Section 2: Greek Society and

Economy

Picture depicts Greek society. Image taken from: vector-clip-art.com

Women in Ancient Greece

Athenian women were very restricted on what they

could do. They were expected to stay indoors and tend

to the house. Most Athenian women who were wealthy,

stayed at home, raised their children, and took care of

the household bills. They only went out of the house for

religious functions.

Spartan women were much more freer than Athenian

women. They could sell property and receive an

education. They were also trained in sports, as this was

needed for them to have strong sons.

Greek Society

People who were part of the aristocracy claimed that they should hold power, because they were descendants from God or a king. They had large plots of land and slaves to work the land. This gave the people of the aristocracy plenty of time to do other things.

The citizens of Greece consisted of only one group, and that was the adult male who owned land. There was a large amount of rich male adult citizens, but they were considered to be the minority. The majority of citizens consisted of the men who owned smaller farms. Women, children, aliens, and slaves were not considered to be citizens. They had very little to no rights.

Greek Society Continued….

Slavery was very common and acceptable practice in

Greece. By the 500s Greece’s population consisted of

more than a third of slaves. Slaves often were prisoners

of war, but sometimes they were bought from slave

traders. Finally, their own family could have placed

slaves in slavery, because they could not care for them.

Slaves greatly contributed to the economy of Greece, as

they did household work, tutored, cooked, and took

care of the children. They also worked on farms, ships,

and in mines.

Greek Economic Expansion

The Greeks did not have good farmland to farm the basic resources they needed, so they decided to find the resources they needed.

Most Greek city-states resorted to conquering neighboring city-states that had farming abilities.

Sparta managed to conquer the city-state of Messenia and turned their people into captive workers. The captive workers in Messenia farmed the land and provided ample crops to maintain Sparta’s people. Once the Spartans were able to acquire food without their people working for it, their men were able to concentrate on building an army, which became the most lethal army of the time.

Greek Economic Expansion

Continued…

The ideal city for Greek colonization had to have a port

for docking boats and trading purposes. The city-state

should also have good farmland, as ancient economies

depended on agriculture. Finally, the city-state needed

to be by resources such as timber or materials that

could be exported.

The usage of coins in the Greek economy was seen as an

economic revolution, because at the time, there were

few countries using coins as means of payment for

goods.

Economic Expansion continued…

Athens grew rich from trading. Their workers produced

pottery, jewelry, and other trade goods to pay for the

resources they needed to maintain their growing city-

state.

Expansion to other city-states and countries allowed

Greece to share cultural ideals. This allowed the Greek

culture as a whole to grow. This also allowed the Greek

city-states to become wealthy from trading. Finally, the

expansion allowed the Greek people to have an

opportunity to colonize lands away from their mother

country while keeping their traditional culture.