During our second lesson, we had to pick
out a random word from a box, which ever word we or words we got we had to do
some research on as a practice run for the future. Mine was on Ancient Greece
and I was most focused on their life style and technology more than anything
else.
Information from :
http://www.ancientgreece.co.uk/
http://www.ancientgreece.co.uk/staff/resources/background/bg1/home.html
http://www.historywiz.com/didyouknow/spartanfamily.htm
http://www.ancienthistorylists.com/greek-history/top-10-inventions-discoveries-ancient-greece-remarkably-used-today/
Ancient Greece was a civilization
belonging to a period of Greek History that lasted from the Archaic period of
the 8th to the 6th century BC to the end of Antiquity ( c. 600 AD). Greece is
home and well known in the world for many things such as their:
- Life styles (Spartans)
- Architecture
- Greek philosophers
- Technology
- Medical History
How did the civilization of ancient
Greece come to their life style and what it lead to into the future and
technology that they have invented to help better their lives as a result.
Both Athens and Sparta are the most well
known cities/places in Ancient Greece but very different from each other.
Sparta was ruled by 2 kings and a Council of Elders. Sparta played a very
important role during the war between Sparta and the Persian Empire both armies
gaining and losses something in return and later then defeated Athens in the
Peloponnese War.
Life for men and women were very
different and extreme during the time, boys having a much harsher life compared
today's society. Spartan boys left their families at the age of 7 to be trained
to become part of the army. When a spartan baby is born, soldiers visited them to
examine the baby's strength to see if it is worthy to be a spartan. It
was said that the baby is bathed in wine rather that water, to see what
reaction the baby will make; if the baby was not worthy of being a spartan or
often, not being physically capable or weak. The baby is then took away to be
executed or be sold as a slave when it grows up, because during the time of the
Spartans, all men that grow up had to be psychically fit from birth otherwise
its is of no use to the Spartan empire.
Boys had a very strict education and
training such as marching without shoes and went mostly without food, they also
learned how to fight and, endure pain and survive through their wits. Older
boys willingly participated in beating the younger boys in order to toughen
them up. Showing signs of cowardliness was considered a crime so they had to
follow self-denial, simplicity, the warrior code and loyalty to the city-state
that governed lives in order to pass.
Instead of tough psychical education,boys aged
between 7-17 learned the basics of reading, writing, dancing, singing. While
older boys aged around 18/19 underwent training for the army and to learn
survival techniques,men from
20-29 had rigorous military training which was also a test as part of the
standing army to receive the aristocratic citizenship, once becoming a full
citizen, the state gave them a piece of land but was not allowed travel to
other cities as they were required to marry some one in order to produce new spartan
babies for the future of the Sparta Empire. By the age of 30 they were allowed
to live with their families but continued to train until the age of 60 where
they can finally retire from the military army (continuing training was
essential if a war ever happen, Spartans were expected to be called up to
arms). Those who have failed the rigorous test will never the get the chance to
become a full citizen, so they became the middle class known as the perioeci that
can travel to different cities as they are not a full citizen of Sparta.
Girls were also removed from their homes
at the age of 7 and sent to school. At school they would learn about wrestling
and gymnastics, they were also taught how to fight. Young women competed in
athletic events as well as men, which we know as today as the Olympics.
If they passed their citizen tests, they
were assigned a husband. Because this did not happen until they were 18-20,
they were more emotionally mature when they married and closer to the age of
their husbands. Marrying later than other Greek women, the Spartan women
produced stronger children, if not as many. To prepare for the wedding night,
her hair was cut short and she was dressed in male clothing. The man then
returned to his all-male barracks.
Men and women did not live together, but
met occasionally for procreation. The wedding consisted of a ritualized
physical struggle which resulted in the man slinging the woman over his
shoulder and taking her off. By the end of the 4th century BCE there were more
women than men in sparta and
women often had more than one father for their children, and a several men
might share a wife. Connubial love was discouraged by the city-state, but there
is evidence that some husbands and wives loved each other very much. This fact
would embarrass them if it were known, a shameful weakness, so such attachments
were usually kept secret.
Women enjoyed much greater freedom and
independence in sparta than
in other Greek city-states. Because mothers had little responsibility for the
care of their children, they were not as tied to the home as most Greek women
were. They were allowed to walk abroad in the city and transact their own
affairs. They owned their own property, as much as a third of the property in
Sparta. Their husbands were only a minor part of their lives, and except in
matters relating to the military were generally their own masters.
They were not as close to their children
as other Greek women in some ways, but a mother had pride in her son's stature
as a courageous and strong soldier. “Come home with your shield or upon it” was
said to be the advice one woman gave her son as he went off to war. They shared
the culture's shame of weakness.
Although the Spartans did not have a
family life as we think of it, there is evidence that in some cases at least
Spartan men and women had close ties to their children and with each other.
Their system certainly was well-ordered and avoided the "moral
degeneration" they despised in the Athenians who they saw as wallowing in
luxuries. And their is no doubt that the system produced strong soldiers. The
Spartan army was legendary in ancient Greece, and the legend continues to this
day.
Information and reference from :
http://www.ancientgreece.co.uk/
http://www.ancientgreece.co.uk/staff/resources/background/bg1/home.html
http://www.historywiz.com/didyouknow/spartanfamily.htm
http://www.ancienthistorylists.com/greek-history/top-10-inventions-discoveries-ancient-greece-remarkably-used-today/
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