Roman Greco civilization?

[ascanius]

I was wondering if anyone know anything about the daily life during the classical age, for a citizen, slave, and free men. Like for instance someone wakes up then.... I'm asking because I really don't want to go through Livy, or Plutarch, or Cicero in my quaint library. I know a good bit already but the day to day live is mentioned little.

Oh and I might as well ask this here. Does anyone know anything about feminine hygiene in the middle ages, or classical age?

 

[Saigonnus]

Well, In the Middle Ages, a woman's cycle was considered a sin from god (for sinning in the garden of Eden) and many pious women (those in a strictly harsh religious life) often didn't get a cycle; lending credence to that notion. Truthfully though, the plain fare they'd eat during the day didn't provide the nutrients needed for a flow to occur and was documented that a nun left the convent (or whatever) and got a more nutritious meal, her cycle would return. The Middle Age women probably used Sphagnum Moss (called blood moss) which surgeons used at the time for absorbing blood for wounds taken on the battlefield; it wouldn't be much different using it to stem a woman's cycle and could probably be put between to pieces of fabric. Farmers probably used raw wool or flax (perhaps cloth) if the moss wasn't available and it would be reusable/washable whatever the case may be. I don't know if it was the same during the calssic period, but likely it wasn't much different since mankind tends to find things that work and sticks with it.

Diapers of the time were likewise cloth and washed for reuse probably through every baby a woman would have.

EDITED: (Add-on)

I think everyday life in the classic age/middle ages would be in many ways similar to the way we do things today. Orinary people would get up, have breakfast (probably leftovers from the night before, or porridge of some caliber) and go off to work. They didn't have the labor laws we have now, so many craftsmen/merchants would be working all day to make enough to buy their meals for the following day. Housewives would often find ways to make money at home (mending clothing, working as a midwife, dispensing herbs or whatever). Most people (the rich included) often bought food everyday or at least every other day since food storage was limited to grains, beans and things that could be pickled.

The evening was when families had the most elaborate meal of the day (usually later than dinner now, i.e. 8 or 9 PM) and spent the most time together. Fathers and mothers would tell stories to their kids, lessons they feel the kids should learn since writing was normally something only the nobility class had access to; spoken word or songs were used as ways of passing down stories/lessons.

I think how a person spent their day would depend on what type of job or lifestyle they had. Farmers would spend most of the day in the fields or tending their livestock. Soldiers, by necessity would spend most of the day either on campaign or perhaps stationed in a city (depending on the justice/law enforcement system in place) and would patrol the city or surrounding area keeping the peace.

 

[Shockley]

If you're wanting to right about life in Greece or Rome and don't want to read their own accounts, well, I'm not sure there's much help I can give you. But seriously - read Plutarch. It's great.

 

[Devor]

If you're wanting to right about life in Greece or Rome and don't want to read their own accounts, well, I'm not sure there's much help I can give you. But seriously - read Plutarch. It's great.

Would you be able to elaborate on which of Plutarch's works would be most appropriate to learning about everyday living stuff and how? Research is great, but we have to recognize that getting started can be very daunting for some people.

 

[Shockley]

I'd definitely be talking about Plutarch's Lives. He covers both Romans and Greeks, so it can give you a good feel of both cultures. It won't tell you a lot about food, clothing, etc. (honestly, and I say this as a history major, the HBO show Rome would go a long way in telling you diet and clothing) but it will point out some little things that I think a lot of people miss, such as:

1. The political status of indigenous Italians.
2. The way Roman citizenship worked.
3. The absence of seemingly critical institutions (police forces, fire brigades, etc.)
4. Criminal organizations and the way they interact with the city at large.
5. Religious traditions (He's a dry writer, but I still crack up every time I read Plutarch's account of the Bona Dea incident).

Things of that nature.

 

[Ivan]

The Lives of Spartans, especially Agesilaus and Agis and Cleomenes do give some sense of the old Spartan way of life and shed a little light on other Greeks by way of contrast and comparison. If you need a place to start in the books, that might be best.

 

[Ravana]

Chilari's the member to talk to about Greece, and I suspect she knows a fair amount about Rome as well.

 

[Fluffypoodel]

There is a book called Grammar of the Ancient World by Dominic Rathbone that i found to be really helpful in giving a generalized account of the ancient worlds most influential civs, Egypt, Mesopotamia, Greece and Rome. it covers topics from costume to religion to war to work and beyond. Of course primary sources are the best to get the actual flavor of the culture i think that the research was done for this book and you can extrapolate many of the aspects of daily life from the descriptions within. Also you should look up the city of Pompeii, a roman city that was preserved by a volcano. It shows many similarities between our society and Rome. Graffiti, political slogans, sexual desires, relationships and all the accouterments that follow. If you want to avoid a long read then I think that these are your best bet.

 

[Chilari]

Depends on which classical age you're talking about. Classical Greece is, roughly, the 5th and 4th centuries BCE; classical Rome is considered the late 1st centruy BCE to the mid 2nd century CE. Different cultures, different times, both considered classical.

For daily life in classical Rome, I would recommend the recent BBC series Meet the Romans, presented by Cambridge University Classics Professor Mary Beard. You can get bits of it on Youtube. It's fascinating. Other than that there's not a huge amount I know about Roman life. Pliny the Younger's letters might be of use as far as the life of a wealthy and well-connected citizen is concerned (some of them are to the Emperor Tiberius). Columella and Varro are good sources on the topic of farming. Mary Beard's Pomepii: Life of a Roman Town (a book this time) might also be useful as it examines the circumstances the townspeople were in before the eruption of Vesuvius (the town still hadn't recovered from an earthquake 17 years earlier) and some of the clues left behind. You might also want to research Herculaneum.

As for Greek life, well, where to start? Xenophon's Oeconomicus would be a good starting point. The whole book (and it's not that long) is basically his advice on how a wealthy Athenian should run his household. Now this is an idealised version, so not necessarily reality, but it's a very good start indeed as it includes the duties of the wife, what the slaves should do, where items might be kept and so on.

The next thing I'd recommend is Ancient Greek Houses and Households by Ault and Nevett. It's an academic book really, and can be a bit pricy online (when I bought my copy it was about £38 on Amazon), but you might be able to access it at a university library if the uni teaches classics, archaeology, ancient history or women studies.

If you have access to academic articles, Lin Foxhall is the name to remember. She's written articles about loomweights (women often wove cloth on looms, and the loomweights were often hereditary from mother to daughter), whether there were divided "women's" and "men's" areas in houses, whether there was a room designated as a kitchen, and so on.

Ruth Westgate's article The Greek House and the Ideology of Citizenship is a good one exploring how the Greek city state and the shape of the houses preferred by Classical times developed alongside each other as part of larger social change whereby the concept of citizenship developed. Not sure how useful it'd be on daily life, but it would give you an idea of the thinking behind the house shape and society overall, so it's really more about attitudes and approaches held by the ancient Greeks than the day to day nitty gritty details.

As far as slaves are concerned, it's often much harder to get at information. Oeconomicus can help a bit there but perhaps not much.

If you're more interested in Sparta, again, Xenophon's the man to read. You can find his Spartan Society in the back of the Penguin book Plutarch on Sparta, and in fact I'd say it's more useful than Plutarch's bits on the Lives of various Spartans if you want to look at daily life for ordinary people.

So that's a start. If I think of any more stuff I shall add it on.