Reading on Ancient Greek Culture
Directions: Complete the reading below. Answer Questions on Ancient Greek Men, Women,
and Children in your notebook for homework tonight. You will complete the rest of the
questions in class tomorrow.
Questions on Ancient Greek Men, Women and Children
1. What privileges (rights) did men have that women did not in Ancient Greece?
2. Who was the boss of the household?
3. What did children do to help their families? What did they do for fun?
Questions on Greek Slaves, Houses, and Food
1. What did slaves do for their masters? Could they ever get out of being a slave?
2. What was the central room of an Ancient Greek house? What was it used for
3. Name six foods eaten in Ancient Greece.
Questions on Greek Dress, Hair and Education
1. What did Ancient Greek clothing look like?
2. What did men and women do to look beautiful in Greece?
3. What did Ancient Greek boys learn in school? What did Ancient Greek girls learn from
their moms?
Ancient Greek Men, Women and Children
In Ancient Greece, only free men were citizens. Women, children and slaves were not citizens.
Women did not have much freedom in ancient Greece. Neither did children or slaves. Men could
do what they wanted.
Men were responsible to get the crops grown and harvested, but everyone in the family helped,
unless the family had slaves to do their work for them.
Men had drinking parties. They entertained their male friends. Women and children were not
allowed to attend.
In larger homes, men had their own dining room. The women would wait on them, and then eat
their own dinner in the privacy of their courtyard.
There were also many Greek dances that were just for men. Men and women rarely, if ever,
danced together.
A husband's word was law. A woman could not leave her home without her husband's
permission. She could not even visit a neighbor unless her husband allowed her to do so.
Basically, women stayed in the home. And men adventured out.
In all of the Greek city-states, except for Sparta, women had very little freedom. They could not
leave their house without their husband's permission. They could not even visit a temple without
their husband's permission. But in her own home, a woman was the boss. She cooked and
cleaned and sewed and raised the kids. Some women had slaves to do some or all of the work for
them. They ruled their central courtyard. They could sit outside and enjoy the day.
When a baby was born in ancient Greece, it was a cause for celebration. The Greeks loved dance.
So of course they had a dance the father did, holding his new baby. The mother made a wreathe
for the door so everyone would know they had a new baby. Friends and family brought gifts.
For those families who did not have slaves to do all their work, even toddlers helped in the fields.
Until age 6, nearly all children, boys and girls, were taught at home, by their mother.
There was time to play. Kids played a game similar to basketball. They had little carts they
pulled around. They loved games of skills, like tossing sticks into buckets. They listened to
stories, fables, and legends.
Reading on Ancient Greek Culture
Directions: Complete the reading below. Answer Questions on Greek Slaves, Houses, and
Food in your notebook for homework tonight. You will complete the rest of the questions in
class tomorrow.
Questions on Greek Slaves, Houses, and Food
1. What did slaves do for their masters? Could they ever get out of being a slave?
2. What was the central room of an Ancient Greek house? What was it used for
3. Name six foods eaten in Ancient Greece.
Questions on Ancient Greek Men, Women and Children
1. What privileges (rights) did men have that women did not in Ancient Greece?
2. Who was the boss of the household?
3. What did children do to help their families? What did they do for fun?
Questions on Greek Dress, Hair and Education
1. What did Ancient Greek clothing look like?
2. What did men and women do to look beautiful in Greece?
3. What did Ancient Greek boys learn in school? What did Ancient Greek girls learn from
their moms?
Ancient Greek Slaves, Houses, and Food
The ancient Greeks had slaves. Slaves did everything. They cleaned and cooked and worked in
the mines and in the shops and on the ships. For the most part, slaves were treated well. They
were property. Slaves had no way to buy or earn their way out of slavery. Once someone was a
slave, they and their children, and their children's children would all be slaves. There was no
escaping your status as a slave. The best you could hope for was a better job.
The Greeks found new slaves in several ways. People sometimes were sold into slavery by their
families. Some infants were tossed out to die, and if rescued usually became slaves. Slaves were
also people captured in battle.
Greek houses were really neat. Each house was built around an open air courtyard. Houses were
built of stone, wood, and clay bricks. They were sturdy and comfortable.
Larger homes might have several bedrooms, a kitchen, a bathing room, a woman's sitting area, a
men's dining room, and one or two rooms for storage.
The central courtyard was a wonderfully private place. Because women were only allowed to
leave their homes for short periods, and only if they had their husband's permission, they could
always enjoy sitting out in the privacy of their courtyard. They probably sat in the shade, because
a pale complexion was a sign of beauty to the ancient Greeks, but at least they got fresh air.
Mothers and daughters would sit in their courtyard and sew or cook or gossip. Meals were often
eaten in the courtyard. The family would gather there in evening and share what happened to
them that day and tell stories and fables. The courtyard was the center of family life.
The Greek diet was very healthy. They grew wheat and made breads and cereals and noodles.
They grew olives and figs and grapes. They grew all kinds of vegetables. They kept goats for
milk and cheese. They fished in their many waterways and streams. City-states on the coastline
used boats and nets and traps to catch all kind of seafood. Some homes kept chickens. The
Greeks made homemade wine. They made jams and jellies. They kept beehives for honey. They
made delicious sweet deserts. They ate well.
Meals were prepared in the courtyards, the open-air center of each home. The Greeks were very
clean people. Their cookers were cleaned. Their hands were clean. Their food preparation areas
were clean. They did this to honor Hestia, the goddess of hearth and home.
In the larger Greek city-states, you could buy meat in cook shops. It was expensive, but
available. You could also find other foods to buy in the marketplace.
Reading on Ancient Greek Culture
Directions: Complete the reading below. Answer Questions on Greek Dress, Hair, and
Education in your notebook for homework tonight. You will complete the rest of the questions
in class tomorrow.
Questions on Greek Dress, Hair and Education
1. What did Ancient Greek clothing look like?
2. What did men and women do to look beautiful in Greece?
3. What did Ancient Greek boys learn in school? What did Ancient Greek girls learn
from their moms?
Questions on Greek Slaves, Houses, and Food
1. What did slaves do for their masters? Could they ever get out of being a slave?
2. What was the central room of an Ancient Greek house? What was it used for
3. Name six foods eaten in Ancient Greece.
Questions on Ancient Greek Men, Women and Children
1. What privileges (rights) did men have that women did not in Ancient Greece?
2. Who was the boss of the household?
3. What did children do to help their families? What did they do for fun?
Ancient Greek Clothing, Hairstyles and Education
Greek clothing was sold in the angora, the marketplace. You could buy clothes. But they were
expensive. Most families made most or all of their clothes.
Their clothes were simple. They made clothes out of wool for winter wear, and used linen as
their summer fabric. They dyed tunics and cloaks in bright colors. They bleached some material
to a bright white. Clothes were decorated with geometric designs and could be decorated to
represent their city-state. Some clothes were left plain.
The Greeks wore a hat they invented for traveling. It had a chin strap, so it could hang down
their back unless they needed it for protection from sunshine or rain.
The rich bought jewelry from traveling peddlers. Everyone made jewelry. It was very popular.
Both men and women used perfume, which was made by boiling flowers and herbs.
Both men and women used perfume made by boiling flowers and herbs.
The Greeks loved beauty. It's no surprise that the Greeks loved shiny healthy hair. They used
mirrors and hairbrushes. The women used scented waves and lotions to arrange their hair in
highly designed and interesting styles. They also braided their hair and wrapped it up on top on
of their heads. They even wore their hair sometimes in ponytails. They used headbands. They
used hair ornaments to keep their hair in place. They had a lot of fun with their hair. Most of the
women designed their own hair styles, or directed their slaves do it for them. There was no such
thing as a beauty parlor for women.
Men, on the other hand, if they could afford it, went to a barber shop to get their hair cut and
their beards trimmed. Barber shops existed in nearly all city states. Barber shops were social
places. While getting their hair cut, they would gab about sports and politics, and exchange
gossip and crack deals.
Education was very different in Sparta than it was in the other Greek city-states. In Athens,
Corinth, Argos, Megara and in hundreds of other Greek city-states, the purpose of education was
to produce good citizens. All citizens (remember, citizens were only men - women, children, and
slaves were not citizens) were trained to be good soldiers. But they were also trained in music,
art, literature, and politics. In Sparta, the purpose of education was to produce good soldiers.
In Athens boys were taught at home until they were about six years old. Then boys went to
school, where they learned to read and write. They learned to play a musical instrument, usually
the flute or the lyre. They learned the poetry of Homer. They learned how to debate and how to
give a persuasive speech. They studied science and math. After high school, they attended
military school. Boys did not graduate from all the schooling they were required to take until
they were about 20 years old. Girls did not go to school. They were taught at home by their
mothers. But, if their mother could read and write, they taught their girls how to do the same, as
well as teaching them how to cook and sew and run a household.