Page 20 - A History of the World in 25 Cities
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Life in
Zeus chief god
Hera Aphrodite Apollo chief goddess goddess of love god of the sun
Tonnes of marble needed to build the Parthenon:
Poseidon god of the sea
Athena
goddess of wisdom and war
Number of Athenian citizens:
Hades
god of the underworld
In NuMbers
1OOOOO 3OOOO
The city of Athens has existed for thousands of years. Back in the ‘Golden Age’ of Athens in the 400s BCE, city life was very different from how it is today . . .
You could only become a citizen and take part in the running of Athens if you were a man, and not a foreigner or an enslaved person, so even though it was one of the
first democracies, it was not a very equal one. Most women in ancient Athens couldn’t take part in politics, own property,
or even go out on their own if they were from a wealthy family.
Between a quarter and a third of the people who lived in Athens were enslaved people. They included policemen, servants and workers on farms or in mines and quarries. You might be born into slavery or be captured in war. Enslaved people didn’t have any rights and their owners had complete control over their lives.
The ancient Greeks worshipped a lot of gods and goddesses.
The most important ones were supposed to live on Mount Olympus,
a high mountain a long way north of Athens. Here are just a few of them:
