In all of Ancient Greece Athens was a centre
of philosophy, knowledge and culture.
The home of Socrates, Pericles, Plato - the
cradle of western civilization and democracy.
Focusing on the Golden age in the 5th century
BCE let's examine the every day life of a
citizen in Athens.
Ancient Greeks were a very unique society.
While rational and science-oriented they were
at the same time religious and very superstitious,
which was more than common for the time period.
This divide greatly shaped their culture and
Athens was the perfect representation of it.
Around 450 BCE Athens is the richest city
in all of Greece.
After having defeated the biggest threat to
their existence the Persians, Athens developed
a large navy essentially dominating the seas.
The Delian League was formed, a defensive
alliance with most other city-states.
This greatly increased trade and wealth, however,
what really grew Athens was the funds it extracted
from this association.
Initially, all contributions were supposed
to be used for defence of the entire League
but Athens ended up using much of the resources
for their own expansion which essentially
created their Golden Age.
All this newly found wealth and not having
to worry about survival sparked the unique
development in Athens.
As the city expanded so did its democracy,
science, arts and philosophy.
An Athenian citizen enjoyed rights never before
seen,a lot of them received a public payroll
and their biggest concern was matters of state
which is what took up a large part of their
day.
Athenians at the time were a very collectivist
society and only a century or two later would
ideas such as personal happiness as a priority
arise.
During the Golden age the welfare of the state
was the main concern.
Most of the citizens would constantly discuss
and vote on all public matters from foreign
policy to local government and individual
punishment.
However, this wasn't exactly a dream-like
utopia as there were heavy differences within
the Athenian society.
Only the sons of an Athenian father and later
mother as well were granted citizenship, although
foreigners were able to attain it with enough
support.
At the same time, Greeks practised ostracism,
exile as well as stripping of the civic rights
- generally based on voting.
So while you could gain citizenship you could
also lose it.
Slaves were a large part of their society
and they had essentially 0 rights depending
much on the will of their masters.
How they were treated was different from case
to case basis, generally, they would do most
of the manual labour but even bankers were
sometimes slaves and other administrative
workers.
Being a slave was also not permanent in Greek
society and often they were able to buy their
own freedom.
In parallel there were also very large differences
in gender and the role of free women was mainly
to bear children.
Even the leader Pericles on one occasion said:
A woman’s reputation is highest when men
say little about her, whether it be good or
evil.
Women were not supposed to leave the house
often and if they did it was mainly for house
duties.
Her main responsibility was the household
and the health of its members.
They were often married very young from 12-20
to usually much older men.
Marriage was generally arranged and was mainly
an economic union and not an endeavour of
love.
All the voting, democracy and benefits were
generally left to men.
In terms of culture, Athens was very much
a city not unlike a modern one.
There was the theatre, very influential, popular
and endorsed by Pericles at the time.
It had shaped public opinion in a significant
way and would sometimes work for the government
but also often against it.
There were markets where trade was made possible
not just from Greece but from various parts
of the known world at the time as the city
had the naval capability and the wealth that
they even imported a lot of their food.
There was even a nightlife and drink parties
where men would gather for drinking, entertainment
and discussion - although this was mainly
an outlet for the rich.
In the agora, the greek forum, entertainment
was constant with various types of performers
such as jugglers, dancers and mimes.
Games were popular and were a large part of
Greek life.
Boys would usually play games with a ball,
hoops, hopscotch and even had their own version
of the yoyo.
The adults would also play similar versions
but were known to play dice as well as other
board game types.
Hunting aside from food was seen as a sport
and was usually practised by more well-off
citizens, although the lands around Athens
weren't particularly rich with game.
However what Greece was rich in was fish,
making fishing a very popular profession as
well as a pass time.
When it comes to education it was an important
aspect of Athenian citizenship.
Mainly focused on creating soldiers, but the
boys were also thought how to read, write
and even learned about mathematics and music.
While matters of the state were important,
politics as in being government officials
were generally ambitions of the rich - those
that could afford to spend most of their time
thinking.
This gave rise to the sophists - specialized
teachers focusing on many subjects but mainly
philosophy and rhetoric.
Many paid for such services in order to become
better speakers as in Ancient Athens being
well-spoken was of crucial significance.
This was often criticized as those that spoke
best could get themselves out of answering
for their crimes or arguing positions which
were ultimately bad for the society as a whole.
In terms of physical development there were
a lot of systems in place.
Greeks in particular highly valued health,
physical aesthetics and athleticism.
Men exercised often and practiced activities
such as boxing, wrestling, jumping and gymnastics.
Military service was mandatory so learning
warfare and how to bear arms was significant.
Due to their intense physical education and
generally a moderate appetite in Athens many
of the boys were athletes and physically capable.
As a result of this culture sports were a
large part of their society in various disciplines
which is ultimatelly connected to the Ancient
Olympic Games.
While all of this might seem like a regular
thing for the modern word, at the time the
Athenian lifestyle was revolutionary.
Ultimately the Golden age of Athens would
end with the fall against Sparta and subsequently
against the Romans.
Nonetheless the Athenian way of life shaped
our life in such a significant way that most
modern thought could be traced back to it.
Thank you for watching.
Check out why Sparta collapsed by clicking
on the screen and also check out our Instagram
page for daily facts.
See you next time!
