Islamic Egypt

As part of the rise of the new religion of Islam in Western Asia, the Arabs established a new empire centered on Syria. They soon conquered Egypt as well, so that just as under the Assyrians and then the Persians, Egypt came under the rule of West Asia. Gradually most Egyptians converted from Christianity to Islam, and learned to speak Arabic. A new capital was established in the north at Cairo.

For a while around 1000-1300 AD, the Egyptians became independent of Asia under the Shiite Fatimid dynasty. This was a time of great achievements in Egypt. But then they were conquered by the Sunni Ayyubids, and then the Mamluks. Around 1500, Egypt became part of the Islamic Ottoman Empire, which held Egypt until modern times.

Ancient Greece

What was ancient Greece like?
Ancient Greece had a warm, dry climate, as Greece does today. People lived by farming, fishing, and trade. Some were soldiers. Others were scholars, scientists or artists. Most Greeks lived in villages or in small cities. There were beautiful temples with stone columns and statues, and open-air theatres where people sat to watch plays.
Many Greeks were poor. Life was hard because farmland, water and timber for building were all scarce. That's why many Greeks sailed off to find new lands to settle.

How Greece was ruled
There was not one country called "Ancient Greece." Instead, there were small 'city-states'. Each city-state had its own government. Sometimes the city-states fought one another, sometimes they joined together against a bigger enemy, the Persian Empire. Athens, Sparta, Corinth and Olympia were four of these city-states, and you can find out more about them on this site. Only a very powerful ruler could control all Greece. One man did in the 300s BC. He was Alexander the Great, from Macedonia. Alexander led his army to conquer not just Greece but an empire that reached as far as Afghanistan and India.
When did Greek civilization begin?
About 3000 BC, there lived on the island of Crete a people now called Minoans. The name comes from their King Minos. Minos and other Minoan kings grew rich from trade, and built fine palaces. The Minoan civilization ended about 1450 BC.
After the Minoans came the Myceneans. They were soldiers from mainland Greece, and were the Greeks who fought Troy in the 1200s BC. After the Mycenean age ended, about 1100 BC, Greece entered a "Dark Age". This lasted until the 800s BC when the Greeks set off by sea to explore and set up colonies.
The Olympic Games begun in 776 BC. This was the start of "Archaic" Greek civilization. Around 480 BC the "golden age" or Classical period of Greece began.
What was the Trojan War?
The Trojans lived in the city of Troy, in what is now Turkey. The story of their war with the Greeks is told in the Iliad, a long poem dating from the 700s BC, and said to be by a storyteller named Homer. The Odyssey, also by Homer, is the tale of the adventures of a Greek soldier named Odysseus, after the war.
The Trojan War began when Paris, Prince of Troy, ran away with Helen, wife of King Menelaus of Sparta. The Greeks sent a fleet of ships, with an army, to get her back. The war lasted for 10 years. In single combat, the greatest Greek warrior, Achilles, killed the Trojan leader Hector. In the end the Greeks won, by a clever trick using a wooden horse.
The Wooden Horse
The Wooden Horse was the trick the Greeks used to capture Troy. First they pretended to sail away, but left behind a giant wooden horse. Inside the horse, Greek soldiers were hiding. Rejoicing that the Greeks had gone, the Trojans dragged the horse into their city. They thought it was a gift.
That night the Greek ships returned. While the Trojans were asleep, the hidden Greeks climbed out of the wooden horse. They opened the city gates, and let in the Greek army. Troy was destroyed. The Trojan War was over.

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. 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.

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. School-teachers needed payment, so poor boys did not get much education. A wealthy family sent a slave to walk to school with the boys. The slave stayed at school to keep an eye on them during lessons. Most Greeks schools had fewer than 20 boys, and classes were often held outdoors.

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 math. 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 practiced throwing a spear and a discus. They trained on a sports ground called a gymnasium.

Children's toys We know about some Greek toys from pictures on pottery vases and from artifacts 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. Other toys were rattles, hoops, hoops, yo-yos, and hobby horses (a "pretend horse" made from a stick). 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.

Marriage and work Most girls were only 13-16 years old when they married. Often their fathers chose husbands for them. A girl's husband was often older, in his 30s. 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. Aristotle, who became a great scientist and thinker, went to Athens when he was 17 to study at the Academy, run by a famous teacher named Plato.

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. So archaeologists do not dig up the ruins of Ancient Greek homes. What we know comes mostly from writings and pictures. The house had a roof of clay tiles, and small windows, with no glass, but wooden shutters to keep out the hot sun. 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.

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. 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. 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. Few Greek women had much freedom. One exception was Aspasia, who lived in Athens. She was clever, and people listened to her: she was also the girlfriend of the Athenian leader, Pericles!

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 or, for horse-riding, high boots. 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.

Greek food Breakfast might be bread dipped in wine (made from grapes), with fruit. Lunch might be bread and cheese. For dinner, people ate porridge made from barley, with cheese, fish, vegetables, eggs and fruit. For pudding people ate nuts, figs and cakes sweetened with honey. Only rich people ate much meat, including hares, deer and wild boar killed by hunters. Octopus was a favourite seafood. Rich people always ate at home; only slaves and poor people ate in public. The olive was the most valuable tree in Greece. People ate the fruit, but also crushed olives to make olive oil. They used the oil for cooking, in oil lamps, and cosmetics.

Bedtime and Baths There was not much furniture in most Greek homes. People sat on wooden chairs or stools. Rich people decorated the walls and floors of their homes with coloured tiles in patterns or mosaic pictures. Beds had leather straps, on top of which was a mattress stuffed with wool, feathers or dry grass. Most people went to bed as soon as it got dark. The only light at night came from flickering oil lamps and candles. There were public baths, some with hot water, but most homes had no bathroom - people washed in small tubs or in the nearest stream. Rich women (with slaves to carry the water) enjoyed baths at home, and afterwards rubbed their bodies with perfumed oil to keep their skin soft.

Date: 2015-01-29; view: 842