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+--- Thread: Article Why you wouldn't survive in Ancient Greece (Mediterranean life styles) (/thread-14180.html)
Why you wouldn't survive in Ancient Greece (Mediterranean life styles) - C C - Jun 2, 2023
https://youtu.be/XXGesAc5s5Q
EXCERPTS: Slavery was widespread throughout Ancient Greece. Very widespread. [...] There were many ways to become a slave. You could be born into it, in what’s called chattel slavery. If you were on the wrong side of a war, you could be captured and sold into slavery. Even if you were a free Athenian citizen, you could potentially end up a slave. In a system called debt enslavement, if you ended up owing too much money to a landlord you were leasing land from, you could be enslaved and forced to work for free until your debt was paid off.
[...] Between the fourth and fifth century BC, Athens was home to a staggering 60 to 80,000 slaves – more than half the estimated population. On average, each household had at least three slaves. In Sparta, slaves known as helots often outnumbered free Spartans by 20 to 1. Helots were state-owned indentured servants who worked in agriculture and had to hand over most of what they farmed to the government. Having so many slaves doing all the labor freed up many of the men to train as warriors, and the feared Spartan military machine evolved into one of the strongest fighting forces of the time.
[...] If you were a woman living in Ancient Greece, and wanted to put on some makeup, it was very likely you were applying lead to your face. Lead was a common ingredient in ancient Greek cosmetics. The word itself comes from the Greek “kosmetica”, and the act of beautifying one’s face was to “kommotikon.” Although Greek writers, who were mostly men, typically frowned upon “kommotikon”, saying it was mostly used by prostitutes and lower-class women, it’s now widely accepted that pretty much all classes of women – and even many men – used makeup to highlight their features and brighten their skin. But the lead paste they used often led to horrible disfigurement and scarring, eating away at the skin and causing disease. In a vicious cycle, it would be applied in thicker and thicker amounts to cover up the damage it was already causing. The things we do for beauty...
Why you wouldn't survive life in Ancient Greece