Olympic Games - Ancient Greece

3. ATHENS
In ancient Athens, the purpose of education was to produce
citizens trained in the arts, and to prepare citizens for both
peace and war.
Until age 6 or so, boys were taught at home by their mother or by a male slave.
From age 6 to 14, boys went to a neighbourhood primary school or to a private
school.
Girls were not educated at school, but many learned to read and write at home
in the comfort of their courtyard.

4. SPARTA
In ancient Sparta, the purpose of education was to produce
a well-drilled, well-disciplined marching army.
Spartans believed in a life of discipline, self-denial, and
simplicity and were very loyal to the state of Sparta.
Spartan boys were sent to military school at age 6 or 7.
They lived, trained and slept in the barracks of their brotherhood.
They were taught survival skills and other skills necessary to be a great soldier.
School courses were very hard and often painful.
In Sparta, girls also went to school at age 6 or 7.

5. CORINTHIANS
In ancient Corinth, the purpose of education was to produce
citizens trained in the arts and the sciences and to prepare
citizens for becoming creative problem-solvers.
The polis is famous for its bronze statues, pottery, and vase painters.
As a child, you were taught at home by your mother, or by a male slave.
From age 7-14, children attended a day school, where they memorized poetry
and studied drama, public speaking, reading, writing, math, and the flute.
They also went to military school for at least two years.

6. Going to school
• At 3, children were given small jugs - a sign that
babyhood was over.
• Boys went to school at age 7.
• Girls were taught at home by their mothers. A few girls
learned to read and write, but many did not.
• Most Greeks schools had fewer than 20 boys, and
classes were often held outdoors.

7. Learning
• Girls learned housework, cooking and skills such as
weaving at home.
• Boys at school learned reading, writing, arithmetic,
music and poetry.
• Part of their lessons included learning stories and poems
by heart.
• Boys did athletics, to keep fit and prepare them for war
as soldiers. They ran, jumped, wrestled and practised
throwing a spear and a discus. They trained on a sports
ground called a gymnasium.

8. Marriage and work
• Most girls were only 13-16 years old when they married.
The day before she married, a girl sacrificed her toys to
the goddess Artemis, to show she was grown-up.
• Most boys had to work hard. They worked as farmers,
sailors, fishermen and craft workers - such as potters,
builders, metalworkers and stone-carvers.
• Some clever boys went on studying. Teachers gave
classes to older students.

9. Children's toys
• We know about some Greek toys from pictures on pottery
vases and from artefacts found by archaeologists.
• Children played with small pottery figures, and dolls made
of rags, wood, wax or clay - some dolls had moveable
arms and legs.
• Children played with balls made from tied-up rags or a
blown-up pig's bladder. The ankle-bones of sheep or goats
made 'knucklebones' or five-stones.
• There are pictures of children with pets, such as dogs,
geese and chickens.

10. • http://www.ancientgreece.co.uk/dailylife/challenge/cha_set.html

11. Once every four years, men from all over Greece
came to compete in a great athletic festival in Elis,
in western Greece.
This was called the Olympic games because the
place was called Olympia.
The Olympic Games were a religious festival to
honor the Greek gods Zeus and Hera.

12. Once all the men had arrived in Elis for the Olympic
Games, they spent a month practicing and training
together in a big palaestra, with a sand floor.
They were only given fresh cheese and water at
their meals, and they all ate together.
They had to follow strict rules.
Judges watched the men train, and picked out only
the best ones to actually run in the races.

14. FUN FACTS
• Children played Blind Man's Buff, and adults played this game too.
• A game of flicking nuts into a hole or circle may be the Ancient Greek version
of marbles - or even tiddlywinks!
• The Greeks had writing paper, made from Egyptian papyrus reeds, but used it
only for important documents.
• In Sparta, boys were told to steal food from farmers. If they were caught,
they were beaten - for not running away fast enough!
• Girls in Sparta had more freedom than girls in other Greek states. Spartan
girls did athletics, gymnastics, dancing, music and singing.
• Pythagoras was a clever Greek who told us what we need to know about
triangles in geometry.
• Pythagoras believed that beans had souls, and told his students never to eat
beans. Friends joked this was because beans gave Pythagoras indigestion!
• When Greeks felt ill, they thought the gods were punishing them.
• The sea-god Poseidon had some very nasty children. One was the one-eyed
giant Cyclops, who ate people.
• A 'paidagogos' was a slave whose job was to take boys to school and make
sure they worked hard.