. Through their clear, logical thinking, a new way of looking at the natural world has emerged, introducing rationality to the work of scientists, engineers, and doctors.

The god of healingAsclepius (left), son of the god Apollo, wasbrought up by a centaur (a mythical creaturethat was half-man, half-horse), from whomhe learned the art of healing.Athena gaveAsclepius two bottles of magic blood.Theblood in one would kill anyone who drankit, the other would bring the dead back tolife.Asclepius brought back so many people

from the Underworld that Hadescomplained to Zeus. Zeus killed

Asclepius, but later relented andbrought him back to life,

and made him a god.

Dreams bring healingMany Greek physicians are priests ofAsclepius, and there are temples dedicated tohim all over the Greek world.The two mostimportant are at Athens and the sanctuary ofAsclepius near the city of Epidaurus in thesoutheast of the Peloponnese peninsula. Eachyear a festival called the Epidauria is held inhis honor at Athens.

When people fall ill, they visit one of thetemples of Asclepius.After sacrifices andpurification ceremonies, the sick person isallowed to sleep in the temple for a night. Itis believed that Asclepius will heal them asthey sleep, or appear to them in a dream toreveal what treatment would cure them.

By whatever means the cure is achieved,the recovered patient leaves Asclepius

an offering as a tribute to the godand gift for curing them.Thisusually takes the form of aterracotta plaque showing

the part of the person’sbody that has been madebetter by the divine

intervention.

Pythagoras, famous forhis theorem.

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exceeded his teacher’s achievements throughextensive writing. Plato tried to find theideal way of governing a polis and set outdetailed rules about how this could be done.

The Academy set up by Plato attractedsome of the most prominent Athenians ofthe age, among whom was Aristotle (384-322 BCE). He was also interested in man andsociety and the ideal way to run a state, buthad a wide knowledge of natural history. Hismost famous pupil was Alexander the Great.

In the 4th century BCE, Diogenes foundedthe school of philosophers known as Cynics.He lived very simply, and had no respect forthe rules of society. He attacked dishonestyand excessive wealth. He lived so simply thatat one point his home was a storage jar.

The most enduring of Greek philosopherswere the Stoics, named after the stoa (porch)in Athens’ marketplace where their founderZeno (or Xenon, 344–262 BCE) founded theschool of thought. He believed that if peopleacted naturally they would behave well,because the gods controlled their nature.

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Rational medicineFollowing the example of philosophers,many doctors have adopted a more scientificapproach to medicine and search for therational causes of disease, and try to learnhow the body works. For instance, it isbelieved that blood is the carrier of manycommon diseases, for which the remedy is tobleed the patient.

More commonly, these modern physiciansprescribe herbal remedies, rest cures, specialdiets, and exercise. Surgery, however, remainsa dangerous process and is usually avoided.Even when the patient survives the operation,infection often sets in and kills them.

The founder of this new medicine is

Hippocrates of Cos (460–377 BCE). He baseshis medical practice on observation andrejects the popular view that illness is causedby possession of evil spirits or a punishmentof the gods. Hippocrates teaches that thebody must be treated as a whole and not justas a series of parts. He says that thoughts,ideas, and feelings come from the brain, andnot the heart as other doctors believe.

Socrates

Aristotle

Alexander the Greatasked if there wasanything he could do forthe great Cynic. “Don’tstand between me andthe sun,” said Diogenes.Impressed by the reply,the king said, “If I werenot Alexander, I shouldwish to be Diogenes.”

Hippocrates, seen hereabove, has separatedpractical medicine fromreligion. Through carefulstudy of the workings ofthe human body,medicine is losing itselements of magic.Anatomy and inquiryplay an ever larger role,as surgical skills andtools (left) steadilyimprove. Hippocratesuses treatments (right)according to his abilityand judgment.

Archimedes (287–212 BCE), a native ofSyracuse in Sicily, invented an easy and fastway to lift water from one level to anotherfor irrigation, in the formof a large screw enclosedin a tube.Water is liftedby the screw as it isturned.

Archimedes wasfascinated by thephysical properties ofwater, and made his mostfamous discovery whiletaking a bath. He had filledthe bath too full and when he sat in it,observed how the water rose up andoverflowed. From this he realized that anobject displaces its own volume of water.

Although levers have been in use sinceprehistoric times,Archimedes was the firstscientist to explain the forces at work inleverage. He developed complex calculus ingeometry, and also invented the mostfearsome weapon of its day—the catapult.

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Scientists and InventorsRational thought as promoted by the Greek philosophersfinds physical expression in the work of the many greatminds who seek practical answers to solve problems.

arrow

flexible bow

ratchetcatch andtrigger

winch handles

The Greeks were thefirst to develop massivesiege engines.Archimedes helped theSyracusans againstRome in 212 with manydesigns. This machinefired 6 foot-long arrowsduring the siege ofSyracuse. The greatscientist was killed by aRoman legionary afterSyracuse finally fell inthe same year.

To the Greeks, the study of philosophygoes beyond pondering the composition

of the universe and the study of humannature. Scientists and engineers are alsophilosophers, which means “lovers ofknowledge.” By observing how things work,Greek philosophers are able to make manyscientific discoveries.

Thales of Miletos (c.624–c.547 BCE) usedmathematics to calculate the height of theEgyptian pyramids from a measurement ofthe length of their shadows. It is said that hewas able to predict a solar eclipse, but he alsoclaimed that the earth floats on water.

About the same time,Anaximines figuredout that much of the planet had once beencovered in water and humans had developedfrom an earlier creature (probably a fish).

The astronomer Aristarchus (310–230 BCE)realized that the earth revolves on its axisand circles the sun. Unfortunately, he did nothave the evidence to prove it.

Anaxagoras (c.500–428 BCE)worked out that the moon’s light isnot its own but a reflection of thesun’s. He also discovered that solar eclipsesare caused by the moon passing between theearth and the sun, blocking out its light.

Telling the time with a water clock

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For the Greeks measuring time is not asimple matter. Because the day (and night)is divided into a given number of periods(hours), it follows that throughout the yearthese periods vary in length between thelonger summer days and shorter days ofwinter. Greek engineers overcome thisproblem by means of a clepsydra, or waterclock. By altering thepressure on the inner cone,more or less water flowsinto the main chamber,altering the rate at which

A continuous supply of water enters the clepsydra by pipe A, filling the hollow

cone B. By exerting pressure on lever C, solid cone D presses down on hollow

cone B, restricting the water flow. Surplus water flows out through pipe E.

Altering the pressure on the solid cone regulates the flow of water through pipe Finto the chamber. This alters the rate at which the float rises, and the rate at

which the ratchet turns the clock’s hand. For clarity, Roman numerals are shown.

A

F

chamber

float

ratchet

ED

B

C

the cork float rises. In effect it allows thehours to go faster or slower for every dayof the year.

The philosopher Plato is said to haveinvented a clepsydra with an alarm. Somewater clocks are constructions ofconsiderable size, requiring strong stonefoundations, like this one at Athens.

Aeolipile—the first steam engineThe aeolipile, or “wind ball,” is a steam engineinvented by a man named Heron, who lived inAlexandria in the 1st century AD.A sealed pot filled with wateris placed over a flame andthe water heated to boilingpoint. Two tubes risingfrom the top of the pot letthe steam flow into aspherical metal ball. Theglobe, which is free torotate on the inlet tubes,has two curved outlettubes, which vent thesteam. As the steamissues from the tubes, themetal sphere rotates. The aeolipile has no practicalapplication; it is only an amusing toy.

Measuring distance accuratelyArchimedes may have invented the odometer, a device that measuresthe distance traveled by a wheeled vehicle, which the Romans laterused. It is described by a man named Vitruvius in about 27 BCE.Awheel of 4-foot diameterturns exactly 400 times inone Roman mile. For eachrevolution, a pin on the axleengages a cogwheel with400 teeth, and so makes acomplete revolution everymile.This engages anothergear with holes around itscircumference in which sitcarefully graded pebbles.Asit rotates, pebbles arrive overa tube, mile by mile, and drop into a counting box. The number ofmiles traveled is given simply by counting the number of pebbles thathave dropped into the box.

400-toothcogwheelcounting box

pebblestransmission

gears

The museumThe first museum is aGreek invention. InAlexandria there is atemple to the Muses,the nine goddesses whoinspire and guidepeople’s creativeabilities, called theMuseion. Scholars fromall over the Greek worldtravel to study there. TheMuseion also houses agreat library thatcontains copies of everyimportant Greek bookand many translationsof foreign books.

Engineers working atthe Museion haveinvented manyinteresting devices,although several—suchas the aeolipile (seeabove)—have littlefunctional use.

Drama began as a countryside festival ofthe fertility god Dionysus.The first

stages were the stone circles of a threshingfloor (see page 32 ), where the oxen andmules “danced” over the cut wheat toseparate the grain from the stalks.Thethreshing floor became the “dancing floor,”or orchestra in Greek, and the natural placefor honoring Dionysus with song and dancewhen the harvest was in.

The rural orchestra was always associatedwith a small stone altar for sacrifices andofferings, and nearby a small tent, or skene,which might be decorated to add a backdropto the celebrations. From these humblebeginnings grew the great Greek theaters ofthe 5th and 4th centuries BCE.

Rural rite to urban entertainmentThe speed of transformation from acountryside celebration into a fully-fledgedtheatrical art form has been astonishing—approximately 85 years.

In about 530 BCE, the tyrant Peisistratusintroduced a Dionysian festival at Athens,and an artist named Thespis wrote a fewlines of dramatic dialog to be spokenbetween an orator and a Dionysian choruson the orchestra.

Less than 50 years later in about 482, thedramatist Aeschylus (525–456) introducedthe first written plays, involving troupes ofno more than three masked actors.

And 40 years after that, construction beganon the world’s first purpose-built theater, onthe lower slopes of the Acropolis of Athens,next to the Temple of Dionysus Eleutherus.

By this time—known as the Golden Ageof Athens, under the leadership of Pericles—the dialog between the actors has becomethe most important part of the drama, withthe chorus only commenting on the action.However, dramas remain religious in tone,since early productions were a combinationof Dionysian worship and dramaticpresentation.

The theater festival of AthensThe Dionysia is one of the city’s mostimportant religious celebrations.The festival,which lasts for five days, is a public holidayso that everyone can attend.The first day isdevoted to processions and sacrifices.Thefollowing four days are taken up with dramacompetitions.

The man in charge of the Dionysia’sorganization is the Eponymous Archon (seepage 72 ). He picks the wealthy citizens,called the choregoi, who have to pay for theproduction of the plays.These are presentedin two distinct types—tragedies and

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A Day at the TheaterIn drama—the pinnacle of literature—the Greeks haveinvented a new art form. Going to the theater is a religiousfestival occasion and an entertaining day out.

Thespis was the first towrite a play using an

actor to speak adialog exchange

with thechorus onthe“dancingfloor.”

Aeschylus, the father ofmodern theater.

comedies, with a sub-division of tragedyknown as a satyr play. Each year three tragedywriters and five comedy writers enter theirplays into the contests.

Tragedies are usually about heroes of theMycenaean past.The sweeping themes aregrand, about human passions and conflicts,the misuse of power, and whether or not tobow to the will of the gods.After the earlierAeschylus, the two most popular tragicwriters are Euripides (484–406 BCE) andSophocles (496–406 BCE).

Comedies feature ordinary folk, withcommentaries on the politics andpersonalities of the day.They are bawdy, fullof slapstick humor and rude jokes.The greatmaster of comic writing is Aristophanes(448–c.380 BCE).

In the comedy competition, each authorenters one play. However, in the tragiccompetition each author must enter threetragedies and a satyr play.This is a play thatmakes fun of the tragic theme (a style fromwhich we get the term “satirical”). In a satyrplay the people in the chorus dress assatyrs—the wild followers of Dionysus whowere half-man and half-beast.

The actorsPerformers and chorus members are all men.Because of the flowing gowns and masks that hidetheir faces, the emphasis is on speech, not action.Tragic characters wear dark costumes, while comicfigures wear bright colors. The actors’ clothes arepadded, and large wigs and thick-soled shoes areworn, to make actors easily seen in the huge theaters.

MasksActors wear painted masks of stiffened fabric orcork. The expressions show the character’s age,gender, and feelings. By switching from a “happy” toa “tragic” mask, an actor can change mood instantly.A performer can even change roles by swappingmasks. The expressions are greatly exaggerated tomake them visible, even from the back of thetheater. The large open mouths also act as amplifiersfor the actors’ voices.

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Fact boxFrom the name ofThespis, who wrotethe first play withdialog, we derive theword “thespian,”meaning actor.

“Drama” is a Greekword meaning“action.”

Euripides focuses onthe common emotionsand weaknesses ofmankind. The audiencecan recognizesomething ofthemselves in hischaracters. The tragicfinale often involves theactors subjecting theirfate to the judgment ofthe gods, emphasizingthe religious nature ofDionysian plays.

Below: The comic playsof Aristophanes are thetalk of Athens. Theycontain attacks on thepompous nature ofAthenian officials. Heuses much more actionon the stage than otherplaywrights, catchymusic and lyrics, funnyrecitations, andenjoyably farcical plots.His humor is irreverent,democratic, and hugelypopular.

Above: The superbcharacterizationemployed by Sophoclesfires the imagination oftheatergoers. A masterof dramatic tension, hebrings his plays toexplosive conclusionsthat thrill the audience.

A raised platform,known as the logeion,allows actors to standover the proceedings,watching events on theproskenion as if fromafar, and the entirestage is covered with aflat roof called thetheologeion. Rushesdipped in a sulfurous

solution can be lit tocreate dramatic lightand smoke effects. Theaeorema (crane),permits actors to “fly”onto the skene, usuallythose playing the part ofa god. The ekeclema isa wheeled platform forpresenting or removing

“dead” characters. Thisis often used intragedies for showingthe audience characterswho have been killedoff-stage. A pair ofrevolving periaktoi(triangular pillars, notshown) can be turned topresent a new item ofscenery and remove anold one.


Inside the theaterThe koilon (or later theatron, “a place of seeing”) isbuilt in a half-circle of rising stone seating. Theblocks of seats are called cavea. The proedria—thefirst (and lowest) row of seats—is reserved forsenior figures in the polis, visiting dignitaries, or forpriests. They are much more comfortable than theordinary benches for everyone else, but—whetherdistinguished or ordinary—spectators usually bringsomething soft to sit on because the stone seatingtakes its toll on the hardiest backside!


A theater’s main elementsTheaters in Greece share certain features.Almost all are composed of three majorelements: the orchestra (chorus space), thekoilon (auditorium), and the skene (backdrop,from which we derive the word “scene”).Most action takes place on a raised platform,or logeion.The orchestra is a circular, oval, orsometimes rectangular space in front of thelogeion.The orchestra houses the chorus, withits director—known as the koryphaios—standing on a themili (originally the smallDionysian altar of the threshing floor).

Although the logeion is the main stage,actors tend to perform on its forward edge,known as the proskenion (“in front of theskene”).The sides and rear of the stage aredecorated with painted panels, or evenpermanent walls, which hide actors standingoff stage from the audience.These backdropsset the scene with depictions such as woodedglades or mountaintops.

Between the skene and the audience seatedin the koilon, there are two walkways knownas the paradoi (entrance ways).The chorusenters through one parados in solemnprocession at the play’s start, and actors enterthe theater through them, speaking orsinging as they walk on.

Symbolism is important.An actor arrivingon the skene from the left is deemed to havecome from the countryside, while onearriving on the right has come from the seaor a city. Behind the proskenion, two symbolicdoors allow actors to enter and exit theaction, moving through them from theproskenion to the rear of the stage, or logeion,where they are considered to be still inscene, but not directly participating in it.

Bringing the past to vivid lifePrincipally, the Greektheater is a place ofreligious celebration. But inits comedies and tragedies,its satire and politicalcomment, its emotions andambitions, Greek drama portraysthe everyday lives of ordinaryas well as extraordinarypeople of the time.

orchestra

skene

proskenion

logeion

theologeion

parados

aeorema

themili

ekeclema

koilon or theatronwithblocks ofcavea

proedria

The people from eachdeme of the polis havetheir own block ofseats. Tokens are usedas tickets, the letters onthem indicating whichblock of seats thetoken-holder can sit in.The seats are notexpensive, but the statepays for poor people.

acropolis The key point of a city,usually at the top of (“akro” inGreek) a hill.

adyton A small area within atemple where only priests andoracles can go.

agora An open space near a town’scenter. Originally just a marketplace,an agora is also a place to holdpolitical meetings.

andron The part of a buildingwhere only men are allowed (so,dining room). See also gynaeceum.

archons The nine chief magistrates,different offices of archons givendifferent tasks. Old archons becomemembers of the Areopagus, acouncil of elders.

aristoi The “best people” ofGreece—aristocrats or nobles.

black-figure A type of potterydecoration with black figures setagainst the undecorated red of thevessel. Red-figure pottery was morepopular by the 6th century BCE.

Boule The governing council of apolis.Athens’ Boule has 50 membersfrom each of the ten phylae, but thesize and influence of a council variesfrom city to city.They meet in aBouleuterion.

cella The rectangular main room inthe center of a temple that holds astatue representing its god.

chiton A square robe of wool orlinen, fastened at one side withfibulae (pins).

deme Within a polis, a semi-independent district, village, or smalltown and its people. Each has a

demarchos, or mayor.

demos The people of a district,from which the word democracy—rule by the people—is derived.

Dorians People from northernGreece who populated centralGreece and the Peloponnese byc.1000 BCE, replacing Mycenaeancivilization.

ekklesia Known in English as theAssembly and the apella at Sparta,every free man is allowed to vote atits public meetings, held a few timesper month.

Eleusis A district near Athenswhere secrets are revealed to initiatesof the Mysteries festival, held inhonor of the corn goddess Demeterand her daughter Kore.

epheboi Male youths aged 18–20who are given military and religioustraining.

Gerousia Sparta’s council of elders,elected for life from among thearistoi.

gymnasium A place of exercise,particularly for epheboi in militarytraining.Areas and buildings foreducation and philosophical debatewere added to the palaestra, thecourtyard exercise area.

gynaeceum The female quarters ofa building, where only women areallowed. See also andron.

helots A type of slave known fromSparta, where they belong to thestate rather than individual owners.

Hellenization The spread of Greekculture, from the Greeks’ word forthemselves, Hellenes, which itself

came from the name Hellas, a regionof Thessaly.

herm A stone pillar topped with abust of a god—usually Hermes, themessenger god—set within a city tomark a crossroads or boundary,outside a home for luck, or betweentowns as a milestone.

hetairai Women specially educatedin the fields of art, philosophy, andpolitics and skilled in music andpoetry.They are the only womenallowed at a symposium. Malecompanions are called hetairoi.

himation A woolen cloak.Achlamys is a short cloak for men,pinned at the right shoulder.

hoplite A heavily armedinfantryman. Hoplites formed intophalanxes, each soldier’s shield alsohelping to defend a neighbor.

hydria A jar for holding water,with two side handles for carryingand a larger vertical one for pouring.

kitharistes A music teacher, whoplays the kithara, a seven-stringedinstrument which was a forerunnerof the guitar.

krater A large vase or bowl fordiluting wine, which is thentransferred to an oinchoe for pouring.

kyrios The head of a household.They are always men and are theguardians of any females in thehome.

Metics People foreign to a polis,whether from a different country orjust another city-state.They werenot full citizens so could not vote.

metropolis Literally “‘mother city,”

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Glossary

95

a polis on the Greek mainland thathas colonies overseas.

Minoan A 3rd–2nd century BCE

civilization of the island of Crete,named after the legendary KingMinos. It spread elsewhere aroundthe Aegean Sea but faded after thepalace of Knossos was destroyedc.1400 BCE.

Mycenaean A Greek civilizationbeginning c.1600 BCE, named afterMycenae city in the northeasternPeloponnese. Mycenaean culturedeclined during Greece’s Dark Age,c.1100, when the Dorians invaded.

oinchoe A wine jug; wine is oftenmixed with honey and calledoinomelo.

Olympians Greece’s sky gods,ruled by Zeus on Mount Olympus.

oracle A woman believed to tellthe future. In myth and reality, menmade offerings at oracles’ templesand asked questions via priestesseswho uttered the oracles’ replies.

paedogogus A servant or slavewho supervises or gives a child’seducation.

Peloponnese The peninsula ofsouthern Greece, with the IonianSea on its west and the Aegean Seaon its east. It is separated fromnorthern Greece by the Gulf ofCorinth.

peltast A type of light infantrymanarmed with a spear and shield.

peplos A long, tubular robe wornby women.

Persia A Middle Eastern countrywhose Achaemenid dynasty invaded

then ruled Egypt from 525 BCE.Athens and Sparta defeated Persianinvasions of Greece in 490 and 479.

Phoenicians People from thewestern shore of Asia, around what isnow Lebanon. In earlier times theywere known as Canaanites and ruledby the Egyptians in the 15th–13thcenturies BCE.

phratria A group of local families,derived from the word “phrater”(brother). New children wereaccepted into their phratria inOctober’s Apatouria gathering.Thereare several phratriai in each phyle.

phyle A division of a polis’spopulation, based on the status andnumber of members.Athens had tenphylae, each phyle containing onetrittye—a group of demes—fromeach of the three zones (city, inlandand shore).

polis A city, or a city and itssurrounding area also called a city-state.

propylon “Before the gate”—agrand gateway, usually to a sacredsite or a palace.

prytani A committee of 50 mendrawn from one phyle, the prytanichanging at regular intervals to giveeach phyle equal importance.

red-figure A type of potterydecoration with clay-red figures setagainst the painted black of thevessel. Decorative vessels went out offashion in the 4th century BCE.

Sacred Way The path in a religiouscomplex such as Delphi that leadsfrom its entrance, winding its waythrough subsidiary structures, to itsprincipal temple.

sophists Scholars who travel fromplace to place, giving lectures andoffering tutorship on varioussubjects. Philosophers accused themof encouraging argument.

Sparta A military state establishedby Dorians in the southernPeloponnese. In contrast to Athensand other city-states, it was ruled bykings (two ruling at the same time)and gave women almost equal rights.Male citizens entered militarytraining at the age of 7 and becamehoplites, served by helots.

stoa A generally long building withrooms opening onto a colonnadedwalkway.Also called a porch, somehave a second story.

strategos A military general, whocommands on both land and sea.

symposium An evening feast formen usually held in the andron,including entertainment, debate, andthe drinking of much wine.

Titans The elder, earth gods led byCronus, overthrown by Zeus whobegan the new rule of sky gods, theOlympians.

Trojan War A mythical conflictbetween the Greeks and the city ofTroy, in retaliation for Prince Paris’sabduction of Helen, beautiful wifeof King Menelaus of Sparta.As toldin Homer’s epic poem, the Iliad, thewar lasted nine years, until theGreeks presented Troy with a hollowhorse, from which soldiersconquered the city.

Underworld The realm of thedead, ruled by Hades and guarded byCerberus, a three-headed dog.

GLOSSARY

Academy 51, 87Achilles 18Acragas 35Acropolis 25–26, 90Adriatic Sea 69Aegean Islands/Sea 9–10, 34, 37, 41, 69Aegina 66Aeschylus 90–91Aesop 35Africa 11, 34–35agora 32, 42, 64agriculture 11, 30–33altars 24Anaxagoras 86, 88Anaximines 86Archaic Period 11Archimedes 34, 88architecture 24–25, 62–63archons 72Argonauts 19Aristarchus 88Aristophanes 91Aristotle 87armies 49, 51, 64, 78–81art 57–58Asia Minor 9, 66, 68Assembly 71astronomy 88Athens 9, 11, 20, 22, 25–27, 35, 38,

48, 64–67, 72, 75, 80, 85–86, 90athletics see sportsAttica 30, 70–71, 80

battles: Cunaxa 85, Marathon 11, 75,Palataea 11, Salamis 11,Thermopylae 11

birth 46Black Sea 11, 34, 37, 68, 85boats 37; see also shipsBoeotia 37Bronze Age 10buildings 11, 62; see also homes,

palaces, temples

careers 48carpentry 62Carthage 11, 34cavalry 81Charon 17, 28children 42–43, 46–46, 48–49Chios 22, 41citizenship 51, 70–71clans see social groupingsClassic Period 11class system 68, 79climate see weatherclothing 26, 42, 54–55coinage 66colonies 34–35Corinth 35, 69, 77cosmetics 55crafts 56–59Crete 10crime and punishment 73cults 20–21

cuneiform 84Cyprus 60Cyrene 35

Dark Age 10, 84death 28Delian League 72Delphi 16, 21–23, 77, 86democracy 11, 70–71, 72divorce 45Dorians 10, 15

education 48–50Egypt 24Eleusis 20Empedocles 86England 60entertainment 26; see also music, theaterErechtheum 25Eretria 66Euripides 91

families 42–45farming see agriculturefestivals 20–21, 26–27, 41, 47, 77, 86, 90fishing 36–37food 38–40, 42foreigners (Metics) 68France 9, 34–35, 60funeral ceremonies 29furniture 62

games, sporting 23, 76–77games and toys 47gods 14–17, 41:Aphrodite 17,

Apollo 15–16, 21,Ares 17,Artemis16,Asclepius 16, 59, 86,Athena 16,18, 25–27,Atlas 14, Cronus 14,Demeter 20, Dionysus 21, 23, 41,90, Eos 14, Epimetheus 14, Gaia14, Hades 15, 17, 28, 86, Helios 14,16, Hephaestus 16–17, 60, Hera 16,66, 77, Hermes 17, Hestia 17,Hyperion 14, Iapetos 14, Ishtar 17,Metis 16, Oceanus 14, Poseidon15–16, Prometheus 14, Rhea 14,Selene 14,Tethys 14,Theia 14,Uranus 14,Vesta 17, Zeus 14–18, 86

government 11, 70–72gymnasium 23, 49

hair 55Hannibal 11Helen of Troy 18Hellespont strait 19, 35herms 17Herodotus 85heroes 18–19hetaira 43Hippocrates 87historians 85Homer 10, 16, 18, 84homes 52–53, 58hoplite soldier 78–79horses 10, 81

Icarus 18Iliad 10, 16, 18, 82Indo-Europeans 10, 15Isthmian Games 77Italy 9, 11, 34, 86

Jason 19, 26jewelry 42, 61

kings:Agamemnon 10, 18,Alexander the Great 11, 66, 87,Darius 11, Minos 18, Oedipus 18,46, Pelias 19, Philip II 11, 66,Philip V 11, Priam 19, Xerxes 11

Knossos 10

Laurion 61law 73Lesbos 41Libya 34–35Linear A/B script 84livestock 31, 33Lydia 66

Macedon 11market see agoramarriage 44–45Massilia (Marseilles) 35mathematics 86, 88–89medicine 86–87Mediterranean Sea 9, 34, 60Mesopotamia 85metals/metalworking 60–61, 66Metics 68Middle East 68Miletus 35mining 61Minoans 10, 84money 66–67monsters 16–19Mount Olympus 15music 26, 49Mycenaeans 10, 24, 91

navy 82–83

Odysseus 15, 18Odyssey 18, 82olives 26, 33Olympic Games 76–77oracles 16, 21–22, 86ostracism 73

palaces 10, 24Parthenon 11, 25, 72Peisistratus 90Peloponnese peninsula 9Peloponnesian War 11, 85Pericles 25, 72, 86, 90Persian Wars 11, 72philosophy 86–87Phoenicians 9, 84Piraeus 37, 67Plato 51, 86–87poetry 10, 16, 18, 26, 84

pottery 56–57priests 86Pythagoras 34, 86Pythia 21–22Pythian Games 77

racing 77religion 20–21, 24, 77, 86;

see also cults, festivals, gods, templesRomans 10–11, 17, 25

Sacred Way 22Santorini Island 10school see educationscience 88–89sculpture/statues 26, 58–60Sea Peoples 10ships 68, 82–83Sicily 9, 11, 34–35slaves 68social groupings 46–47, 70–71;

see also class systemSocrates 86soldiers see armies, cavalry, hoplitessophists 51Sophocles 91Spain 60Sparta 9, 11, 35, 43, 46, 49, 66,

71, 80, 85sports 23, 26, 50, 74–77strategoi 72symposium 40–41, 43Syracuse 35, 66

temples 11, 24–26, 58–59, 63Thales of Miletos 86, 88theater 90–93Thebes 18Thera Island 10Thessaly 9, 30, 33Tholos 66Thrace 68Thucydidestoys 47, 59trade 9, 34–35, 68trades see careers, craftstransport/travel 68–69, 82–83tribes see social groupingsTrojan War 15–16, 18–19, 84Troy 10, 18Turkey see Asia Minor

Underworld 14–15, 17, 28–29

vineyards 33

weather 9, 30weights and measures 66wine 33, 40–41, 47women 42–43writing 84–85, see also poetry

Xenophon 39, 85

Zeno 35, 87

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Index

living in ancient greece

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