Prostitutes and courtesans were not confined to the house. Some became influential such as Aspasia.Greek women played an important part in festivals and religious ceremonies but they took no part in politics.They did not belong to the assembly and could not vote.Girls were educated at home by their mothers.Soon after fifteenth birthday a girl was usually married to a man chosen by her parents.Greek wives were kept busy indoors as far away from male strangers and other mischief as possible! Girls received little formal education (except perhaps in the aristocrats' homes through tutors); they were generally kept at home and had no political power in Athens. The education of a girl involved spinning, weaving, and other domestic art.

Men:

Men could took part in assembley and also could vote and took part in pilitics. The education of boys was taken much more seriously. Greek boys went to school from the ages of 7 and 14 if their parents could afford to pay.The main subjects of study were Homer´s two long poems, the Iliad and the Odyssey.After school a boy went for  military training.In Athens men became adults at eighteen and for two years had opportunities of service at home and abroad.Then they retired to civilian life but could be called up for military service at any time up to the age of sixty. Schools taught reading, writing and mathematics, music, poetry, sport and gymnastics. Based upon their birth and the wealth of their parents, the length of education was from the age of 5 to 14, for the wealthier 5 - 18 and sometimes into a student's mid-twenties in an academy where they would also study philosophy, ethics, and rhetoric (the skill of persuasive public speaking). Finally, the citizen boys entered a military training camp for two years, until the age of twenty. Foreign metics and slaves were not expected to attain anything but a basic education in Greece, but were not excluded from it either.


Writings:

Was scratched on a wax pad with a stylus a pointed stick tipped with iron or bone.

Religion:

Polytheistic

• believed gods lived on Mt. Olympus
• resembled human beings
• honored them with festivals & temples

Athena = goddess of wisdom
Aphrodite = goddess of love
Ares = war
Zeus, Hera, Poseidon,


Social Structure of Athens:

Freemen were all male citizens: divided into numerous classes: at the top were aristocrats who had large estates and made up the cavalry or captained triremes; middle ranks were small farmers; lowest class was the thetes (urban craftsmen and trireme rowers). Metics - those who came from outside the city; they were not allowed to own land, but could run industries and
businesses. Slaves were lowest class, but less harshly treated than in most other Greek cities. Slaves had no rights, and an owner could kill a slave. Slaves varied in status: some were given important roles in Athens, like policemen. Women were rarely seen outside the home and had no rights in the Athenian democracy

The Assembly open to all citizens (all citizens were eligible to attend such meetings and speak up). They passed laws and made
policy decisions. The Assembly met on the Hill of the Pnyx at the foot of the Acropoli. In the cities of ancient Greece, the boule was a council of citizens i) appointed to run daily affairs of the city. Originally a council of nobles advising a king, boules evolved according to the constitution of the city; in oligarchies boule positions might be hereditary, while in democracies members were typically chosen by lot, and served for one year.