Ancient Private Lives

The daily lives of Greek men and Greek women were very different. Men spend most of their time away from home, meeting friends, exercizing at a gymnasium, working or performing public duties. Woman were expected to stay indoors, cook, care for children, give orders to slaves, and spin and weave. Even at home, men and women often lived separate lives. Greek men had dinner parties for their friends, but did not invite their wives. The Athenian statement Pericles said that, while men competed for fame, "the greatest glory of women is not to be talked about, whether in praise or blame."

Much of what we know about the Greeks daily life comes from vase paintings. The diners recline or sat on couches, beneath a vine that was heavy with grapes. As they drink their wine, they are entertained by a female musician playing the double pipes. She had to be a hetaira(companion), a woman that had to be educated to enertain men.

Greeks loved wine, which they thought was a gift from the god Dionysus. Some cups have a pointed base and was probably passed around from hand to hand.

Olives was a essential ingredient in a Greek household. They wre pressed for their oil, which was used in cooking and burned in lamps to light the home. Olive oil could be perfumed, and used as cosmetics and medicines. In November, the ancient Greeks harvested their olives by beating the trees with sticks, just as Greeks still do today.

Women had their own separate area of the house called the gynaeceum which means women's quarters. Much of the housework, such as cooking, cleaning, and carrying water from the well, was done by the slaves.

>Unlike women from other Greek cities, Spartan girls took part in sports. They wrestled, ran races, and threw the javelin. Spartans believed that sprong women would give birth to healthy babies. In Sparta, the newborns were examined by a council of elders. Those judged weak or diabled were abandoned and left to die.

Although women's social life was limited, some religious festivals gave tehm the oppurtunity to appear in public and meet their friends. Before they went out, women took great care over their appearance, carefully arranging their hair and putting on makeup. Those who could afford to wore expensive beatiful jewelry.

While very young boys and girls lived and played together in the women's quarters. From about six to seven years of age, boys went to school to learn to read and write, and to a gymnasium to exercize their bodies. Meanwhile, girls were taught at home by their mothers, learning to spind and weave and how to be good wives.

Most Greeks dressed in clothes that were made at home by the women of the family. Every women, no matter how wealthy, was expected to spin wool into thread and weave it into cloth. They spun using weighted stick, called a spindle, and then wove on an upright loom, a timber frame that rested against the wall of every Greek house.