At Home

Most Athenians, whether in the city or the country, lived in small homes with two or three rooms. Cooking fires were usually started outside in a portable charcoal or wood stove, then brought in when the fire was hot and giving off less smoke. Fumes were vented through a small hole in the roof. The roof could also provide a quick way out for the home’s occupant if, for example, a debt collector came to the door. And on hot nights people often slept outdoors on their roof.

No large or grand homes have been unearthed in Athens, though they have been found in northern Greece and on Delos. But Athens’s wealthier classes did live in pleasant homes that had perhaps several rooms and an inner courtyard, and some owned both country and city houses. A house unearthed at Dystus on the large island of Euboea has two stories. On the first floor is a large hall next to the open courtyard, which may have had grapevines and fig trees. During the day the women of the household-the wife, daughters, and female servants or slaves-worked on weaving and spinning for the family’s clothing, most likely in the open-

Doored hall or the courtyard, since the weather was often warm. In the evenings the husband of the house may have entertained his friends in the hall while his wife stayed in an upstairs room. Most larger homes had women’s quarters, where the female head of the household spent much of her time with her children when they were young. These quarters were often guarded by a slave to make sure no strangers entered them.

Tapestries or embroidered cloth might have decorated the walls, and furnishings were fairly simple. To dine, men reclined on couches and women sat in chairs. Each person ate from a lightweight table that could be pushed under a couch when not in use. Couches were also used as beds at night. There might also be various stools or chairs and baby - or child-sized beds.

Gym Suit

The Greek word gymnos, from which we get gymnasium, means "bare" in the sense of naked. By the Classical era, all Greek men exercised naked, their bodies rubbed with olive oil. Modern gymnasiums, or gyms, are still centers of athletic activity, though the dress code has changed considerably.

Most people did not have a bath at home, but there were baths at the gymnasiums and the number of heated public baths in Athens increased during the fifth century B. C.E. Daily bathing or swimming in the sea was common among the Greeks. Pisistratus had fountains installed in Athens that were a source of fresh drinking water, and, when the spout was raised, for showering.