Ancient Greece never existed. It’s true,
there was no such thing as Ancient Greece.
Let me show you why this is a fact.
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People living in what we call ancient Greece
wouldn’t have necessarily considered themself
to be Greek.
Ancient Greeks spoke the same language, shared
a common ancestry, religion and often, social
structure. They were however, very much divided.
80% of the land mass in Greece is rugged mountainous
terrain with deep, dense vallies.
Communicating over mountains is difficult
so natural separation between groups of people
developed. With this came a fierce sense of
individuality and so developed independent
city states or poleis. Over a thousand city
states formed over Greece.
Mountains provided natural defensive perimeters.
Walls were built.
Invisible borders were set in the surrounding
countryside and two major cities developed.
Athens and Sparta.
These two cities formed opposing customs so
they absolutely did not get along. They were
constantly at war with each other, but this
is not a documentary about war.
One similarity you’ll find across all of
Greece is the love of leisure.
Greeks were notoriously lazy.
Aside from mandatory military service, you
wouldn't care much for hard work.
The problem of labour was solved by domestic
helpers.
Ok, what’s a domestic helper?
It’s what we’re calling the people who
are the property of someone else and are forced
to work for free.
There is a word for these people. It rhymes
with shave. Youtube didn’t like it when
I used the proper s word, so we’re calling
them domestic helpers from now on.
Domestic helpers would afford you, a citizen, the luxury of spending your day in the agora
The Agora.
A bustling open marketplace. You could buy
meat, fish, vegetables, fruit, pottery, textiles,
statues, marble figures, perfume and even
a new domestic helper.
Whatever you wanted, it’s probably sold
at the agora.
Shopping isn’t all you’d do here though.
The agora was full of men who spent their
entire day here.
Whilst you were chilling out in the Agora,
your wife would be at home cooking and looking
after the children.
Your domestic helpers would be working away
on your farm, whilst you in the agora, would
engage in significantly more meaningful and
productive activity: Gossiping about the weather.
Chilling out is the modus operandi.
After extensive discourse, the topic of weather
inevitably dried up.
It would now be time to engage in a political
debate.
Philosophical conversation is also an option
as you’ll see in a moment.
But, for some variation in your loafing about,
you’d definitely want to pass some time
attending a theater show.
Shows were held in open-air theatres once
a month to a packed audience.
Whether you’re here to enjoy some classic
tragedy, or comedy, I’d recommend you arrive
to the theatre early. Theatres would be completely
full by dawn.
Many theaters in Athens held over 10,000 people.
Officials sit at the front, lower status people
at the back.
Again though, most of your time would be spent
in the Agora as a man of Greece. There was
always something interesting happening here.
In 5th century Athens, you’d
probably bump into Socrates himself. Rather,
he’d bump into you.
Socrates accosted anyone who’d listen.
In Athen’s he’d introduce himself with
a single name, Socrates.
Outside of Athens, he’d introduce himself
as Socrates, son of Sofronískos of Alopece.
Man or woman, you’d typically have a single
name, but one name can cause a little confusion.
This is why you’d also include your father's
name and your origins.
For Socrates, introducing himself was an inconvenient
formality. A necessary step before he starts
monologuing about his philosophies without
coming up for air.
He was well known for sauntering around Athens
barefoot in a rough woolen cloak.
Not the best fashion model, but a reasonable
representation of what was worn in Ancient
Greece.
Greek clothing was for the most part, made
of singular sheets of fabric, draped around
the body.
Mens would usually be white, womens would
be a range of vibrant patterns and colours.
So we can see what women wore, let me introduce
you to Socrates’ wife
Man, Socrates must be filthy rich right!
Socrates is a philosopher, not the best profession for a high net worth
Age gaps like this were actually
commonplace in marriage.
I like her name Xanthippe
When you combine xanthos (blonde) and hippos (horse), you get a Xanthippe, or blonde horse.
Even though dark Mediterranean features were universal, Xanthippe likely had blonde hair.
This was because it was common for Greek women to bleached their hair.
They also wore lightening makeup for a fairer appearance.
There were certainly cultural expectations
placed on both men and women in terms of appearance.
It’s imperative your clothing was the correct
length. Too long and it would get dragged
through the mud. Too short and your neighbours
would laugh in your face and call you a Spartan
thigh flasher.
Unlike Socrates, most people wore leather
sandals outside of the house.
Xanthippe’s wearing platform shoes for an
extra couple of centimeters and if you look...
[snoring noises]
What’s is that?
Socrates!
Looks like all this vapid talk of fashion
has sent Socrates into a coma. Let’s
leave the Agora for now, but before we go,
we’ll need to visit the cobbler for some
new hiking boots.
Turns out Socrates is leaving town on a journey
to the other side of Greece and you’re invited.
So, lace up your boots, it’s time for an
adventure. Apparently the Olympic games are on.
How exciting, the Olympic games. Unfortunately,
Olympia is on the other side of Greece.
The way to get around most of the time is
walking. We know this because Socrates casually
mentions a 6 day hike from Athens to Olympia.
Socrates is a genius, no doubt.
But 6 days?! 6 bloody days!
These 6 days will be worse than you could
imagine.
First you have the weather.
Coastal Greece is hot and dry during summer.
In winter, there are frequent outbursts of
rain and the mountains even get snowy.
There are roads and paths within cities, but outside of the
capital?
Forget about it, this isn’t Rome,.
The Greek landscape is unfriendly and unforgiving
to say the least.
Not ideal for a casual stroll, let alone a
week-long trek.
What other options do we have?
A horse. Much faster and easier right.
No. I’m sorry, a horse won’t work I’m
afraid.
Horses are extremely expensive.
If you did own a horse though, no one really
knew about horse shoes yet, so travelling
long distances through mountains is next to
impossible anyway.
There’s also no saddles yet
either. This means an uncomfortable ride,
unless you like the feeling of horse vertebrae
bouncing between your legs for a week straight.
Donkeys were common, though. Certainly much
more than horses. Could a donkey ride to Olympia
be our best bet?
Let’s look at our other options.
A boat was the way to go when you wanted to
travel around the mainland and from coastal
town to coastal town.
Sailing was unfortunately, extremely dangerous.
Shipwrecks from erratic storms were far too
frequent. To minimize risk, you’d avoid
the unsafe seasons.
There’s an even more serious threat than
bad weather though.
It’s a danger that’s always in the back
of your mind whenever you board a ship.
More terrifying than sharks, even more horrific
than the thought of your ship sinking in the
middle of the sea.
Your biggest hazard when sailing in Ancient
Greece was Pirates.
Pirates raided merchant ships, but they would
also capture anyone on board and sell them
as domestic helpers.
You know, all factors considered, walking
is probably the best option. We’ll have
to trek during the day and stop by an inn
for the night.
Socrates plans on leaving for Olympia tomorrow
morning. He didn’t say what time though...
Socrates didn't make a mistake here. There was no accurate way of telling time other than with a sundial.
When your main focus in life is loafing about
in the Agora, measuring time is no priority.
Dawn, midday and dusk served most purposes
for meetings.
You’ve had some time to sleep on Socrates’
invite to the Olympic games and you just remembered
something deeply disturbing about him.
Socrates is notoriously terrible with navigation.
Believe me, you really
don’t want to get lost on your travels.
Getting lost in the mountains with Socrates
chewing your ear off about politics is excruciating,
sure, but this is nothing compared to what
could happen if you stray from your path.
Whilst currently there’s peace, there’s
still a bitter rivalry between city states.
Individual polis don’t take well to foreigners
such as yourself. You see each Greek state
considers themselves to be culturally superior.
So If the north star leads you and Socrates
astray and you find yourself in the middle
of Sparta, please, don’t get caught.
Just like pirates, the Spartans won’t hesitate
to sell you as a domestic helper.
This trip to Olympia is sounding more and
more dangerous by the second. Why don’t
we step back and take an objective, unbiased
look at the situation...
We have an arduous six day hike in unpredictable
weather through mountains accompanied by a
man who easily gets lost and will incessantly
monologue about politics the entire time,
with the constant looming threat of being
captured and sold into domestic helpery by
Spartan savages. All of this for the opportunity
to watch butt naked oiled greek men run around
a dirt track.
Thanks for the invite Socrates… But I think
we’ll have to pass on the olympics this
year.
There's always another one
How about we spend the day on the farm instead.
Agriculture in the classical world was prevalent.
Egypt, Greece and Rome all had farm related
work as the majority vocation.
In Greece, more than half of all citizens
were connected with agriculture in some way.
If you wanted to make some decent coin, animal
rearing was very profitable.
Cows and sheep are rare. Your livestock would mainly be goats.
Don’t like goats, no problems. Grow some
olives. Not exactly easy to grow, but olives
were an essential commodity. The olive tree
produced for Greece like no other.
Olive oil for lamps. Essence for pharmaceutical
applications. Wood for Fires. Wood for building
houses. Wood for building ships. Leaves for
crowns, leaves for decoration. And of course,
a tasty, nutritious oil and fruit.
Let’s say you don’t like goats and you
don’t like olives. Of course saying you
don’t like olives is ridiculous, all Greeks
love olives. But what else could you grow?
Greeks love wine. Grapes. Grapes are
the answer.
You’d plant your
grape vines in uniform rows.
In between your rows of grapes, you’d grow
corn, vegetables and fruit. A nice little
supplement to your grape growing empire.
I’m going to skip over farming as I’ve
covered it already in my daily life in ancient
Egypt documentary. The farming process was
pretty similar.
If the idea of working on a farm isn’t for
you at all, you could become a manual laborer:
a carpenter, painter, sculptor or blacksmith.
Shipbuilders were always in high demand.
If you didn’t like working with your hands,
you could become a merchant: importing and
exporting essential and luxury goods.
Being a merchant was risky though. Ships were
frequently boarded and looted by pirates.
Sail on the wrong day and there goes your
merchandise.
There’s another job. Become a pirate.
Not exactly an honest living, but if you want to get rich quick, don’t mind a bit of risk and you lack a moral compass, hey why not…
A pirate's life could be for you.
During the times of maritime infancy, ships
sailed close to the coast.
Nimble pirate ships hid in the rugged mountainous
inlets, waiting for their next victims: bulky,
slow merchant vessels full of merchandise
to pilfer.
Pirates were a real menace to merchants and
travellers, especially as trade routes expanded
and Greece became dependent on the sea for
travel and trade.
Throughout the history of sailing in the Mediterranian,
pirates were always a present threat.
Pirate raids always
ended badly for merchants. At best, you’d
lose all of your merchandise. At worst, you’d
lose your life. Perhaps fate worse than death,
Pirates could even sell you abroad as a domestic
helper.
The farm life is sounding a little more tempting
now isn’t it.
If you insist on holding legitimate
job but have no desire to work the farm or
as a merchant there aren’t a lot of respectable
career paths. You could try your luck at fishing.
Maybe set up a temporary booth in the agora
to sell your goods.
Small manufacturing operations existed. You
could be a cobbler or a potter.
You wouldn’t generally do much work here
though. As the business owner, you would have
very little to do with the business itself,
especially as the operation grew.
Many businesses were often run exclusively
by highly skilled, domestic helpers.
You’d seldom find a Greek citizen who’d
want to be an employee anyway. Employees could
be laid off at any moment and they had to
endure the indignity of taking orders from
another citizen.
The best job for those who want to be employed
was offered by the state.
Rowing for athens was a common job. There
were tens of thousands of rowers in the fleet
of Athens. Your pay would be 1 drachma a day;
the average salary at the time.
Above all, most Greeks took great pride in
being their own man. This meant not being
reliant upon employment from another individual.
In your mind, to work for someone else would
be almost worse than being a domestic helper.
Domestic helpers at least enjoyed some employment
security. Plus, why work for someone else
when you can get a domestic helper to do the
same job for free.
Really, domestic helpers were one of the main
reasons Greece was able to thrive.
It was an unfortunate everyday reality for
many domestic helpers.
Almost every household had a domestic helper;
rich houses, poor houses, domestic helpers
were always present.
Male domestic helpers laboured and guarded
the house. Female domestic helpers cooked,
cleaned and cared for your children.
The numbers of domestic helpers in greek cities
were astounding. Some figures approach nearly
half of the entire population of a polis.
Domestic helpers were bought
and sold at markets like any other commodity.
The value of a domestic helper was based on
their abilities and skills. An unskilled domestic
helper cost around 200 drachma. Skilled domestic
helpers cost many multiples more.
Fortunately, not all masters were terrible
to their domestic helpers... I’m getting
very tired of saying that.
Some masters allowed domestic helpers to buy
their freedom.
Many domestic helpers actually lived decent
lives in nice houses.
All over Greece, people lived in properties
like this.
The richer you were, the more rooms and furniture
you had. The poorest citizens live in one
room houses that were separated by makeshift
partitions.
Interior walls were covered with a coat of
plaster. Wealthy Athenians had their plaster
walls painted with frescoes.
Floors were composed of compressed earth or
clay. They were sometimes covered in animal
skins or reed matting.
4th century BC onward, you’d start to see
more intricately designed interiors using
mosaics or small patterned pebbles.
During winter, windows were boarded up with
wood to keep out the rain.
Just like in Egypt, wood was expensive. This
meant that most houses were poorly furnished.
You may own a basic table and chairs, but
really, houses weren’t full of stuff like
ours are today.
The Peloponnesian war was spreading across
Greece and Athens was about to be invaded.
Athenian farmers gathered all of their valuables
and evacuated. But… There was something
extraordinarily valuable they simply couldn’t
leave behind.
As the Athenian farmers evacuated the city,
they made sure to take their wooden doors
and shutters with them.
Athens was not only notorious for how much
they valued their wooden doors, they were
also well known for the crappy quality of
their houses.
You won’t believe this.
The word commonly used for burglar translates
to wall digger.
Why is this?
Well, the walls of most Athenian houses were
lazily built with irregularly shaped stones,
all haphazardly piled on top of each other.
Sometimes they didn’t even bother baking
the mud bricks. They just slapped a thin layer
of lime over it and called it good.
These Athenian houses were so poorly constructed,
burglars would break in by kicking a hole
through the wall. Once they’d raided your
property, they’d exit through your front
door, and of course, on the way out they'd take the front door with them.
Even though houses were shoddily built, the
home was a valued place for family.
The word oikos, translates to household. A
household included husbands, wives, children,
grandparents, siblings and all the domestic
helpers. Everyone lived under the same roof.
Roles were clearly defined. The eldest male
headed the household. Sons took on their father's
profession. Daughters and wives cleaned and
cooked.
Ancient Greek food isn’t nearly as exciting
as contemporary Greek cuisine. You’d eat
some light meals during day and a big
meal at sunset.
So what’s on the menu?
Olive oil. Lots of olive oil.
Grain was ubiquitous. It the majority of daily
caloric intake.
Vegetables were also a part of most meals.
The types of vegetables were similar to what
we eat today
According to the sophisticated Athenians,
consuming milk products was simply barbaric.
Dairy was undesirable unless you didn’t any other choice
Also not on the menu is meat. Red meat was
rare.
Commonly consumed meats were game, poultry
and fish. Athens was well known for its anchovies
and sardines.
Water was the second choice to Wine. Don’t
like wine?
You’re more of a beer drinker? Barbarian!
Only barbarians drink beer. Sophisticated
Athenians drink wine and a whole lot of it.
Of course you can only
drink so much wine, so the solution to achieve
quantity was to dilute it with water.
If you were lucky, you’d have a water well
outside your house.
If you didn’t have a well, your domestic
helper would travel to a public drinking fountain,
fill a container and carry the water all the
way back home.
Dining for the rich was a different experience
entirely. The rich would host a dinner party
called a symposion. Guest lie on couches for
a substantial three course meal.
After the meal, acrobats, musicians and dancing
women attend. The men would talk politics
and of course, gossip about the weather. No
respectable women allowed.
Here’s a summary of ancient women and ancient
Greece.
The relation of male to female is by nature
a relation of superior to inferior and ruler
to ruled.
That’s a quote by a famous philosopher.
Not Socrates, but arguably one of histories
greatest minds. Who’s quote is this?
Aristotle said that.
Women in ancient Greece really didn’t have
any rights. Like domestic helpers, they couldn’t
become citizens.
They were rarely allowed to leave the house
and then when they did, they had to be accompanied
by a male relative.
Women were not permitted to buy or sell land.
You could inherit it, but even then it was
managed by a legal guardian: a brother, father
or husband.
No matter their age, a woman was always under
the control of a man.
Girls entered into arranged marriages when
they were a young teenager and they’d be
expected to provide an heir as soon as possible.
The greatest honor you could provide your
polis and husband was giving birth to a child.
A male child of course. Male heirs were always
the goal.
There was a lot of pressure on women in regards
to children.
Childbirth was like playing russian roulette
because of the high maternal death rates.
Whilst women died in large numbers during
labour, death was unfortunately common for
all age groups.
Infant mortality was no surprise with regular
instances of rickets, anemia and chickenpox.
Children and teenagers died of Malaria, tuberculosis,
mumps, measles, leprosy and whooping cough.
Women frequently died from disease. Men died at war
Commoners died from malnutrition and natural
disasters.
Earthquakes in cramped, poorly constructed
apartment blacks called synoikiai were total
death traps. It also didn’t help that these
buildings were always catching on fire.
Crowded cities like Athens were ankle deep
in filth. There was no waste disposal system
so rubbish piled up on the streets. These
conditions attracted mosquitoes, rats, and
flies which carried the plague.
Disease was rampant behind the full city walls
of Athens.
Their worst epidemic was in 430BC. Nearly
a third of the Athenian population was wiped
out.
What caused this pandemic is blatantly obvious.
It wasn’t the severe issues with water hygiene
and sanitation. No. The worst epidemic in
Athens was caused by Spartan scum poisoning
the water supply. That’s what the sophisticated
Athenians proclaimed anyway.
Greece had little comprehension of disease
transmission. There was no knowledge of germs,
so it’s only logical Sparta would be responsible
for such shameless sabotage.
Death was something that was always present
in the ancient world. When someone died in
Greece, there was a common process that was
followed.
There were no hospitals, so you’d always
die with your family by your side.
Upon your demise, you’d be stuck
in limbo between life and death. Trapped between
two worlds, wandering around for an eternity.
Your family would help you go to Hades through
a proper burial.
I did a short documentary about hades, check
it out if you’re interested in greek mythology.
Speaking of the gods, almost everyone in ancient
Greece was religious.
almost every facet of a Greeks life could be related back to a god in some way.
What we call mythology
was their religion.
Greek religion is far too vast a topic to address here.
Greek mythology is phenomenal, so look out
for more on this channel.
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that and check out the new historia store.
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ancient Greece collection. This has been Apollo
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