historicall.y

Ancient Greek wedding The common age of marriage for a Greek girl was thirteen to about sixteen years old; their husband would probably be about thirty years of age and they would be chosen by the bride's father. When a girl went to be marry, she had to bring a gift or dowry for the husband- to- be and their family. The day before the girl would be married, she would have to go to the temple to sacrifice her toys to the goddess Artemis. This showed that the girl was no longer a girl but a woman, ready to wed a man. Toys that Greek girls usually played with were dolls made out of wax, clay and wood; some even had mobile arms and legs. Some also had pottery figures.  Girls would not receive any education because the ancient Greek views were that girls did not need to be learned to be good wives. Their mothers would teach them how to weave, cook and do housework.      Some girls were able to read and write a little bit but that was very rare.

Ancient Greeks worshiped many gods and goddesses such as Zeus, Hades, Apollo and Demeter. Demeter was the goddess of the harvest and nature, she was also known as 'Mother Earth'. She was also the sister of the king of the gods- Zeus, the god of the Underworld- Hades and the god of the sea-  Poseidon. Greeks worshiped her because they believed that she would give them a good harvest in return for gifts. They would bury grain as a gift and they would also pour olive oil in. They believed they needed to honour her to be provided with a good and vast harvest. 

Echo was a beautiful wood nymph who was a favourite of the moon goddess- Artemis (twin of Apollo).  Her fatal flaw was that she was very fond of talking. One day she met Hera, the wife of Zeus, who was frustrated with Echo's talking and therefore cursed her to always have the last word. After that, Echo was doomed to walk the earth speaking only the last word of another being. Whilst walking, Echo saw a very handsome young shepherd called Narcissus, fell in love him and followed him around. Narcissus was very vain because he was aware about how attractive he was and how much girls loved him but he loved no one but himself. To begin with, Narcissus didn't mind that Echo was following him but soon it became annoying. One day, Narcissus looked into a stream and was enchanted with what looked back at him. A beautiful young man. Meanwhile Echo was desperate, she wanted to tell the youth that she loved him but she couldn't.  "Come to me!" begged the vain man one...

Slaves were a massive part of Ancient Greek society. It is unknown how many slaves Greek's owned, but it is predicted by historians that about 30- 40% of the population were slaves. They were very common and worked as a ship's crew, as a domestic slave, in the field and even the Ancient Greek equivalent of the police force! When a slave came into the ownership of a master or mistress, they would be given a new name. Slaves didn't have as many rights as a free citizen, and they could be put to death without a fair trail. A domestic servant was usually quite lucky because they would normally be treated as part of the family.

The Ancient Greeks believed that the chief god- Zeus, had a sister called Demeter, who was in charge of the harvest. They believed that if she was unhappy, then the crops would fail and the people would die. This is a Greek myth that explains why there is spring, summer, autumn and winter. Demeter had a daughter, whom she loved very much. Her name was Persephone and she made her mother very happy, and when she was happy the mortals crops grew well, trees blossomed and the grass was carpeted with bright flowers. Over time, Persephone grew up into a tall, beautiful goddess. One day, the god of the Underworld- Hades was out looking at the living world in his chariot with Cerberus, the three headed dog who guarded the Underworld. Suddenly, he saw Persephone, walking gracefully through the flowers. He fell head over heels in love with her, so much that he snatched her up and took her away to his cold, dark, miserable abode under the ground. When Demeter couldn't find her beloved ...

In Greek Mythology, Apollo is the god of the sun. He was believed to be the one who pulled the sun up each day with his chariot drawn by four horses. Apollo was also the Ancient Greek god of music, poems, art, medicine, plague, archery and knowledge.  In this myth, he falls in love with a wood nymph called Daphne. It goes like this: Apollo the sun god had been mocking Cupid (aka Eros) the god of love, after Cupid had had enough of the taunting he decided to have revenge. He fired two arrows. The first gold arrow struck Apollo, which made him fall in love with Daphne, a Naiad nymph, daughter of the River. The second was made of lead. It struck Daphne and made her despise Apollo. Under the spell of Cupid's arrow, Apollo chased a distressed nymph along the river bank declaring that he would always love her. Daphne, harassed at being chased by Apollo, turned to her father the River and begged him to help her get away from the sun god. Hearing his daughters desperate pleas, the R...