Life in Ancient Greece centered around the small household. For most Greeks, houses were modest mud brick structures with interior courtyards. Wealthier families could have many slaves to manage household duties and farm labor. Women typically stayed at home to spin, weave and care for children, though poorer women also worked outside. Children began school around age 7, where boys learned reading, writing and athletics while girls received instruction at home focused on domestic tasks. Daily life was basic, relying on staples like bread, olive oil, wine, fruits and vegetables, with meat reserved for wealthy diets.

1. Growing up in Ancient
Greece
Home Life

2. Greeks at home
• Most Greek houses were small, with a
walled garden or yard in the middle.
The house was made of sun-dried
mud brick. Mud houses crumbled away
in a few years, and had to rebuild.
The house had a roof of clay tiles, and
small windows, with no glass, but
wooden shutters to keep out the hot
sun.

3. Rich Greeks
• Rich Greeks had slaves -
sometimes 50 slaves worked for
a rich family. Slaves did the hard
work, on the farm, in the fields
and workshops and in the house
too.

4. Families and women's lives
Married women stayed at home
much of the time.
At home, Greek women spent
much of their time spinning thread
and weaving cloth.
They looked after the children and
prepared food.
Poor women went out more.
They worked alongside their
husbands, fetched water, and did
the family washing in a stream.
They could chat with friends while
they worked.
Rich women went out only with a
slave, perhaps to visit women
friends.
In Athens, only poor women went
shopping alone.
Rich women always went with a
slave or a male companion.

5. Woman weaving

6. What did Greeks wear?
• A Greek woman wore a
long tunic, called a
chiton, made from a
piece of cotton or linen
material. It reached the
ankles. Over it, she
wore a cloak, called a
himation - thin for
summer, thick for
winter, and draped from
the shoulders.
Young men wore short
tunics, older men
preferred long ones.
Slaves often wore just a
strip of cloth (a
loincloth).
Many people went
barefoot. Some
wore leather
sandals
Men and women wore wide-brimmed hats,
to shade their heads from the hot sun. We
know Greeks liked jewellery, because
jewels were buried with dead people in
their tombs.

7. Greek food
• Bread
honey
• Wine
Fruit
Cheese
• Fish
• Vegetables
• Eggs
• Nuts
• Figs
Only rich people ate much meat,including
hares, deerand wild boar killed by
hunters.
They used the oil for cooking, in oil
lamps, and cosmetics.
Octopus was a favourite seafood.

8. Sons and daughters
• Many Greek parents wanted
boy children. A son would
look after his parents in old
age.
A daughter went away when
she married, and had to take a
wedding gift or dowry.
This could be expensive, if a
family had lots of daughters.
Most girls were only 13-16
years old when they married.
Often their fathers chose
husbands for them.
A father could decide whether or not the
family kept a new baby.
Unwanted or weak babies were
sometimes left to die outdoors.
Anyone finding an abandoned baby could
adopt it and take it home, perhaps to
raise it as a slave.
If a couple were rich, they might hire a
poor neighbour or a slave to nurse a new
baby.

9. Going to school
• Boys went to
school at age
7.
• Girls were
taught at home
by their
mothers.
Most Greeks schools had fewer than 20
boys, and classes were often held
outdoors.

10. What did Greek children learn?
• Girls learned
housework,
cooking and
skills such as
weaving at
home.
Boys at school learned reading, writing, arithmetic,
music and poetry.
They wrote on wooden tablets covered with soft wax,
using a pointed stick called a stylus. They used an
abacus, with beads strung on wires or wooden rods, to
help with maths.
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.

11. CLIL
This is a presentation for
everyday life in Ancient Greece.
By Emily
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