ATHENS DURING

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ATHENS DURING THE GOLDEN AGE
Site1 The Parthenon Site 5 Gymnasium
Site 2 Theater of Dionysus Site 6 Marble Workshop
Site 3 A Shop in the Agora Site 7 Home of a Wealthy Family
Site 4 Workshop in Ceramicus
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Site One The Parthenon GREEK ARCHITECTURE You
are at the Parthenon, a beautiful temple built in
honor of Athena, the Greek Goddess of Wisdom and
Art. Carefully read the information below about
Greek architecture. Then, list five (5) important
facts about Greek architecture in your Walking
Tour journal.
The Greeks were among the most talented

architects of the ancient world. They built their
most
famous structure, the Parthenon, during the
rule of
the statesman Pericles. The Parthenon, a
temple in
honor of the Goddess Athena, was built to
celebrate
the end of Athens war with Persia. Although
only
partially intact, the Parthenon is considered
the most glorious building from the ancient
worlda stunning reminder of Athens cultural
achievements. It stands atop the Athenian
Acropolis overlooking the city. Constructed
almost completely out of marble from a nearby
mountain, the Parthenon is 237 feet long, 110
feet wide, and 60 feet high. It features 8
columns in front and back, and 17 columns along
each side. The architects and sculptors who
created the building spent more than 12 million
units of Greek currency, called drachmas
(pronounced DRAHK-mahs), on its construction,
over four times the annual budget for all of
Athens. This huge, marble-columned structurepart
of which is still standing todayhas survived for
nearly 2,500 years because of its superior
workmanship. The architects designed
the Parthenon to allow for optical
illusions. The height of each column was
five times its diameter so that the
columns appeared slender. Builders also slanted
the roof of the building, creating a triangular
piece on either end of the building called a
pediment. The east pediment showed a scene of the
birth of Athena. The west pediment depicted the
contest between Athena and Poseidon, the God of
the Sea, which determined who would be the patron
of Athens. Another distinctive feature
of the Parthenon was
a 525-foot band of sculpture, or
frieze, which
surrounded the top of the temple. This frieze
depicted the
Panathenaic Procession, an annual
Athenian
festival that celebrated the birthday of

Athena. The Parthenon also contained a
35-foot-high gold and ivory statue of the
Goddess Athena. Athenians believed that
worshipping and leaving offerings at the
foot of the statue would ensure Athenas
protection of Athens and its people.
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Site Three Drama (Theater of Dionysus) You are
at the Theater of Dionysus, a place where
dramatic plays are performed in
Athens. Carefully read the information below
about Greek drama. Then, list five (5) important
facts about Greek drama in your Walking Tour
journal.
Theater was an important part of Athenian social
life. In the 400s and 500s B.C.E., Athenians
developed two types of plays that we still have
today tragedy and comedy. Tragic plays presented
the downfall of a great hero. Extreme arrogance
toward the Gods, or hubris (pronounced
HEW-briss), usually caused this downfall. The
somber lesson of the tragic plays was that humans
should act with respect toward the Gods, and
that dishonorable behavior had severe
consequences. Comedy did not contain serious
messages, and it provided entertainment for
Athenian audiences. Comic plays made fun of, or
satirized, Athenian politicians and other
well-known personalities. Athenian plays were
staged in outdoor marble
theaters,
which were built into the sides of hills. In a

typical theater, stone rows, or
tiers, of seats were

arranged in a semicircle around the stage area.

Behind the stage area, wooden or
marble columns,
which were draped
with cloth, formed a tent. Actors

changed their costumes and masks in this tent,
and
extra scenery was stored when
it was not in use.
Sometimes painted
scenery was hung in the front of
the
tent to provide the backdrop for a play.
During ancient Greek plays, two or three male
actors performed both male and female roles on
stage. They were joined by a chorus of 15 to 24
men who stood at the side of the stage and helped
explain the action of the plays. The actors
and chorus wore huge masks with exaggerated
expressions to indicate the personalities of
their characters. The feelings of the characters
were shown through the use of colored costumes.
Bright colors indicated happiness, and black
showed despair. Many plays were staged at the
Theater of Dionysus,
built in honor of the God
Dionysus. This theater could hold
more than
14,000 people. All classes of society, except
slaves,
attended the performances. Athenian playwrights
presented
their new plays in competitions held during the

spring religious festivals. A panel of nobles
judged each play
for excellence and quality of
performance.
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Site Two Commerce and Trade (Shop in the
Agora) You are at a shop in the Agora, the place
where Athenians gather to buy and sell various
goods. Carefully read the information below
about trade and commerce in ancient Greece. Then,
list five (5) important facts about Greek trade
in your Walking Tour journal.
Athenians conducted most of their commerce at
the
Agora
(pronounced AH-gorah), the huge marketplace at

the base of the Acropolis. On the
eastern side of the
Agora, merchants
sold their goods from small stands.

Citizens could purchase foods such as lettuce,
onions,
cucumbers, sardines, olive oil,
and wine. They could also
buy household items
such as pottery, furniturechairs,
chests,
and sofasand clay oil lamps, which provided the

only source of light in Athenian homes. While
most
Athenians made their clothes at
home, leather sandals
and jewelry were popular
items at the market. In addition, Athenians
bought and sold slaves at the Agora. In an
effort to make commercial transactions more
efficient, the Greeks began using coins in the
600s B.C.E. Each city-state had its own system
of coinage, though they all used metals such as
gold. silver, bronze, and a gold and silver
mixture called electrum (pronounced
eh-LEK-trum). Initially coins were stamped on
one side, but later Athenians imprinted images
on both sides. The most popular coin in Athens
was the tetradrachin (pronounced TET-rah-drom),

which was worth four drachmas (a unit of Greek
currency).
It had an image of Athena on one
side and Athenas bird,
the owl, on the other.
Athenians engaged in a great deal of trade
with other Greek city-states and foreign lands to
obtain many goods and resources. This was
necessary because the Attica plains were not
fertile enough to provide sufficient food for the
Athenian population. Farmers could raise only
olives, so Athenians had to trade for their
essential food items. One major Greek trading
partner was Egypt, from which the Greeks obtained
valuable grains grown in the Nile Valley. Another
important trade good, timber, was imported from
Sicily, Thrace, and the northern Black Sea coast.
In exchange for the goods they imported, the
Greeks traded their beautiful painted pottery,
their woolen goods, and olives.
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Site Five Pottery (Pottery Workshop in
Ceramicus) You are at a pottery workshop in
Ceramicus, an industrial area in which Athenian
artisans use advanced techniques to produce
beautiful pottery. Carefully read the
information below about Greek pottery. Then, list
five (5) important facts about Greek pottery in
your Walking Tour journal.
Because of its beauty and utility, Greek pottery
was
valued throughout the Mediterranean
in ancient times.
Greek artists created
ceramic vessels----such as storage
jars, drinking
cups, mixing bowls, and platesfor both
functional
and decorative purposes. Potters made these
vessels by
shaping wet clay on a potters wheels and

baking it in ovens, or kilns, at about 1,000
degrees
Fahrenheit. The heat hardened the pots and set
the
painted designs permanently into the clay. The
history of pottery in ancient Greece can be
divided into several distinct periods. One of
the earliest periods, the Geometric, occurred
between 900 and 700 B.C.E. Pottery created
during this period was painted and carved with
simple, repeating shapes. Potters created
vases with designs such as circles or
half-circles, triangles, right angles, and
squares. Along horizontal panels around the
vase, artists created stick figures in silhouette
that represented animals or humans. Around 700
B.C.E., Greek potters abandoned the

stylized geometric shapes. They began creating
vases
with realistic black figures painted
upon the red clay of
the pottery. These
designs were more realistic than
previous
depictions. They showed figures from mythical

scenes, as well as scenes from daily life, such
as farming
and seafaring. This
style of pottery is often referred to
as
the Black-Figure style. By about 500 B.C.E.,
Athenian artists were using new production
methods to create red figures on black
backgrounds, a style that became known as the
Red-Figure style of pottery. The human and animal
figures were left in the original red color of
the clay, while the background of the vessel was
painted black and fired. Using this method, the
artist was able to create more realistic figures,
showing a variety of poses, human muscles and
facial features, and precise details of clothing.
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Site Four Education (Gymnasium) You are at a
gymnasium, a place where many Athenian children
complete part of their education. Carefully read
the information below about Greek education.
Then, list five (5) important facts about Greek
architecture in your Walking Tour journal.
A proper education was highly valued by the
people of Athens. By approximately 600 B.C.E.,
the majority of Athenian
male citizens were
able to read and write. Young
children were
taught at home until the age of 6 or
7,
when they began school. Both boys and girls

attended school, but they were schooled
separately.
Schools for girls were not as
numerous, and the
schoolwork was not as
demanding. Since schools
were private,
parents were required to pay for the
education
their children received. For this reason,

many children from poor families left school

immediately after they learned basic
skills, which usually took 3 or 4 years. Children
from wealthy families continued their education
for as long as 10 years. Athenian children
attended three different schools. At one
school, teachers called grammatistes
(pronounced gram-a-TEE-stees) taught reading,
writing, arithmetic, and literature. Students
memorized long passages from the epic poems of
Homer, and from tragic plays.
At a second
school, coaches, called paidotribes
(pronounced
peh-doh-TREE-bees), taught sports such

as wrestling and gymnastics to strengthen the
students
muscles. At the third school, kitharistes
(pronounced
kih-theh-REEstees) taught
musicspecifically singing
and playing the seven-stringed
lyre (pronounced LY-ur)
to accompany the reading of
poetry. At the age of 18, Athenian males
began two years of military training. After
this service, a wealthy young male might resume
his education by studying with traveling
philosophers, called sophists (pronounced
SOFF-ists). These tutors charged high fees, and
they gave lessons in debate and public speaking
to young men eager to enter politics.
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Site Six Sculpture (Marble Workshop) You are at
a marble workshop south of the Agora, a place
where Athenian artisans create beautiful
sculptures out of bronze and marble. Carefully
read the information below about Greek sculpture.
Then, list five (5) important facts about Greek
sculpture in your Walking Tour journal.
Some of the most remarkable artistic
achievements
of the ancient Greeks were in the
area of sculpture. Greek
artists began carving
life-size statues in the seventh
century
B.C.E. These early figuresnude males called

kourai, and clothed females called koraiwere
strongly
influenced by Egyptian styles of art. Just as the

Egyptians had done, Greek sculptors created
figures
slightly larger than life-size in positions
facing front, with
arms held stiffly at the
sides and the left leg forward.
Artists created
these works as dedicated offerings in a
Gods temple,
or for wealthy families, who placed them
at a
young persons grave. By the fifth century
B.C.E., Greek sculptors began to create works
that showed the human body in more realistic
form and more natural postures. They created
figures that depicted bodies in movement or in
emotional poses. Athenian artists created
brilliant marble statues of Gods and heroes
that filled the Parthenon. While most
sculptors worked in marble, many artists also
used metal to create figures. In the early
400s B.C.E., a new method of casting bronze
allowed artists to
create hollow metal figures around wooden
cores rather than
just solid metal ones. Using this method,
artists could create
much more realistic details of a figures
muscles, clothing,
and hair. The new metal-casting method
allowed the Athenian
artist Phidias to create two of the most
famous Athenian
works of art the gold and ivory statues of the
Goddess Athena and the God Zeus. The statue of
Athena stood inside the Parthenon. The statue
of Zeus stood outside of Athens, in Olympia,
and is considered one of the Seven Wonders of
the Ancient World.
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Site Seven Women (Home of a Wealthy Family) You
are at the home of a wealthy Athenian family, a
place where men and women are rarely allowed to
interact with each other. Carefully read the
information below about the lives of Greek women.
Then, list five (5) important facts about Greek
women in your Walking Tour journal.
Women had very specific roles in Athenian
society.
It was believed that all
women were under the
protection of Hera, the
queen of the Gods, and
Hestia, the
Goddess of home and hearth. An
Athenian
woman was also under the guardianship
of a maneither
her father, her husband, or her brother.
Young girls were often raised together, apart
from the male members of the household. Most
Athenian women married at a young ageas early
as 14in marriages arranged by their parents.
They bore several children, and were often
trained as midwives and nurses to help their
sisters, cousins, or female servants give birth.
Married women were expected to wear more
loose-fitting clothing than unmarried women. They
also wore their long hair pinned up with
elaborate hairpieces, while unmarried women often
wore their hair loose in long curls. According
to Athenian society, a respectable womans main
responsibility was overseeing the household.
Wealthy wives were responsible for the care and
education of their children, tending to their
husbands,
supervising and nursing the servants,
spinning wool, and weaving
cloth for the familys use. Wealthy women often

had female slaves to gather produce from the
garden as
well as to buy food from the
marketplace. These slaves
were also
responsible for cooking and cleaning in the

household. Women in less wealthy households often

worked at humble jobs outside the home, in
addition to performing household tasks
themselves. They sold goods at the market or
baked loaves of bread. Few skilled trades were
open to women, but there were female potters arid
leatherworkers. Athenian women from all
classes participated in the religious
celebrations in the city. Some women were
religious figures, or priestesses. These
priestesses conducted religious rituals, recited
prayers, and looked after the sacred objects
stored in the sanctuaries. Priestesses had high
social and legal status, and were not under the
guardianship of their fathers, husbands, or
brothers.