Page 60 - SYTYGIB: Ancient Greece

Fun and Games
Given everything you’ve read so far, it might sound as if ancient Greece was a terrible place, full of BLOOD SOUP, clothes coloured by SQUISHED-UP BABY BUGS and screeching gods with little HAIRY GOAT LEGS.
But it wasn’t all doom and gloom and CuRdLeD-mIlK pancakes. There was plenty of fun to be had – if you had the time.
Although there isn’t a huge amount of written information about ancient Greek childhood, clues can be found in objects discovered by archaeologists and in pictures painted on pottery that survives to this day.
For instance, one painting from a wine jug shows two young boys pulling their friend in what looks like a gO-kArT!
I´ll race you! On your marks, get set . . .
That´s not fair! You have a go-kart . . . and I´m riding a GOOSE!
FANCY THAT!
One popular game involved trying to hit a stone target by throwing things at it. If your throw landed the furthest away, you had to try to reach the target blindfolded while giving another player a piggyback. Give them a break – they didn´t have Minecraft in those days.
Greek children often played with clay figurines, including
a surviving one which shows a person rIdInG A GoOsE. They were brightly painted and then placed in the graves of children to keep them company in the afterlife.
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