Daily Life In Ancient Greece (3D Animated Documentary) - Everything You Need To Know

[Music] ancient greece never existed it's true there was no such thing as ancient greece let me show you why this is a fact [Music] this documentary is brought to you for free by the new historia store the best in apparel for mythology and the ancient world check out the ancient greece collection link in the description people living in what we call ancient greece wouldn't have necessarily considered themselves to be greek ancient greeks spoke the same language shared a common ancestry religion and often social structure they were however very much divided eighty percent of the land mass in ancient greece is rugged mountainous terrain with deep dense valleys 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 polyus over a thousand city-states formed across greece mountains provided natural defensive perimeters walls were built invisible borders were set in the surrounding countryside and two major city-states developed athens and sparta these two cities formed opposing customs so they absolutely did not get along they were constantly at each other's throats always at war but this is not a documentary about war one similarity that 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 labor was solved by domestic helpers okay what's a domestic helper you ask it's what we're calling the people who are the property of someone else and are forced to work for free yes there is a word for these people you know it it rhymes with shave youtube really didn't like it when i used the proper s word so we're going to call them domestic helpers from now on domestic helpers would afford you as 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 is probably sold at the agora shopping isn't all you do here though the agora was full of men who would spend their entire day here whilst you were chilling out in the agarop 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 [Music] 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 definitely want to pass some time attending a theater show shows were held in open air theaters once a month to a packed audience [Music] [Applause] whether you are here to enjoy some classic tragedy or comedy i recommend you arrive to the theater early theaters 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's always something interesting happening here in 5th century athens you'd probably bump into socrates himself rather he bump into you socrates accosted anyone who'd listen in athens he'd introduce himself with a single name socrates outside of athens though he'd introduced himself as socrates son of sophoniskos of alabiki man or woman you typically have a single name but one name can cause a little confusion this is why you would 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 i would admit but a reasonable representation of what was worn in ancient greece creek clothing was made of singular sheets of fabric draped around the body men's would usually be white women's would be a range of vibrant hues and patterns so we can see what women wore let me introduce you to socrates wife [Music] 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 quite like her name xanthebee when you combine xanthos blonde and hippos horse you get xanthopy or blonde horse even though dark mediterranean features were almost universal zetherby likely had blonde hair this is because it was common for greek women to bleach their hair they also wore lightening makeup for a fairer appearance there were certainly expectations placed on both men and women in terms of appearance for instance it's imperative that your clothing is the correct length too long and your clothes will get dragged through the mud too short your neighbors would laugh in your face and call you a spartan thigh flasher unlike socrates most people wore leather sandals outside of the house xanthope is wearing platform shoes for an extra couple of centimeters and if you look at what is that dark socrates looks like all of this vapid talk of fashion has sent socrates into a coma let's leave the agora for now shall we 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 six-day hike from athens to olympia socrates is a genius no doubt but six days six bloody days god these six days are going to be worse than you could even imagine [Music] first we have the weather [Music] coastal greece is hot and dry in 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 walk so 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 horseshoes yet so traveling 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 so 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 sailing in the unsafe seasons there's an even more serious threat than bad weather though [Music] it's a danger that's always in the back of your mind whenever you bought 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 through the day and by and in 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 luffing about in the agora measuring time is not a priority dawn midday and dusk serve most purposes for meetings and time telling you've had some time to sleep on socrates invite to the olympic games and you just remembered something deeply disturbing about him [Music] socrates is notoriously terrible with navigation believe me you do not 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 police 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 when socrates astray and you find yourself in the middle of sparta please don't get caught just like the pirates spartans won't hesitate to sell you as a domestic helper this trip to olympia is sounding more and more dangerous by the second all right how about we do this why don't we step back and take an objective unbiased look at the situation so 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 culprit by spartan savages all this for the opportunity which butt naked oiled greek men run around a dirt track well thanks for the invite socrates but i think we'll have to pass on the olympics this year hey there's there's always another one how about we spend the day on the farm instead [Music] agriculture in the classical world was prevalent egypt greece and rome all had farm-related work as the majority vocation [Music] 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 pretty profitable cows and sheep are rare the livestock would mainly be goats don't like goats no problems grow some olives [Music] olives weren't exactly easy to grow but they were an essential commodity the olive tree produced for grease like nothing else 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 last but not least a tasty nutritious 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 drinks love wine grapes grapes are the answer you'd plant your grapevines 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 in greece egypt and rome was relatively similar if the idea of working on a farm isn't few at all you could become a manual laborer a carpenter painter sculptor or blacksmith shipbuilders were always in high demand if you don'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 sale on the wrong day and there goes your merchandise ah 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 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 travelers especially as trade routes expanded and greece became more dependent on the sea for travel and trade throughout the history of sailing in the mediterranean 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 would lose your life perhaps a fate worse than death pirates would sell you abroad as a domestic helper that farm life is sounding a little more tempting now isn't it if you're part of the minority that insists on holding a legitimate job but have no desire to work on a farm or as a merchant there aren't a lot of respectable career options going 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 generally wouldn't 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 roles in the fleet of athens your pay would be one drachma per 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 would you 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 labored and guarded the house female domestic helpers cooked cleaned and cared for your children the numbers of domestic helpers in greek cities were astounding astonishing seriously some figures approached nearly half of the entire population of apollos 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 costs around 200 drachma skilled domestic helpers cost many multiples more fortunately not all masters were terrible to their domestic helpers i'm getting really tired of saying that some masters allow domestic helpers to buy their freedom many domestic helpers actually live decent lives in nice houses [Music] all over greece people lived in properties like this the richer you were the more rooms and furniture you had the poorest citizens lived in one room houses that were separated by makeshift partitions interior walls were covered with a coat of plaster wealthy athenians had their plastic 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 pattern pebbles [Music] 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 their valuables and they evacuated but there was something extraordinarily valuable they simply could not 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 value their wooden doors they were also well known for the crappy quality of their houses you won't believe this the word athenians 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 placed on top of each other sometimes they didn't even bother baking the mud bricks they just slapped the 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 the front door and of course on the way out they would take the front door with them even though houses were shortly built the home was a valued place for family the word ecos 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 oldest 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 the day and then a big meal at sunset so what's on the menu olive oil of course lots of olive oil grain was ubiquitous it was 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 have 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 you 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 of 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 [Music] dining for the rich was a different experience entirely the rich would host an extravagant party called a symposium guests lie on couches for a substantial three-course meal after the meal acrobats musicians and dancing women show up the men attending would talk politics and of course gossip about the weather no respectable women allowed here's a succinct summary of women and ancient greece the relation of male to female is by nature a relation of superior to inferior and ruler to ruled [Music] that is a quote by a famous philosopher not socrates but arguably one of history's greatest minds whose quote is this yeah aristotle said that women in ancient greece really didn't have any rights like domestic helpers they couldn't vote and they couldn't become citizens they were rarely allowed to leave the house and when they did they had to be accompanied by a male relative women were not permitted to buy or sell land you could inherit property 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 in greece girls entered into arranged marriages when they were a young teenager and they were expected to provide an heir as soon as possible the greatest honor you could provide your police and husband was giving birth to a child [Music] 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 labor death was unfortunately common for all age groups and all demographics infant mortality was no surprise with regular instances of ricketts anemia and chickenpox children and teenagers died of malaria tuberculosis mumps measles leprosy and whooping cough women died from disease men died at war commoners died from malnutrition and natural disaster earthquakes in cramped poorly constructed apartment blocks called cine kier 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 brought in the plague disease was rampant behind the full city walls of athens their worst epidemic was in 430 bc nearly a third of the entire athenian population was wiped out what caused this plague 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 these sophisticated athenians proclaimed anyway the ancient world had little comprehension of disease transmission there was no knowledge of germs so i guess it's only logical spider 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 mythology speaking of the gods almost everyone in ancient greece was religious almost every facet of a greek's life could be related back to a god in some way what we call mythology was their religion greek religion is far too fast a topic to address here i'm sure you'd agree man greek mythology is phenomenal so look out for more on this channel if you're not subscribed what are you doing do that and check out the new historia store there's some exciting new stuff in the ancient greece collection this has been apollo for new historia see you in the next video

Channel: New Historia

Views: 454,337

Rating: 4.7727585 out of 5

Keywords: ancient greece documentary, ancient greece, greece, greece documentary, daily life in ancient greece, greek, greek daily life, ancient greek, daily life in ancient greece video, ancient greece olympics, ancient greece history, ancient greece 101, ancient greek civilization documentary

Id: sFU-rJXQlxI

Length: 29min 5sec (1745 seconds)

Published: Sat Aug 22 2020