DAILY LIFE WITHIN AND WITHOUT THE HOUSE.
At Sparta--At Athens--Chronology--Sun-dials--Breakfast--Morning
Occupations--Lunch--The Afternoon--Warm
Baths--Dinner--Amusements--The Gymnasia--Greek Hospitality.
A picture of the daily life of the Greeks must of necessity be subject
to various changes according to time and place. Life in the sixth
century B.C. was different from that in the fourth; the daily occupation
and the mode of life of a Spartan differed from those of an Athenian or
Theban; and again, the rich and free citizen spent his time in a very
different way from the small artisan or countryman, who was dependent on
the work of his own hands.
There is very little to say about the heroic period, and we cannot form
any complete picture of it. Homer describes only the life of the nobles,
but he does not tell us how they spent their time when they were not
fighting, though this was a very common occupation, owing to the
numerous feuds and predatory expeditions against their neighbours. It is
not likely that the princes and nobles spent all their time at festive
banquets, delighting in plentiful food and drink, and listening to the
songs of the bard, though there are many passages in Homer which might
lead us to suppose so. No doubt the pleasures of the feast and of wine
were held in very high estimation in the heroic period, yet serious and
respectable citizens can hardly have spent their whole day in luxurious
idleness, like the wooers of Penelope, who daily feasted at the expense
of others. Laertes, who, even in his old age, worked in his garden, was
far more typical of the Homeric noble, who was in reality only a landed
proprietor on a large scale, and devoted the greater part of his time to
agricultural pursuits, himself often taking active part in them. He was
also occupied with gymnastic exercises, and occasionally by political
duties, such as attendance at the popular assemblies which concerned the
interests of the country. But the great mass of the people, as opposed
to the few members of the nobility, occupied themselves chiefly with
agriculture and cattle rearing, and, to a small extent, with handicrafts
which were but slightly developed at this time, when many things were
imported from other countries, and others chiefly made at home. Of
course they all had to attend their Prince as vassals in case of war,
and in consequence there must have been military training for the lower
classes, even in time of peace. Apart, however, from military details,
we learn nothing from Homer about the life of these classes of society,
and very little about that of the nobility, for his description of the
life of the Phaeacians bears only a very partial analogy to Greek
circumstances at that time, since the poet desires to represent this
people as specially fortunate beyond others. We may, therefore, forsake
the misty domain of legend and turn to those ages which are enlightened
for us by writers, though even there we shall find many gaps unfilled.
It is a natural consequence of the nature of our authorities that, even
in historic times, the descriptions of authors present us principally
with a reflection of life in towns, and especially large towns or
capitals. At the present day life in large towns differs in many
essential respects from that in small ones, and even more from that in
the country; and doubtless, even in antiquity, there were strong
contrasts, though, perhaps, less clearly marked than in modern times. In
large towns, too, there were many differences due to the character of
the race and the nature of the town itself; the life of a citizen in a
large trading city must have been very different from that at a place
where there was very little trade, and the interest of the inhabitants
was centred in agriculture. But of all this in reality we know very
little.
The life of the Spartan citizens was the most regular and uniform, and
this in consequence of the fixed and severe demands made on them by the
State. Their dwellings, though large and roomy, were of the simplest
description, and in other respects, too, the life of the Dorians was
distinguished by simplicity, yet even here refinements of life gradually
gained ground, and in the Dorian colonies often went so far as to
produce effeminacy. Life at Sparta itself adhered longest to its
primitive simplicity. Here, too, the old Dorian custom of common meals,
called _Syssitia_ or Pheiditia, prevailed longest; a Spartan took his
meals, not with his family, but with other companions, usually connected
by relationship. They were small parties of about fifteen men, who
clubbed together for this purpose; each contributed his appointed share
to the expenses of the meal, partly in kind (especially barley, wine,
cheese, figs, or dates), partly in money for the purchase of meat. This
last was, however, supplied in part by the frequent sacrifices, and also
by hunting, for the custom prevailed of contributing additional gifts
now and then, apart from the legal contribution: sometimes some game or
wheaten bread, instead of the usual barley bread, or poultry, young
cattle, fruits, etc., according to opportunity or season. The notorious
“black broth,” which played a great part at these meals, was not so much
soup as a solid meat dish with broth, and though simple and easily
prepared, was probably not as bad as it seemed to the dainty palates of
the other Greeks. These common meals, though by no means luxurious, were
not in any sense meagre; and though plentiful drinking after the meal
was not as customary at Sparta as in other places, yet every guest had
his cup beside him filled with mixed wine, and as soon as it was empty
it was filled up again by the cup-bearer. The intercourse among these
men was cheerful and free; they discussed political and military
matters, and also found time for merriment and even singing. Women dined
alone at home with the smaller children and the daughters; the boys, as
soon as they had outgrown their mother’s care, were taken by their
fathers to the mess, and sat beside them there on low stools, receiving
little portions of the dishes which were considered suitable for youth.
When they grew older they dined together with their own mess.
No Greek race despised handicrafts when pursued for the sake of money as
much as the Dorians; no Spartan would pursue a craft or trade. Still the
life of the Laconian must not be imagined as one of pure idleness; there
were sufficient opportunities for other occupations. In the first place
there were the gymnastic and military exercises, which occupied a great
part of the day, then there was the study of music, which was continued
even after their education had ended; hunting, too, was a very favourite
occupation among the Dorians, and was valued on account of its tendency
to harden the body. Some time, too, was occupied by State matters, and
also by the exercise of religious duties, such as sacrifices, choruses,
etc. Moreover, there was a great deal of social life among the men. In
most Dorian cities there were special meeting-halls, or club-rooms
(λέσχαι), which existed at Athens also and other places. The older
citizens used to assemble there and discuss various matters of interest.
We must now turn to Athens, where, in consequence of the more numerous
literary authorities, we can form a clearer idea of the conditions, and
attempt also to form a picture of the town itself, such as it appeared
in its most flourishing period under Pericles, and after his time. It
would be a great mistake to form an idea of the appearance of the whole
city from the splendid buildings on the Acropolis, the temples which are
partly standing at the present day, and the other public buildings which
were constructed and decorated without regard to expense. Most private
houses were quite plain outside; the ground-floor generally had no
windows; there were no splendid porticoes, or elaborate façades, and
they were low, seldom having more than two storeys. There was no regular
arrangement of streets in the older period, any more than there was in
our cities in the middle ages; and even after the burning of the city by
the Persians, when dwellings had to be constructed for the returning
population, the town was quickly rebuilt without any regular plan. It
was not till later that streets were methodically laid out, and this was
largely due to the influence of Hippodamus of Miletus, who flourished
about the middle of the fifth century, and reformed the ancient style of
building cities. Athens itself could not profit by his system, which
adopted a uniform artistic plan for the construction of a whole town;
but he was able to carry out his scheme in the building of the lower
city, near the Peiraeus, which took place under Pericles. Here
Hippodamus constructed a network of straight broad streets, cutting each
other at right angles, and in the middle he placed a large market,
evidently in the form of a square, called the “Market of Hippodamus.”
The land belonging to this suburb had probably been very little built
on; we do not know whether the State had any right of ownership over
these new buildings. The flourishing suburbs, the numerous public
squares planted with trees and laid out in the manner of parks, did much
to improve the appearance of the city, but a great deal must still have
been wanting to make it appear really comfortable to us moderns, or even
to the Romans of the Empire. In the first place, the streets were
unpaved, and there were no sidewalks; these improvements were not
introduced until the Roman period, and Greek antiquity was content with
ordinary high roads; it is natural, therefore, that in dry weather the
dust, and in rainy weather the mud, should have been disagreeable. Very
little attention was paid to the cleanliness of public roads; all
kitchen refuse, bath water, etc., was simply poured out of doors; at
night it was even thrown straight from the windows on to the street, and
though it was usual to call, “Out of the way,” yet careless people might
sometimes be besprinkled on their way home at night. There was no public
cleansing of the streets; it was left to beneficent rains to wash away
all uncleanness, although the street and market police (ἀστυνόμοι) and
(ἀγορανόμοι), whose duty it was to maintain order in the streets and
market places, were supposed to see that they were kept in proper
condition, and could compel proprietors who threw out ashes or other
refuse to clear this away; yet they probably confined themselves to
keeping the streets in fairly good building condition, and seeing that
all was in order when processions had to pass along certain roads.
Generally speaking, Nissen[D] is probably right when he maintains that,
to form an idea of the life at Athens by any modern counterpart, we must
not think of Florence or Munich, but rather of Cairo or Tunis.
As regards the interior of the houses, we know very little about the
arrangement and appointment of the rooms. Naturally these were liable to
variations, since a small family might inhabit a modest little dwelling,
or there might be larger houses, containing numerous apartments. The
front door, which opened (sometimes outwards) into the street, at which
those who desired entrance knocked with their fingers or the knocker,
was opened by a slave, acting as porter, and generally led to a hall,
through which, either direct or through a second door, an open hall
surrounded with a colonnade (_Peristylium_) was reached, which in the
dwelling-houses of the historic period corresponded to the open
courtyard of the Homeric palace, and bears an analogy to the _Atrium_ of
the Roman house. This space, which was uncovered in the middle, and
surrounded by colonnades, was the usual dwelling-place of the family;
sometimes they took their meals there, and the altar to _Zeus Herkeios_
generally stood there. Round about were apartments whose doors, and
probably windows, too, opened into the central hall; for it was not
customary to have ground-floor windows opening on the street, and the
sides of the houses usually touched the walls of the neighbouring
buildings, so that the rooms on the ground-floor could, as a rule, only
obtain their light from the central hall. Some of these apartments were
destined for the men, and others for the women, but there was no
general room. If the house was built on a considerable space, and had
only one storey, the men’s rooms generally opened direct on the central
hall, while the women’s were placed behind these, and were separate from
them, having a special door, and doubtless, too, a special corridor,
through which the women could reach the street without passing through
the men’s apartments. If the house was small it was built in two
storeys, and the women’s apartments were then situated in the upper
storey. This latter arrangement appears to have been the more frequent.
We often find allusions to women looking down on to the street from the
windows of the upper storeys, and we also often find women represented
on vase pictures sitting at upper-storey windows. These window openings
were closed either by bars or wooden shutters, since glass panes were
unknown in the Greek period. Where there were a good many slaves, it
seems that the male slaves slept in the men’s apartments, and the female
in the women’s apartments, except in those cases where the master
allowed certain couples to live together. In larger houses, which
contained a great number of rooms, we must imagine not only special
sleeping and dining apartments, along with guest-chambers, rooms for the
slaves, store-rooms, work-rooms, library, bathroom, etc., but also a
second hall in the centre of the women’s apartments, and gardens
connected with this; though flower gardens seem to have been a late
introduction at Athens--it is said, indeed, that they date from the time
of Epicurus. We must not assume that everyone had his own house in
ancient Athens. It is true that a house could be acquired for a very low
price, as is proved by the example of Socrates, whose whole wealth was
taxed as five minae (something under twenty pounds), and yet included a
house; but still there were a great number of poorer citizens who hired
their dwellings. The upper storey, which no doubt had a special
entrance, and which occasionally projected beyond the ground-floor, was
let to lodgers, while the owner lived on the ground-floor. Large
lodging-houses, many storeys high, such as existed at Rome, were
probably not found at Athens in the classical period.
We have no certain information about the place of the kitchen. It was
probably always on the ground-floor, and was certainly the only room in
the house which had a chimney, since there was no heating apparatus in
the dwelling rooms. There appears to have been a complete absence of all
sanitary conveniences.
At the present day an indispensable factor in our daily occupations is
some apparatus for measuring the time. This was not of so much
consequence in Greek antiquity, and, in fact, the means for exact
division were wanting. They had no exact arrangement of days extending
from midnight to midnight, with twenty-four hours of equal length, but
instead they distinguished between day-time and night-time, calculating
from sunrise to sunset, and naturally the length of these periods
differed according to the time of year. These two chief divisions were
again subdivided; first came early morning (from about 6 till 9, if we
take the equinoctial periods), the forenoon, when the market-place began
to fill (9 to 12), the mid-day heat (12 to 3), and the late afternoon (3
to 6); in the night there was, first, the time when the lamps were lit
(6 to 10), next the dead hours of the night (10 to 2), last the dawn (2
to 6). Besides this, they divided the day into twelve equal divisions,
the length of which naturally varied according to the length of the day.
For this purpose they made use of the sun, which was, of course, only
available on cloudless days, though these are by no means infrequent in
the south. All these arrangements for measuring the time were probably
invented by the Babylonians in very ancient times, and introduced among
the Greeks by Anaximander about 500 B.C. The most primitive is the
“shadow-pointer,” which is only a pointed stick fixed in the earth, or a
column, or anything else of the kind; the length of the shadow, which
varies with the position of the sun, supplied the standard for
calculating the hours. The length of the shadow, which changed from
morning to evening, made a superficial division of time possible, but it
could not fix the time once for all, for all days of the year, but had
to be specially calculated according to the changes of the seasons.
Twelve divisions of the day, to be determined by the shadow,
corresponded with ours only at the equinox; these hours, if we may use
the expression, were longer in summer and shorter in winter than our
equinoctial hours. This explains why the time of the chief meal, which
was usually taken at about five or six in the afternoon, was indicated
sometimes by a 7-foot, sometimes by a 10-or 12-foot, or even a 20-foot
shadow; for though at midsummer the shadow would be quite small at this
time, it would have a considerable length at the equinox, and at the
time of the winter solstice it is probable that they did not dine until
after sunset. Unfortunately, we have not sufficient information to
determine exactly the length of this shadow-pointer, which was doubtless
always the same, in order to prevent confusion. The assumption that the
pointer was about the average height of a human being, and that people
even used their own shadows for measuring time, is very improbable. Such
shadow-pointers probably stood in public places, where everyone could
make use of them with help of the lines drawn on the ground; they could
only be set up in private dwellings when these had large open spaces
(which was not often the case) to which the sun could have access all
day long. In later times inventions were made which supplied what was
wanting in this mode of reckoning time; lines were graven on the stone
floor on which the shadow-pointer stood, which gave, at any rate, some
indication of the change in the length of the hours according to the
months; a network of lines of this description belonged to the obelisk
which Augustus set up on the Campus Martius, and also used as a
shadow-pointer.
The sun-dials, invented later than the shadow-pointers, probably by
Aristarchus, about 270 B.C., were different; here the shadow of a stick
placed in a semicircle, on which the hours were marked by lines,
indicated the time of day. There were three kinds: first, those that
were calculated at the place on which they were set up, and could not be
moved, and which indicated the hours of the day according as they
changed in the course of the year; second, those which were arranged for
moving, and could be set up at different places; and, third, those used
by mathematicians, which showed the equinoctial hours such as we use
to-day. It is impossible, however, to determine whether the Greeks were
acquainted with all the three kinds which we find in use in the Roman
period.
Besides this, water clocks were used, and here again we must distinguish
two kinds. The common water clock, which, like our hour-glass, marked a
definite period of time by the flowing away of a certain quantity of
water, is certainly a very ancient invention. This clock consisted of a
vessel of clay or glass, in the shape of a jar or a basin, which was
filled with water by an opening above, and a second cup-shaped vessel,
on the top of which the former was arranged in such a way that the water
poured out slowly through little sieve-like openings into the lower
vessel. Water clocks of this kind probably existed in most households,
but were not real clocks, since they did not indicate the hour of the
day, but were only used for calculating some particular period of time.
They were chiefly used in the law courts to mark the time allowed to
each speaker, and when a speech was interrupted in order to hear
witnesses, or to read out documents, or for any other purpose, the flow
of the water was stopped, and it was set going again when the orator
continued his speech. These water clocks were also used on other
occasions wherever certain periods of time had to be calculated, and
this might take place in any household. The same principle underlay the
water clocks which were supposed to have been invented by Plato, and
perfected by the Alexandrine Ctesibius, by means of which a long period
of time could be subdivided into equal parts, and thus the hours of the
night could be calculated, which was of great importance. These water
clocks could only be constructed when it was possible to make
transparent glass vessels large enough to hold a quantity of water
sufficient to last for twelve hours and longer; on the glass there was a
scale graven, which gave the relation of the hours to the height of the
water. But as the length of the night decreases and increases in the
course of the
[Illustration: FIG. 93.]
year, like that of the day, and therefore the length of the night hours
is continually decreasing and increasing, a very complicated network of
lines was required; four vertical lines denoted the length of the hours
at the two solstices and the two equinoxes, so that the exact ratio was
given for these days. At other times they had to make shift with a more
or less exact calculation, assisted by horizontal curves, which
connected together the third, sixth, ninth, and twelfth hours (Compare
the scheme represented in Fig. 93, which shows the network of lines
engraved on the glass vessel.) The longest and shortest days are here
set down according to the latitude of Athens, the former as 14 hours, 36
minutes, 56 seconds, the latter as 9 hours, 14 minutes, 16 seconds. The
improvement of Ctesibius consisted in adding a table with horizontal
hour-lines to the water-vessel, on which a metal wire, fastened to a
cork that swam on the water, marked the time by its position, which rose
according to the increase of the water. These clocks could, of course,
be used in the daytime, when the weather made the sun-dial useless, but
a different scale was required from that of the night clocks. Still, as
the difference between the longest night and the longest day, and the
shortest night and the shortest day, is very slight, the same scale
could really be used for day and night, but in reverse order as
indicated by Fig. 93.
[Illustration:FIG. 94.]
Let us now consider the manner in which an Athenian citizen usually
divided his time. We cannot, of course, name any definite hour for
rising, still it seems probable that early rising was the rule at
Athens, and that not only the artisans began their work directly after
sunrise, but that the schools, too, often opened early. The morning
toilet does not seem to have occupied much time. In washing, a slave
poured water over his master from an ewer over a basin, and some
substitute for soap, such as fuller’s earth or lye, was used; men who
lived very simple lives, like Socrates, probably performed their
ablutions at one of the public wells. Breakfast was a scanty meal, and
generally consisted of unmixed wine and bread. After that, artisans or
others who had a definite trade went to their daily occupations; but the
citizens who had no regular profession, unless attracted by some other
occupation, such as hunting, generally spent the morning hours visiting
their friends, practising gymnastics, or, supposing they put off these
occupations to a later hour, visiting the barber to have their hair
arranged or their beards cut or shaved. As we have already discussed the
question of hair-dressing (p. 65), we will here only give a picture of
some ancient bronze razors (Fig. 94), which are of semi-circular shape,
and differ essentially from our modern ones. The pretty terra-cotta
group
[Illustration: FIG. 95.]
from Tanagra, in Fig. 95, transports us to a barber’s shop; a worthy
citizen, apparently covered by a long dressing-mantle, is seated on a
low stool, while a short man standing behind him--perhaps a slave--is
carefully cutting his hair with a pair of scissors. Barbers undertook
the care of both hair and beard, and cut and cleaned the nails. These
barbers’ shops were also meeting-places for the citizens--not only for
idlers, but, generally speaking, for all who desired to hear the news.
This custom still prevails in many parts of Italy, especially in the
south, where the _Salone_ is a general meeting-place. Even in ancient
times barbers had a reputation for being talkative. Every day many
people entered their shops, and among them strangers who brought news
and expected to receive some in exchange. It is well known that the news
of the defeat of the Athenian expedition to Sicily was first made known
in a barber’s shop in the Peiraeus by a stranger who had just landed.
All this occupied about the first quarter of the day; the second part
was devoted to visiting the market. The market-place served not only its
original end as a place for selling, but was also the place where
acquaintances met and business was transacted. Here stood the
money-changers and the bankers, at their booths or shops; here were
shady arcades, with comfortable seats, where the hot rays of the sun
might be avoided in summer, while there was opportunity in the winter of
profiting by the warmth of the workshops situated close by the
market-place. It was a very general custom in cold weather to go to
public baths or smiths’ workshops, where a warm stove could certainly be
found, and poor people, who did not possess the means of warming
themselves at home, often pressed so eagerly to the bath-stoves that
they singed their clothes. In fact, it was a very general custom to
enter any workshop or booth to have a chat with the owner or the
visitors there, even without any intention of making purchases. We need
not, therefore, be surprised when we hear of Socrates visiting a
shoemaker or a sculptor or any other artisan and beginning a discussion
with him; this custom was so general that meetings were arranged in the
workshops--thus, for instance, the people of Decelea, when they came to
Athens, always met at a particular barber’s shop.
The men also went to market with the object of making purchases, for at
Athens, curiously enough, this shopping was not undertaken by the women
or their servants, but by the men instead, who were accompanied by a
slave, and themselves purchased the required food, and in particular the
fish, so very popular at Athens, for which there was a special market,
whose beginning was announced by a bell. Later on, in the third century,
it seems to have been no longer regarded as correct for the master of
the house to make his own purchases; in the richer houses there was a
special slave (ἀγοραστής) kept for this purpose; female slaves, too,
were sometimes sent.
At mid-day the market was usually over; then the men went home and took
a slight repast, not by any means the chief meal of the day, but rather
something like our lunch. This meal, of course, varied a good deal
according to individual fancy; many people contented themselves with the
remains of the previous day’s dinner, others had fresh warm dishes
served them; and in Sicily and Magna Graecia, where great stress was
laid on good and plentiful food, this often became a really substantial
meal. Some people entirely omitted this lunch, and either took a late
breakfast or an earlier dinner. Still, most well-to-do people seem to
have taken some meal at the end of their morning’s business.
The afternoon was spent in various ways. The heat which prevails at this
time during the greater part of the year generally compelled people to
stay at home then; some took a little mid-day nap, but this was not very
general. Men of serious disposition devoted these hours to reading or
other intellectual pursuits, while those who were inclined to idleness
probably went, even in the afternoon, to the houses devoted to
dice-throwing and drinking, or else dawdled about in the barbers’ shops,
workshops, etc.; the club rooms, which were specially devoted to social
intercourse among the citizens, were probably very full at this time.
Between the third and fourth divisions of the day, they generally took a
bath as a preparation for dinner. The custom of taking a warm bath daily
had at first found much opposition in Greece. In Homer we find warm
baths only mentioned as a refreshment after long journeys or other
fatigues, or else used for purposes of cleanliness; later on, cold
baths, especially in the sea or in streams, were recommended as good for
the health and strengthening for the nerves, while warm baths were
looked upon as enervating; still the custom became very common of taking
a bath before dinner, either at home or in one of the public baths. We
have already introduced our readers to a public bath for women; Fig. 96
represents a public bath for men, taken from a vase picture. In the
middle is the bath room, where the water is pouring out of two animals’
heads. On the right and left are youths who have already taken their
bath, and are about to anoint themselves with oil. We know very little
about these public baths from writers or from remains of the buildings.
They were certainly not nearly so large or so luxurious as the _Thermae_
of the Roman Empire; but even in the Greek baths there were separate
apartments for warm, cold, and vapour baths, with large reservoirs or
smaller basins, in which water was poured out over the body, also rooms
for undressing, anointing, etc. The more the custom grew of remaining
for hours in these places or connecting them with the gymnasia, the more
extensive they became and
[Illustration: FIG. 96.]
the more luxurious. We cannot accurately ascertain to what extent the
State sometimes owned these public baths and attended to their
maintenance, but admission was not free even to these; a small fee was
paid to the bath attendant, who superintended the place, and rendered
assistance in the bath, not perhaps to cover the expenses of
maintenance, so much as for his own trouble and labour. The owners of
private establishments were obliged to charge higher fees if they wanted
not only to cover their expenses, but also to gain a profit; mention is
made of a private bathing establishment which was sold for 3,000
drachmae, and must, therefore, have brought in corresponding interest to
the purchaser, which could only be obtained by the entrance fees of the
bathers. The owner and attendants were responsible for the care of the
bath, but not for the clothes of the bathers, which were often stolen.
Those who had plenty of slaves used, therefore, to bring one with them
to carry the utensils required for the bath, such as towels, oil flasks,
and strigils, and to watch over his master’s clothes while he was
bathing. As the custom of taking a warm bath daily became more general,
the scene in the bath houses an hour before dinner grew more and more
animated. Talking and joking went on; cheerfully-disposed people even
sang, though that was regarded as unseemly; in the rooms devoted to
refreshment after the bath they played knuckle-bones, or dice, or ball,
sometimes even cottabus, for which game wine was necessary, and hence we
must infer that opportunity for wine drinking was also given there in
later times.
Towards sunset, or in winter after sunset, they returned home for the
principal meal, or else went to the house of some friend who had invited
guests. In the latter case the meal was generally a good deal prolonged,
and followed by drinking, which extended far into the night. Those who
dined at home with their wives and children generally finished their
meal very quickly, and as the custom of early rising prevailed, they
were probably in the habit of retiring early, unless the cares of
business, study, or other serious pursuits kept some of them awake by
lamplight; for the quiet of the night was a propitious time for serious
thought after the noise of the day, which was probably as great in
ancient times in the busy south as it is to-day. It is well-known that
Demosthenes prepared nearly all his speeches at night.
There were also many other occupations, partly serious, partly
entertaining, which filled up the life of the Greek citizen. At the time
of the highest political development of Athens, in the fifth and fourth
centuries, the political and judicial duties occupied a considerable
amount of a citizen’s time. Even if he did not fill any of the numerous
unpaid posts, or sit in the Council of Five Hundred, the _Boule_, whose
duty it was to hold preliminary discussions, he still had to devote
about forty days of the year to the ordinary popular assemblies, in
addition to which there were often extraordinary meetings. Supposing the
lot should have appointed him to be one of the 6,000 jurymen (ἡλιασταί)
annually chosen, this gave him plenty to do for his year of office, for,
besides the meetings, he had to acquire information about various suits
at which he had to give his opinion; and we know, chiefly from
Aristophanes, how devoted many citizens were to their judicial duties,
and how all their thoughts and actions were often centred in this
activity, which by no means always exercised a good moral influence over
them. Rich citizens also performed voluntary public services
(λειτουργίαι), which consisted partly in entertaining the people by
providing scenic or choric representations, gymnastic games, torchlight
processions, etc., partly in important services to the State, such as
equipping a man-of-war at their own expense. These voluntary services
not only imposed on the rich citizens considerable money burdens, which
in later times, when the Athenian wealth had diminished, could no longer
be met by one individual, but also took up a great deal of their time,
since they had not only to supply the necessary money, but also to
superintend and arrange the work. Another change in the monotony of
daily life was supplied by the religious festivals, in which the Attic
calendar was unusually rich, and the theatrical and other performances
connected with them, with which we shall deal later on.
Those who possessed estates in the country, even when they lived in
town, often went out to them to look after the management; hunting and
bird-catching were also very popular occupations. The former especially
was a favourite amusement. Hunting in ancient times was very different
from what it is at the present day; this is partly due to the great
difference between our modern firearms and the hunting implements of the
ancients, partly to their almost universal custom of using nets, into
which they drove the game and there killed it. These nets were used for
nearly all quadrupeds which they hunted, and the strength and density of
the meshes differed according to the object hunted, as well as the
method of arrangement. There were in particular bag nets, which were
drawn together behind the game when it ran into it, and falling nets,
which were hung loosely on forked sticks, and when the animal ran
against them fell down from the sticks and entangled it. Snares were
also used for catching not only hares and foxes, but also larger
four-footed game, such as boars and stags. In consequence of this custom
of driving the game, and bringing it to bay, bows which were calculated
for longer distances were of very little use in hunting; the animals
were either killed by a light javelin thrown from a small distance, or,
if the game had turned to bay, with a hanger, which was especially
useful in boar hunting. Dogs were used for starting the game and driving
it into the nets at bay, and the ancients devoted a good deal of care to
their training; indeed, the important part played by dogs in Greek
hunting is expressed by the Greek name for huntsman, which means “dog
leader” (κυνηγός). They used to hunt boars, stags, hares; beasts of
prey, such as wolves and jackals, were only hunted when they were
dangerous to the herds; and larger animals, such as lions and bears,
did not exist at all in Greece in historic ages, although the numerous
legends of lion hunts bear sufficient testimony to their existence in
earlier times. Birds were caught with nets, snares, traps, and lime;
and, since Greece was by no means rich in quadrupeds suitable for
hunting, bird-catching was one of the most popular occupations, and also
a lucrative one. On the other hand, fishing, which was carried on with
both lines and nets, seems never to have become a regular sport.
We have already alluded to the practice of visiting the gymnasia, and
the military duties of the citizens. There were also public houses and
gaming houses, but these do not appear to have played a great part in
the lives of the men. The drinking parties supplied sufficient
opportunity for social meetings. Those who visited the public drinking
bars usually did so for other purposes as well--to see pretty girls or
to meet companions for dice, though both these purposes could be
effected in special houses. It is natural, therefore, that it was not
regarded as respectable to visit these wine taverns, and that grave men,
as well as youths of good principle, avoided them. Still, even here the
custom seems to have gradually relaxed, and though the Athenians were
never as bad as the inhabitants of Byzantium, who were accused of
spending the whole day at the bars, yet at the end of the fourth and in
the third century B.C. it was very common for young men, or people of
the lower classes, to dawdle about in the wine bars and gaming houses.
Travelling played a far less important part in the life of the Greeks
than it does at the present day. In ancient times almost the only
inducement for travelling was business. The merchant plied his trade
chiefly as a sailor, the small shopkeeper travelled about the country
as a pedlar. In the heroic period we also find artisans and travelling
singers on their wanderings, and in the first centuries of the
development of art, and to some extent even afterwards, sculptors and
architects were summoned from a distance to execute commissions under
the orders of the State, or some special board of officials. But those
who were neither merchants nor artisans had less inducement to travel;
for military expeditions, which of course were numerous, can hardly be
included among journeys. There were also official embassies and
pilgrimages to celebrated shrines, or visits to the great national
festivals. Again, Solon, Herodotus, and others travelled for political
or scientific purposes, with a view to study history or ethnography,
that they might learn to know foreign nations, their manners and
customs, countries and buildings. In the Alexandrine period, journeys
were also undertaken for purposes of natural science. Our modern custom
of visiting foreign lands for the sake of their natural beauty was
unknown in Greek antiquity, but we must not on that account suppose that
the ancients had no feeling for natural beauty. The Odyssey gives a
picture of travel in heroic times; the common man trudges along on foot,
while the rich man goes in his carriage, drawn by horses or mules, and
the fact that the latter was possible even in the mountainous
Peloponnesus, proves that even at that period good roads must have
existed there. The Greeks never attained as great perfection in
road-making as the Romans; apparently those roads were kept in best
condition which led to the national sanctuaries, and here regular tracks
were cut out of the rocky ground, and there were places for passing
other carriages, halting places, etc. This was not, however, the case
with all the roads, and we must not assume that ancient Greece
possessed a well-kept complicated network of streets, such as the
practical Romans constructed at every place to which their legions came;
indeed, in historic times it appears that people travelled very little
in carriages. Of course these had to be used on long journeys,
especially when women were travelling; then they used four-wheeled
carriages, which were sometimes used for sleeping in; and they also had
smaller two-wheeled carts. But as a rule men travelled on horse-back or
mule-back, and very often merely on foot, followed by one or many
slaves, who carried the baggage required for the journey, in particular
bed-coverings, clothes, utensils, etc.
If it was necessary to spend the night anywhere on a journey of several
days, the widespread beautiful custom of hospitality which prevailed in
ancient times, and made men regard every stranger as under the
protection of Zeus, enabled them to find shelter; and, though this
custom could not maintain itself in later times in its full extent, yet
the effects of it still remained, and many people entered into a sort of
treaty of hospitality with men in other towns, which was usually handed
on to the descendants. By this they pledged themselves on the occasion
of visits from members of one or the other family, to receive them in
their houses and afford them the rights of hospitality; some little
token of recognition previously agreed on--such as a little tablet, a
ring broken into two halves, or something else of the sort--was used in
such cases to legitimise the stranger. Sometimes whole districts entered
into a league of this kind with one another, or one single rich man
became the “guest-friend” of some foreign community, and entertained
them when they came to his home. The service of the “guest-friend” was
not always extended so far as to supply complete entertainment to the
stranger as well as lodging; often he only supplied the lodging, the
necessary coverings for the bed, and the use of the fire, which could
not easily be procured, but in other respects left the guest, if he had
brought servants with him, to provide for himself; some additional gifts
of hospitality were usually sent him. Still this custom of
“guest-friendship” was not sufficient to supply shelter for all
travellers; therefore inns were opened in large trading cities, near
harbours, and places of pilgrimage, such as Delos, Delphi, Olympia,
etc., where strangers were entertained for payment. These inns were of
very various character--some of them apparently supplied only rooms and
a little furniture, especially bedsteads, while the stranger brought his
own bed and coverlets, and had to provide his own food; others supplied
food and drink, and were often houses of ill-fame, and in consequence it
is natural that the position of inn-keeper should have been generally
looked down upon in Greek antiquity. Probably these inns were not
particularly pleasant places to stay in; very often the landlord cheated
the travellers, and it was customary to arrange the price of everything
beforehand; there were also inns which were used as hiding-places by
robbers and thieves, and thus might prove dangerous quarters for the
guests. Another disagreeable accompaniment of southern inns, even in the
present day, is hinted at by Aristophanes in the “Frogs,” when Dionysus,
on his journey to Hades, inquires for the inns in which there are fewest
fleas. Travellers do not seem to have troubled themselves about
passports; a legitimation was only necessary when the town to which they
were going was engaged in war, or when they went into a hostile country
in time of war. But to travel at all at such times was not advisable,
for the roads, which at no time were specially safe, were then infested
by travelling mercenaries or marauders. Sometimes travellers had to
submit to an examination of their luggage. Officials generally farmed
out the tolls to private undertakers, and these therefore had, or at any
rate took, the right, if they suspected travellers of trying to smuggle
dutiable articles, to stop them and examine their luggage, and sometimes
even to open letters which they had by them.