Ancient GreeksGabe Tootle –Archaeological Project

4th Grade / ChallengeAjaya G Sonde

Greece is a mountainous country that is surrounded by water on three sides. The Ionian sea is on on the west; the Mediterranean sea is on the south; and the Aegean sea on the east.Source 1 and source 2

Greek SocietyGreek men were divided up into two groups, free men and slaves. Free men were men whose parents were born free in Greece and slaves were people forced to work for the free men without getting paid. Sometimes slaves were prisoners of war, but sometimes they were bought.

Free men were divided into two groups too: Citizens, people born in Greece with full rights; and Metics. Metics were immigrants. Metics were expected to join the army, but they were not allowed to vote or buy a home.

Women did not have any rights and got status from men they married.

Source 3 and source 7

Greek Government

Greek was made up of “city states”. Every city state had a government and culture of its own.

The majority of Greece was ruled by a few rich land owners, aristocrats. This was called oligarchy. Later, a council ruled. Even later, citizens were asked to vote. Voting introduced democracy.

Source 3

Greek legal system

Before 500 BC there was no legal system. Murderers were turned over to the families of victims and this turned into endless bloodbaths.

After 500 BC you could take someone to court and your case would be judged in front of a jury. There were some rules: You had to have witnesses You had to tell the person and post a written

notice publicly. Jury members were paid, and often there were

juries of 500 to prevent briberySource 11

Greek Education Girls did not go to Greek schools. Instead, they were

home schooled. Education meant different things in different city

states. Sparta only wanted soldiers and Athens wanted smart deep thinkers. Sparta schools focused on physical training and Athens focused on deep thinking.

Schools were very expensive to attend. Greek boys used boards coated in wax to write on, and

a sharpened stylus to write with. The other end of the stylus was blunt, and used to erase by rubbing out.

Greeks had the first alphabet with vowels, alpha and beta being Greek words – make up the word alphabet.

Source 12

Greek houses Homes in Greece were 1 or 2 stories tall

made of stone or clay. Roofs were made of tin or reed. Floors were tiled to keep them cool.

Men and women lived in different parts of the house. Women lived in back or upstairs.

Most homes did not have a bathroom, but larger homes did. Public bathrooms were common.

Most homes had a courtyard in the middle, with all rooms facing the courtyard. Women could sit in the courtyards.

Source 13

Greek Wars There were six large wars in ancient Greece. They were the:

The Ionian Revolt The First Persian War The Peloponnesian War The Archidamian War

Six years of peace – peace of Niceas The Sicilian war The Ionian or Decelean War

Of these wars, the Ionian revolt was the beginning of big wars for Greece, as it tried to fight of Persian armies. In the Ionian war, Greece pulled away from Persia.

Ultimately Phillip II of Macedonia, father of Alexander the Great conquered Greece. Source 9

Greek city state allies

Greece had allies with her own “city states”, but did not have allies as we know it today – with other countries like England or France.

Ancient Greek Weapons Military men of ancient Greece used 8 foot

spears (doru) with iron tips. A shield (aspis) was usually held in the other hand in protection. Swords (xiphos) were had, but saved for extra protection and were not the primary source of attack. Source 10

Greek god family tree source 8

Greek gods There were a lot of Greek gods. Looking at the

family tree, you can see they were family to each other, often a son or daughter of another god. Sometimes they fell in love with people on earth and had part god part human babies. A few that are well known are: Eros: He was the god of love Poseidon: god of the sea Zeus: god of the sky and ruler of the other gods Hades: god of the dead in the underworldSource 8

Unknown God Christianity was a young but developing

religion in ancient Greece. Acts 17, NIV of the Holy Bible, Paul was in

Athens at the Areopagus (courthouse) and said “For as I walked around and looked carefully at your objects of worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: to an unknown god. Now what you worship as something unknown I am going to proclaim to you ‘The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of Heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by hands’”.

Greek Clothing Greeks did not wear clothes

the way we wear clothes. Greeks usually wore tunics, called chitons, that were made of wool or linen, depending on the weather and fastened at the shoulders. People usually wore belts. Girls wore chitons that were long enough to touch the ground. Boys wore shorter chitons. The sandal was the only shoe. Rich people had colored chitons and poor people had white chitons.

Source 14

Greek hairdo’s

Greek girls wore very long hair and it was usually in a long braid that they could pile on their head or wear in a ponytail. Ribbons and headbands were common.

Greek boys curled their hair and made styles stay together with things like melted wax or lotions.

Source 14

Greek money

Before 600 BC ancient Greeks traded a service or good for a service or good. They did not use money as we know it. By 500 BC Athens started using a coin that was called the drachma This was the first Greek coin. Other Greek city states also made their own coins. When someone travelled from city state to city state they had to trade their old coins in for coins of where they were.

Source 14

Greek Food Greeks enjoyed many foods!

They were great fishermen and farmers. They also hunted deer, rabbit, and pig. They knew how to turn wheat into bread, grapes into wine, and milk into cheese!

Of all the crops, olives were the greatest. This could be made into oil for cooking, lighting, and for beauty.

Seafood was very popular!Source 4

Greek Games

Greek boys played hockey for fun. When they played hockey, they did not wear clothing. Good thing that girls were not allowed to watch or play sports! This would have been very embarrassing! Greek boys also played games like checkers or marbles. Greek checkers was more like American backgammon than checkers. Girls were not allowed to play these games either.Source 4

Greek Girls

Girls could not vote, participate in society, go to the theater, own a home, or join the military. They could not play sports or games. They mostly worked inside the home, cleaning and weaving. Source 4

Recreation for Greek men – the theater! Source 5 and source 6

Greek Theater

A lot of Greek cities had theater, but Athens had the biggest theater. Usually the plays were thought of, directed by, and acted by the same person. Later, there were three actors allowed on the stage at one time. These actors were always men. When a girl actor was needed, a Greek man would dress up and act like a girl.

There were two kinds of theater; comedies and tragedy. Comedies were funny and tragedy was sad.

Actors wore animals skins as costumes and sometimes large masks.

Theaters were made of three parts, the orchestra, the skene, and the audience.

Source 5

Sources page 1: 1. Ancient Greece;1998;

http://plato-dialogues.org/tools/gk_wrld.htm 2. Geography; The British Museum 2003; http://

www.ancientgreece.co.uk/geography/home_set.html 3. Culture and Society;1998; http

://www.ancientgreece.com/s/Culture / 4. Life;1998; http://www.ancientgreece.com/s/Life/ 5. Theater;1998; http://www.ancientgreece.com/s/Theater/ 6. Getty Museum Holds Exhibition on “The Art of Ancient Greek

Theater”;2010; http://usa.greekreporter.com/2010/08/01/getty-museum-exhibition-on-the-art-of-ancient-greek-theater/

7. Sandals BNA;2011; http://www.odeany.com/ancient-egypt/sandals-bna.html

8. Mythology;1998; http://www.ancientgreece.com/s/Mythology/ 9. Wars;1998; http://www.ancientgreece.com/s/Wars/ 10. Ancient Greek Weapons; 2011; http://

www.weapons-universe.com/Swords/Ancient_Greek_Weapons.shtml

Sources page 2:

11. The court of Athens; 2008; http://greece.mrdonn.org/athenscourt.html

12. Ancient Greece; 2002; http://www.woodlands-junior.kent.sch.uk/Homework/greece/schools.htm

13. Houses in ancient Greece; 2012; http://www.woodlands-junior.kent.sch.uk/Homework/greece/houses.htm

13. What clothes did the Ancient Greeks wear?; 2012; http://www.woodlands-junior.kent.sch.uk/Homework/greece/clothes.htm

14. Money in Ancient Greece; 2010; http://www.historylink102.com/greece3/money.htm