2. MAP Athens Much of Greece is covered by mountains. This made it hard to travel around by land in ancient times. But which there are many islands. So the sea was always important to the ancient Greeks. They traveled by sea as much as they could. This meant they needed harbours to land in. Some of these harbours grew into ports places where ships came from all over ancient Greece. Ports were especially useful to traders, because they could meet there to exchange goods.
3. BACKGROUND Throughout its modern history, Greece's strategic location in the Mediterranean and the Balkan Peninsula has been seen as an invitation for foreign intervention in the domestic and external affairs of the country. The policies and actions of foreign powers were mostly dictated by their competition for influence in the region rather than by the likely impact on Greece. While deploring foreign influence, Greeks usually accepted it grudgingly when national security and continued independence were the likely results of such acceptance. Since the foundation of the modern Greek state, however, foreign policy orientation, and especially the attitude toward potential foreign dominance, has been one of the foremost criteria distinguishing one political party from another. After World War II and the Greek Civil War, the United States emerged as Greece's principal patron, a special relationship that Britain had maintained from the late eighteenth century until about 1950. In the postwar years, foreign involvement became synonymous with United States involvement because of Greece's heavy dependence on the United States for military and economic aid. Such dependence evoked mixed reactions; it was generally popular with right-wing Greek leaders, but it was harshly attacked by communist and other left-wing groups. By the early 1960s, a growing number of moderate and centrist Greeks had come to voice the need for more independence in foreign affairs, but without jeopardizing their nation's close relationships with its Western allies and especially the United States.
5. SOCIAL STRUCTURE Greece in the Archaic Period was made up from independent states, called Polis, or city state. The polis of Athens included about 2,500 sq km of territory, but other Polis with smaller areas of 250 sq km. Greek Society was mainly broken up between Free people and Slaves, who were owned by the free people. Slaves were used as servants and labourers, without any legal rights. Sometimes the slaves were prisoners of war or bought from foreign slave traders. Although many slaves lived closely with their owners, few were skilled craftsmen and even fewer were paid. As Athenian society evolved, free men were divided between Citizens and Metics. A citizen was born with Athenian parents and were the most powerful group, that could take part in the government of the Polis. After compulsory service in the army they were expected to be government officials and take part in Jury Service. A metic was of foreign birth that had migrated to Athens, to either trade or practice a craft. A metic had to pay taxes and sometimes required to serve in the army. However, they could never achieve full right s of a Citizen, neither could they own houses or land and were not allowed to speak in law courts.The social classes applied to men only, as women all took their social and legal status from their husband or their male partner. Women in ancient Greece were not permitted to take part in public life.
7. HOUSING Sometimes his parents would be there, if they were still alive and if they weren't living with another brother. Many people had slaves living in the house with them too. Some people had their unmarried sisters or widowed sisters living with them.
8. FOOD The ancient Greece had rather weird and uncommon ideas about their meals. All the meals in ancient Greece revolved around their religious beliefs and philosophical theories. The Greeks never consumed the meat of a domesticated animal, as they considered it to be barbaric. The only meat that was consumed was that of the animals that were first scarified to god or were hunted in the wild. The Greeks also never consumed milk in its raw form. The milk was first processed into normal cheese or cottage cheese and then consumed. In the ancient Greece food facts, it is often seen that the Greeks never consumed anything that was a part of barbarian, nomads and the non-Greeks diets
9. FAMILY LIFE Most Greeks, like most other people throughout history, lived in families with a mother, a father and their children. Usually men got married when they were about twenty five or thirty years old as they do today, but women got married much younger between twelve and sixteen years old. Usually there were other people living in the house as well. Wealthy Greek women hardly ever went out of the house alone. Mostly when they went out it was to go to weddings and funerals and religious ceremonies, or to visit other women. Poorer women, who didn't have slaves, did go out to get water from the fountain, and sometimes to work in the fields or to sell vegetables or flowers in the marketplace.
10. MARRIAGE Men got married when they were about twenty five or thirty years old as they do today, but women got married much younger between twelve and sixteen years old. Probably girls from rich families got married younger and girls from poor families got married a little older. The girls were so young, they did not have much choice about who they were going to marry. Their fathers or uncles or brothers chose for them. Often girls had not even met the man they married before the wedding. There was no marriage ceremony as we know it today. Your parents arranged it and then there was a party and the girl’s parents paid a dowry to the man and then the girl moved into the man’s house. If they were both citizens and she lived in his house, then they were legally married. If she moved out of his house, then they were divorced.
11. CHILDHOOD Babies born in ancient Greece often had a difficult time surviving. Many died in the first couple days of life. Therefore, babies did not receive names until the seventh or tenth day of life. If a baby was born deformed, it might have been abandoned on a mountain. Sometimes abandoned babies were rescued and brought up as slaves by another family. Children spent the majority of their time with their mother. They stayed in the women’s part of the house. While they were being raised, girls would receive their entire education and training in the home with their mothers. Boys, on the other hand, might learn their father’s trade or go to school around the age of seven. Many toys, similar to current day toys, have been found in archeological sites. Dolls, rattles, tops, swings, and many other items have been unearthed. As is common today, those from richer families had a greater assortment of toys, while those from poorer families were expected to work for the family at a much younger age. Evidence also shows that Greeks kept pets such as dogs, pigs, tortoises, and caged birds.
12. EDUCATION In ancient Athens, the purpose of education was to produce citizens trained in the arts and to prepare citizens or both peace and war. Until age 6 or so boys were taught at home by their mother or by a male slave. From age 6 to 14, boys went to a neighbourhood primary school or to a private school. Books were very expensive and rare, so subjects were read out loud and the boys had to memorize everything. To help them learn, they used writing tablets and rulers. In primary school, they had to learn two important things the words of Homer, a famous Greek epic poet and how to play the lyre, a musical instrument. Their teacher, who was always a man, could choose what additional subjects he wanted to teach. He might choose to teach drama, public speaking, government, art, reading, writing, math, and how to play another ancient Greek instrument, FLUTE . Following that, boys attended a higher school for four more years. When they turned 18, they entered military school for two additional years. At age 20, they graduated.
13. RELIGIOIN The ancient Greek people were polytheistic, which means they believed in many gods. Ancient Greek civilization worshipped a lively group of gods and goddesses, including the great Zeus, his wife Here, Apollo, the god of music and healing, Athena, goddess of war and wisdom, Ares, god of war, beautiful Aphrodite, goddess of love and many others. The Greek believed the gods were humanlike beings who influenced the lives of all Greeks.
14. CLOTHING Greek clothing were very simple. Men and women wore linen in the summer and wool in the winter. The ancient Greeks could buy cloth and clothes in the agora, the marketplace, but that was very expensive. Most families made their own clothes, which were simple tunics and warm cloaks made of linen or wool, dyed a bright colour, or bleached white. Clothes were made by the mother, her daughters, and females slaves. Now and then, they might buy jewelry from a traveling peddler, hairpins, rings, and earrings, but only the rich could afford much jewelry. Both men and women in ancient Athens, and in most of the other city-states, used perfume, made by boiling flowers and herbs. The first real hat, the broad-brimmed petasos, was invented by the ancient Greeks. It was worn only for traveling. A chin strap held it on, so when it was not needed, as protection from the weather, it could hang down ones back.
15. CLOTHING 2 Both men and women enjoyed using mirrors and hairbrushes. Hair was curled, arranged in interesting and carefully designed styles, and held in place with scented waxes and lotions. Women kept their hair long, in braids, arranged on top of their head, or wore their hair in ponytails. Headbands, made of ribbon or metal, were very popular. Blond hair was rare. Greek admired the blonde look and many tried bleaching their hair. Men cut their hair short and, unless they were soldiers, wore beards. Barber shops first became popular in ancient Greece, and were an important part of the social life of many ancient Greek males. In the barber shop, the men exchanged political and sports news, philosophy, and gossip.
16. ART, MUSIC Dance was very important to the ancient Greeks. They believed that dance improved both physical and emotional health. Rarely did men and women dance together. Some dances were danced by men and others by women. There were more than 200 ancient Greek dances; comic dances, warlike dances, dances for athletes and for religious worship, plus dances for weddings, funerals, and celebrations. Dance was accompanied by music played on lyres, flutes, and a wide variety of percussion instruments such as tambourines, cymbals and castanets. The art of ancient Greece has exercised an enormous influence on the culture of many countries from ancient times until the present, particularly in the areas of sculpture and architecture . In the West, the art of the Roman Empire was largely derived from Greek models. In the East, Alexander the Great's conquests initiated several centuries of exchange between Greek, Central Asian and Indian cultures, resulting in Greco buddhist art, with ramifications as far as Japan. Following the Renaissance in Europe, the humanist aesthetic and the high technical standards of Greek art inspired generations of European artists. Well into the 19th century, the classical tradition derived from Greece dominated the art of the western world.
18. CONCLUSION Greece lies at the top of the Balkan Peninsula, an area of southeast Europe that sticks out into the Mediterranean Sea. Humans have lived in this hot, dry land for more than 200, 000 years, but the people now known as the ancient Greeks arrived much later. The first Greeks probably moved in from the north about 4,000 years ago. The Greeks were different from the peoples already in the area in two main ways. They spoke a new language Greek and they believed in a group of gods who had not been heard of in the region before. The Greeks also introduced new styles of house building and pottery making.
