1. My Life in Ancient Greece
By: Sarah and Megan

2. About Me
My name is Giovanna. I am a
young woman who lives in Athens
and ever since I had my first visit
to the oracle I have been keeping
a scrapbook of what happens in
early Greece. In the following
pages you will see my life unravel
in front of you.

3. Map Of My Civilization
History explains that my
civilization started from
the 8th or 6th century BC
and my recent visit to the
oracle has warned me of
a terrible battle between
us and the Romans
ending my civilization in
the year 146th BC. To be
prepared for this battle I
have drawn a map of my
civilization.

4. Background
This is a drawing I made of the
moon when I stayed up with
Parmenides one night
My civilization is known world wide for many things such as the Olympics, theatre, drama, our
art, architecture, poetry, and our government, (democracy). Our civilization felt that we needed
everyone’s opinion, (except, women, slaves, and foreigners), so our government started the
first democracy. We are also known for science. My neighbor, Parmenides found out that the
earth is round by studying its shadow on the moon. Lastly we are well known for our
beliefs/explanations of happenings. These explanations include the gods and we are so well
known for it, that the oracle says that people in a place called Ridgeview, and many other
places, will learn about our gods.

5. This is my mother
when she just
Social Structure finished spinning.
This is my father This is
This is coming home. my
were my
brother
father sat
playing
when he This is me with
went to see drawing this his
his first picture that toys.
theater you are
production. looking at
right know.
First, slaves and free men separated in our civilization’s social life. From there it the free men are
divide weather they are a citizen or a foreigner. The most powerful social class is the class that
has men that have both their parents and themselves born in Athens. Sadly that does not apply to
me even thought both my parents and I were born in Athens because I don’t have any social life
myself, but it does apply to my brother and father. When my brother grows up he will be in the
highest social class and have a high status just like my father. My social and legal status comes
from my father, brother and my husband if I marry. Anyway when my father is not discussing
politics, working, and if he can find the money he might go to the theatre and watch drama. My
mother will stay at home most days spinning, weaving and other housework and when me and my
brother were not very old we would be playing with our toys or writing in our scrapbooks. Mostly in
our family we are all to busy to keep track of our social life.

6. My Home
My house is a simple, two room house made of mud bricks covered in plaster. Our roof is made of
pottery tiles and we have holes in our walls used as windows. Most citizens of Greece that are
lower class own homes with just one to three rooms like us. The houses of the wealthier citizens
are much bigger usually with two floors. The houses often contain pillars and are centered around a
courtyard. The first floor has the andron, which is the kitchen and dining room, along with the living
room. The top floor contains the bedrooms and the gynaecium. Gynaecium is a room where the
woman sew cloth and eat their meals. Our culture is very practical so we don’t tend to have a lot of
furniture in our houses, only what is needed. Our mattresses for our beds are made of a sack filled
with leaves; and our beds and couches were made either of a wooden plank with four legs or a
wooden frame with rope webbing and mats on top. Since we are too poor to afford lighting we wake
up with the sun and go to sleep when the sun goes down. Although, the more wealthy families
might have olive oil lamps to light their houses with.
A house made of mud bricks
covered in plaster with a
roof of pottery tiles.

7. How my wealthier friends lived.
This is a sun shade.
Because of the women's
wealthy she has someone
cover her face with a sun
shade when it is sunny
out.
My friend Talia, who is rather wealthy because her father was a government leader, always had
someone with her. She was not allowed to go out by herself; not only this but she was forced into a
marriage with a wealthy man. The same is with all rich woman. I’ve never been in her house but I
have walked by and seen that it is huge with a grand entrance and beautiful marble columns. Like
me she never went to school, all though she is home schooled. They consider a pale complexion to
be the prettiest shade on a woman. In relation to that, the upper class, like her, are required to
keep their faces shaded with a sun shade when it is hot. As you can see beauty is very important to
the rich. Another example of this is how they have trained servants to arrange their hair and
makeup.

8. (our Greek name)
Atherina: A fish that
lives near our shore
Our Meals
Red wine
Our religion and our God’s are a big part of our diet. One way our religion affects
our appetite is that we do not kill and eat any tamed or domestic animals unless
it had been sacrificed to the Gods first. We believe that it is cruel and not right.
Although, if the animal is hunted in the wild it is okay to eat it. Another way our
religion affects the food choices we make is how certain Greek Gods like
particular foods more than others. It is thought that Dionysos loves wine, and
Demeter and Persephone are to love bread. In Greece we drink quite a large
amount of wine. Our meals also often consist of wheat, olive oil, and vegetables
that we grow. We mostly grow legumes, such as lentils, beans, peas, and
chickpeas. We are also fond of fish and eat it quite frequently, although because
of our approach to meat, we don’t eat very much red meat.

9. Family Life
This is my
In our family we when my
believed that mother and
everyone should aunt would
be treated teach me
equally. the ways of
a women in
our
civilization.
In our Civilization the husband/father was the head of the household.
My father could do what ever he wanted in the house and make us do
what ever he wanted us to do. Lucky for the rest of the family, my
father was a great man and he believed that he should treat everyone
the way he wanted to be treated, if not better. However my father
would make all the important decisions and was the only one that
was a full citizen. My mother would do the daily chores including
cooking and weaving and also raise my brother and I. We were poor
and we felt it was not right, so we did not have a slave. This meant
my brother and I had to help my mother and father with all the work. I,
being a female, would help my mother and learn the female jobs
around a household, and my brother, being a male, would help my
father and learn the male roles. Wealthier families would have slaves
to help with the daily chores.

10. This is a drawing of
Marriage
when I first saw my
husband coming to These pomegranate
our house in the seeds are the fruit I
chariot. ate to show that all
my basic needs
would now come
from my husband.
When I got married, my parents and my loving husband’s parents arranged it for us. The wedding
ceremony started after dark. My loving husband came over to my house in a chariot and had a
feast with us. Then I went back to his house in the same chariot. My family followed us carrying
gifts and my friends followed us playing music and lighting the way. His parents led us to the hearth
where there was fruit and nuts. I ate the fruit to show that all my basic needs would now come from
my husband. The next day our friends came bringing presents. Luckily for my family, there are
some advantages of being poor. One of these advantages was we were allowed to pick who, when,
and if we would like to marry. My friend was forced into a marriage with a man of the age 20, which
her father picked, when she was 14. Her father gave the groom’s parents a dowry for the marriage
and if he wanted a divorce he would have to give back the dowry. Once my friend was married she
still was not free and had to do what ever her husband wanted her to do. Also another one of my
friends was for forced to marry a man of the age 30, when she as 18. The same is with all rich
women.

11. Childbirth
I have asked my mother about babies being born. One of the first
things she told me was about all she had to do to prepare for my
brother and I. She mentioned things like warm water, olive oil, warm
fomentations, sea sponges, wool pieces, bandages, and a sweet
fragrance. The water is to clean parts of the women’s body and the
pieces of wool is to cover parts of the women’s body. The olive oil is
to make it easier for the baby to come out and the bandages are for
the newborn baby to be wrapped in. The warm fomentations to ease
the pains and the sea sponges for sponging off. My mother also
mentioned things like, a pillow, beds and a midwife’s stool or chair.
Sea Sponges
where used in
childbirth the
sponge of the
women and
baby. The
softest sea
sponges where
used the most.

12. Me and My Siblings Childhood
My brother and I were brought up quite differently because
of our gender. At the schools he was taught to be an
Clay pot used
equally balanced individual with a healthy mind and body.
To build his mind his teacher taught him to read, write, for toilet
calculate, sing, recite poetry and memorize a combination training
of words by heart. For the athletic benefits of schooling the
teachers would teach him gymnastics. Gymnastics in our
civilization includes: jumping, running, wrestling, and
throwing javelins. While practicing his wrestling skills it was At a young age my siblings and I used clay pots in
important that all boys try their best because if their our toilet training. As children we played with all
teacher thought they weren’t they would be beaten. We sorts of toys, mostly clay models of animals such
take sports very seriously here. as pigs, and rabbits. We Also had clay dolls. In
order for my dolls to move we had leather thongs
attached to their arms and legs. Being rich, my
friend Talia, was excepted to have a tutor and
nursemaids to care and teach for her. Her
education included tradition female skills. Such as
weaving and spinning. She was also taught to
read, write, and calculate. In order for her to take
part in a special festival for woman that honours
Athena and other Goddesses her mother would
teach her secret Ancient songs and dances.
A clay doll

13. A Future Civilization In A Land Called Canada
This is what the oracle said
the Canada flag will look like.
My clay rabbit (my
toy)
I had a visit to the oracle and she talked of a civilization in the future that lives in a place
called Canada. She said that the children their will grow up much differently than me. She said their
toys will be made of a material called plastic that could be easily manipulated into any shape
imaginable, unlike our hard clay dolls and animals. The oracle also said that some of the children’s
fathers and mothers worked, so the kids would be taken care of a person called a nanny or a
babysitter. She said these children wore all sorts of different clothes. For example she named
something they wear on their legs called jeans, and t-shirts made of cotton that they wear on the
upper half of their body. In Canada it is called child abuse and is against the law when someone
tortures a child against the child’s will. She said that boys and girls will have equal rights and they
will both go to school. This is hardly believable considering how no girl in Greece would dream of
going to school knowing only boys do. Even though there is that huge difference, the idea of school
is somewhat similar. In Canada the school will build both the mind and the physical aspects of the
human body. Just like in Greece, they believe both are important.

14. Education
Being a girl in Athens, I never went to school and I would be educated at home. However my
brother did. Everyday since he turned seven and until he was 14, I’ve asked him about school. He
would tell me about how small the school was, about the one teacher and 10-20 boys, and about
what new things he learned in reading, or writing, or math, or music, or at the wrestling school
where they teach many sports. Usually poor families like us can’t afford the fee’s of the school.
But my parents think that it is very important that my brother has a good education, so to afford
the fee we go some nights with out food. Any way my brother once told me that they cover a
Here is the Alphabet that
board with wax and that they would carve out letters and numbers with a stylus. When they are
my brother taught me
done they smooth the wax so they can use it again the next day. My brother was also taught when he had time.
about voting in the assembly and was educated to become a good citizen of our city, Athens.
When my brother turned 14 his public schooling stopped and his home schooling started. My
father was a tradesman so my brother learned the way of the trade. Some of my brother’s friends
wanted to work for the army so they stayed in school until they were 18 then they went to the Here is a
army. My brother’s wealthier friends also kept their schooling up, although they now learn sophist hand
or philosophy. My brother tells me that sophist is where they learn things like public speaking, drawing of
rhetoric, and persuasion. Sophist and philosophy fee is even higher then the school’s fee so sadly my brother’s
teacher that
only the wealthiest can take part in it. Philosophy is where they are taught to think and write about he gave to
thinking. In Sparta boys would have to go to military training from age 7 – 20 and girls had to do me when he
physical training to because they believe that strong women make strong babies. In Sparta they was
believe in fighting, where as here in Athens we believe in discussing it first. My brother taught me explaining
how his
some of the many things he leaned in school, so I decided to use them and practice them so that
teacher
is why I’m making this scrapbook. looked.

15. Religion
The Oracle Pythia
Religion impacts almost everything we do in Greece.
The God’s on Mount Olympus are in control of everything,
they determine if each person leads a good and happy life or
not. This is why we constantly praise the God’s. Whether it is
through festivals, temples, or sacrifice, every citizen of
Greece does. We also look to the god’s for all our debates. If
we are having a debate, argument, or want to hear what will
happen in the future, we go to the oracle. The oracle is
someone who can hear a certain God and tell you what the
God is saying. Each oracle works a different way. There is the
Pythia, a woman oracle, who is the oracle for Apollo. She
gets drunk from the smoke of burning laurel leaves and talks
to Apollo. The Priest will translate what she is saying for the
visitor. When we want to consult her, we go to the great
temple of Delphi. Do to their great powers, the oracle and the
priest have much supremacy and we listen carefully to
everything they say.

16. Athena
We look up to Athena, one of our twelve Greek Gods and Goddesses
for many reasons. One is that she is the goddess of wisdom,
civilization, warfare, strength, strategy, female, arts, crafts, justice,
and skill. The second is that our city, Athens is named after her. Both
Poseidon and Athena loved our city and claimed it was theirs. Later
they decided to settle it with a contest of who could give the city the
best gift. Poseidon stuck his trident into a cliff which caused it to spew
out water, although the water was very salty so wasn’t very useful for
us. Athena’s gift was an olive tree. This is an amazing gift that gives
our city food, oil, and wood. So Athena won the contest and named
our city Athens. She lives on Mount Olympus along with the other 11
gods and goddesses we worship. Athena is Zeus’s, the king of our
gods and the king of the sky, favorite child. Athena was born in a very
unusual way. Her mother is Metis, the goddess of wisdom, and in
fear that she would make a son greater than Zeus, Zeus swallowed
her. Inside Zeus, Metis started to make a robe and helmet for her
new baby, Athena. This caused a huge headache for Zeus and finally
Hephaestus came and cut Zeus’s head in half and out came Athena.
She was already full grown and wearing the robe and helmet her
mother, Metis, had made her.

17. A man in a toga, which
My Closet means he is probably in the
presence of a woman.
Woman in a
toga. As you
can see it is
held together
with pins
instead of
sewing.
Even though my parents were poor they always kept us well dressed. Men in Ancient
Greece only wear clothes when they are in front woman, otherwise they don’t. For
example during sports, swimming, in the mines, and during hot weather it just doesn’t
seem practical to wear clothes. Of course, woman are expected to always wear clothes
unless they are dancers or prostitutes. My friend, Talia, is a noble woman and she is
expected to wear a veil that covers her head and lower face. Our clothes don’t involve
much sewing, mostly different folds and a few pins. Although, we do have wonderful
embroidery and colours on our clothes.

18. Our Arts and
We have many different forms of art in our
culture. A few of the most common forms of art
Music
are weaving, pottery, and architecture. Our
pottery is very detailed and our designs and
scenes on them tend to be very dramatic or These are the three
lively. The decorations would be painted on main kinds of columns in
smooth red clay to form the pot. Marble is a very our architecture.
important aspect of our architecture, especially
because we have so many marble quarries. It is
a strong substance so it is good for building. A
common piece of architecture here in Ancient Music is very important to all Greek
Greece are marble columns. We have three citizens. It is involved in many celebrations
different kinds of columns: Doric, Ionic, and gatherings. For example marriage,
Corinthian. The Doric column is more popular in
funerals, theatres, and religious
the mainland Greece. It’s top, the capitol, is plain
but the column is sturdy. The top has a square ceremonies all include music in their
shape. The Ionic is more common in Eastern gatherings. Much of our music is centered
Greece. It is elegant and thinner with a capitol around our religion. Like most Greek
that looks like a scroll. Although the Corinthian citizens, my favorite instruments are the
isn’t very popular here, it is used quite often on kithara, lyre, aulos. The kithara and the
Roman temples. This column’s capitol is very lyre are both string instruments, and the
elaborate and the top is decorated with acanthus
aulos is a double-reed instrument.
leaves.

19. Thargelia
Thargelia takes place on the 6th and 7th of Thargelion on the Greek calendar, May –
June. This celebration occurs in Athens, my city-state. This festival has two main
reasons. One is to celebrate the first fruits, or grains of wheat of the season; and the
other is to release guilt from the town and start fresh. They release this guilt by
making a human sacrifice of one or two people, sometimes important people willing
to sacrifice themselves but usually criminals or outcasts, to the Gods. The scapegoat
would be fed, carried through the town, and then they would either be expelled,
dropped off a cliff, thrown into the ocean, or killed on a funeral pyre. The more guilt
the town felt the more serious the sacrifice. The festival also includes a sacrifice to
the Gods of the first fruits, or grains. This section of the festival started off the harvest
season. The final event of the festival, and my favorite, is a procession and an official
adoption of a person.

20. Uh-oh I’m running out of pages.
It is a good time to stop anyway. So there you have it, my life story. It is quite different to some
place called Canada as the oracle predicted. My hope is to hid this book and have some one in
the future find it and she how I lived. If you are from the future that it appears that it worked and
I hoped you liked it. Just to clear some things up my husband and I are having a great life. Our
two darling children are playing with my old toys as I’m writing this. My brother is happy man
living with his wife and kids and my good friend … divorced her husband and now is married to
the love of her life. I’m now a sculpture and I love my job, so I guess everyone got their happily
ever after.
This is sculpture is my pride and joy of my
sculpting collection.

21. Bibliography For Pictures
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22. Bibliography For Text
Websites:
Ancient Greece- http://www.ancientgreece.com/s/Main_Page/
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Wiki.answers- http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_were_the_ancient_greeks_known_for,
Wikipedia-Ancient Greece - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Greece
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Books:
Macdonald, Fiona. How to Survive as an Ancient Greek. Great Britain: Children’s Press, 1995.
Macdonald, Fiona. Inside Ancient Athens. Great Britain: Book House, 2005.