http://www.historylink102.com/greece3/home_life.htm
Home Life in Ancient Greece
Most homes in ancient Greece had a courtyard, which was the center of activity. Children could safely play outside in the warm climate. Homes were divided into areas for the men and areas for the women. The andron was a room reserved for males to entertain male guests. The room had a separate entrance to the street so male guests did not have to cross paths with any of the ladies of the house.
Houses were made out of sun-dried brick on a foundation of stones. Sun-dried brick was not a dependable material and often crumbled. Burglars were termed “wall piercers” because they broke through the walls to gain entry into homes. Roofs were made of overlapping clay tiles. Andron room floors were sometimes tiled, but the flooring of the rest of the rooms was packed dirt.
The Greeks had a very limited amount of furniture in their houses. The rooms were relatively bare by today’s standards. Wooden chairs, couches and stools were typical.
Food was cooked outside during most of the year. When the weather was not conducive to cooking outside, a hearth or brazier was used in the kitchen. Kitchens were built with a hole in the roof so that smoke could escape.
Houses had one or two private rooms. Bathrooms consisted of a chamber pot, which was dumped into a gutter or into the street.
The head of each household was the husband. It was the woman’s role to complete the daily chores and raise children. Often large families included the parents and children, grandparents, unwed female relatives, and slaves all under the same roof.
What was the role of women in Greece?
To live, controlled by the men in their lives!
· Their father controlled them before they were married
· Their spouse controlled them once they were married
What did girls do?
· They learnt to read- in school or at home
· They learnt important household skills-spinning, weaving, sewing, cooking and other household jobs
· Learnt simple facts on mythology, religion and occasionally musical instruments
· Spent most of their time in her household with other women- only leaving the house to perform religious duties
What about marriage?
· Girls got married in their teens, often to a man in his 30's
· After a woman got married, she and her husband would give offerings to the god's and share a cake with her husband
· Her father would chose her husband- for most Athenians, marriage was basically living together
· Marriage may have been arranged from a very early age, if the daughter came from a wealthy family
· The ancient Greek girl did not know or meet her husband until the dowry(the girl's portion of the father's estate) and betrothal had been agreed to
Once a woman was married her husband controlled all property. Any property that she might have inherited would go directly to her husband. She had no rights to wander about the town, without a just cause. Any respectable woman would not be seen in public. Greek women had virtually no political rights of any kind and were controlled by men at all stages of their lives. Since men spent most of their time away from their houses, women dominated Greek home life. The wife was in charge of raising the children and making the families clothes. She supervised the daily running of the household. In a totally slave based economy plentiful numbers of female slaves were available to cook, clean and carry water from the fountain. Only in the poorest homes was the wife expected to do these duties by herself. Custom dictated that women should limit her time outside the home. Visiting with a female neighbor was really the only appropriate time for the woman to leave her indoor duties.
http://www.historylink102.com/greece3/navy.htm
The Navy of Ancient Greece
The earliest Greek warship was known as a pentecounter. The pentecounter had one row of fifty oarsmen. The Greeks later made improvements to their ships by copying the bireme, a type of Phoenician ship, which had two rows of oarsmen. Around 700 B.C., the first trireme was used in Corinth. The trireme had three rows of oarsmen on each side, totaling one-hundred and seventy oarsmen per ship. This ship became the main naval vessel from 500 B.C. to 300 B.C. In addition to the oarsmen, a trireme also held a crew of thirty marines and five officers.
The trireme was equipped with a bronze ram in the front. The ship could travel at speeds of up to eight or ten knots in order to ram and sink enemy ships. Another battle tactic was to pull up close to an opponent’s ship to knock out their oars making it difficult for the ship to maneuver.
When not in battle, the trireme was used with its two large sails to travel from place to place. During a battle, the sails were taken down and oar power was used.
http://www.historylink102.com/greece3/food.htm
Food in Ancient Greece
The Greek diet consisted of foods that were easily raised in the rocky terrain of Greece’s landscape. Breakfast was eaten just after sunrise and consisted of bread dipped in wine. Lunch was again bread dipped in wine along with some olives, figs, cheese or dried fish.
Supper was the main meal of each day. It was eaten near sunset. It consisted of vegetables, fruit, fish, and possibly honey cakes. Sugar was unknown to ancient Greeks, so natural honey was used as a sweetener.
Fish was the main source of protein in the Greek diet. Beef was very expensive, so it was rarely eaten. Beef and pork were only available to poor people during religious festivals. It was during the festivals that cows or pigs were sacrificed to the gods, and the meat was cooked and handed out to the public.
Wine was the main drink in ancient Greece. It was watered down; to drink it straight was considered barbaric. Milk was rarely drunk, because again, it was considered barbaric. Milk was used for cheese production. Water was another possible choice as a drink.
The Greeks did not have any eating utensils, so they ate with their hands. Bread was often used to scoop out thick soups. Bread was also used as a napkin to clean hands. After being used as a napkin, the bread was then thrown on the floor for the dogs or slaves to clean up at a later time.
http://www.historylink102.com/greece3/jobs-farming.htm
Farming in Ancient Greece
Farming in ancient Greece was difficult due to the limited amount of good soil and cropland. It is estimated that only twenty percent of the land was usable for growing crops. The main crops were barley, grapes, and olives.
Grain crops, such as barley and wheat, were planted in October and harvested in April or May. Olives were harvested November through February. Grapes were normally picked in September.
Barley was the main cereal crop for the ancient Greek farmers. They made the barley into porridge or ground it into flour to make bread. Olive oil was used for cooking oil or in oil lamps. Grapes were primarily used for wine production, although they could be eaten or dried into raisins. The Greeks watered down wine, mixing one part wine with two parts water. Drinking wine straight was considered barbaric.
Most farms were small with four or five acres of land. Farmers grew enough food to support their families and, at times, they grew a small surplus to sell at the local market. There were some very large farms run by overseers while the owner lived in the city. One record showed a farmer making 30,000 drachmas in a year off his large farm. (An average worker made about two drachmas a day.)
http://atheism.about.com/library/FAQs/religion/blgrk_rituals08.htm
Sacrifices in Ancient Greece
The nature of a sacrificial ritual as well as that which was to be sacrificed could vary somewhat, but the most basic sacrifice was that of an animal - usually a steer, pig, or goat (with the choice depending partially upon cost and scale, but even more upon what animals were most favored by which god). In contrast to Jewish tradition, the ancient Greeks did not regard the pig as unclean. It was, in fact, the preferred animal for making sacrifices at rituals of purification.
Typically the animal to be sacrificed was domesticated rather than wild game (except in the case of Artemis, the huntress goddess who preferred game). It would be cleaned, dressed up in ribbons, and taken in a procession to the temple. Altars were almost always outside in front of the temple rather than inside where the cult statue of the god was located. There it would be placed on (or beside, in the case of larger animals) the altar and some water and barley seeds would be poured on it.
The barley seeds were thrown by those not responsible for the killing of the animal, thus ensuring their direct participation rather than mere observer status. The pouring of water on the head forced the animal to "nod" in agreement to the sacrifice. It was important that the sacrifice not be treated as an act of violence; instead, it must be an act in which everyone was a willing participant: mortals, immortals, and animals.
Then the person performing the ritual would pull out a knife (machaira) that had been hidden in the barley and quickly slit the animal's throat, allowing the blood to drain into a special receptacle. The entrails, especially the liver, would then be extracted and examined to see whether the gods accepted this sacrifice. If so, then the ritual could proceed.
At this point the sacrificial ritual would become a feast for gods and humans alike. The animal would be cooked over open flames on the altar and the pieces distributed. To the gods went the long bones with some fat and spices (and sometimes wine) - those would continue to be burned so that the smoke would rise up to the gods and goddesses above. Sometimes the smoke would be "read" for omens. To the humans went the meat and other tastier parts of the animal - indeed, it was normal for the ancient Greeks to only eat meat during a sacrificial ritual.
Everything had to be eaten there in that area rather than taken home and it had to be eaten within a certain amount of time, usually by evening. This was a communal affair - not only were all of the members of the community there, eating together and bonding socially, but it was believed that the gods were participating directly as well. A crucial point worth keeping in mind here is that the Greeks did none of this while prostrating themselves on the ground as was the case in other ancient cultures. Instead, the Greeks worshipped their gods while standing up - not quite as equals, but more equal and more similar than one normally encounters.
http://library.thinkquest.org/19300/data/homersgreece.htm
Society
In this society, women, even participating vigorously in athletic competitions, enjoyed a status and freedom that they were never again to experience in later Greek times. Still, the society was patriarchal, acknowledging a common ancestor and common king, and though slavery existed, the slaves were few and mostly captive females. The work was done by the nobles themselves and their hired men, as well as the slaves. The main activities were fighting, hunting, grazing, a rudimentary form of agriculture, and the pursuit and enjoyment of robust manly pleasures. Xenia - guest- friendship, or hospitality - was practiced with zest and enthusiasm, and the aoidos, or bard such as Demodocus and Phemius in the Odyssey, was always present at court functions to chant his epic song.
Now given the lack of a formal governmental or economic structure for these "Greeks" as a whole, most transactions relied on a simple system of reciprocity. Reciprocity is simply a mutual exchange between two or more people. If I offered you a jar of olive oil for my spear that I so feverishly desire, and if you considered this a fair trade, then the both of us would benefit from this reciprocal transaction. Say, on the other hand, that I was not so nice of a person, I could hit you on the head and take the spear. This kind of exchange is called negative reciprocity. Such a system works only so long as the victim cannot reciprocate. This could take place due to the fact that there was no national or local laws or police to govern behavior. (This is a reason why the raiding cities prevalent in the works of Homer are acceptable.)
However, there may be times when I may want to give a gift, not expecting something in return immediately. Suppose that something terrible happens to my home like a fire, or someone has stolen all my belongings, I might come to you and ask for some provisions. Since I have nothing to repay you, there is no question of an exchange. A long term loan is not really practical because there is no writing at this time. So you reason that if you give me some food, I may not repay you, but some day if something terrible happens to you, I could help you out as you did me. You do this because you would like to rely on the kindness of others at some future date, which is still an act of belief in reciprocity. You are simply not expecting to be reciprocated at the moment. This is known as deferred reciprocity. This sort was used extensively by travelers (especially in the Odyssey).