【儿童习作】Ancient Greece

AncientGreece is a wondrous and amazing place full of temples, history and beliefs; lets go exploring in this ancient but wonderful place!

Would you sometimes wonder, what is it like to eat as if you were ancient Greek? Solet me tell you what it’s like to eat like an ancient Greek. Your main food choice would be bread, olive oil and wine. At breakfast you would eat bread dipped in wine, weird, right? The bread that you are eating is made out of 'barley’. Together, 'barley bread’! That kind of bread is the main source of bread ancient Greek used. The bread isusually hard, so the wine would loosen it up and make it easier to eat. Could they have used something else to go with their bread, other than… wine? Yes, but what’s cool about that? The ancient Greeks considered lunch as a midday snack, so, don’t expect a big fancy buffet. I’m just warning you! For lunch,ancient Greeks would eat something simple, such as, figs, salted fish, cheeses, olives and more bread. (Don’t they ever get tired of bread??) For dinner, well, it’s considered the most important meal of all. When you eat dinner, you’ll eat with all your friends, that is, if you have friends. Sadly,  you don’t eat with your family, only friends. And you would perhaps discuss things like philosophy or maybe just daily events. Men and women normally ate separately, and if a family had slaves, the slaves would serve the men’s dinner first, then the woman. And at last, themselves. If the family didn't have slaves, the women of the house would serve the men first, and then they ate their meal when the men were finished.  You’re probably thinking, what do they eat? Well, you’re lucky, because I’ll tell you what ancient Greeks eat for dinner.  It was eaten near the sunset so they can get a beautiful view*. It consisted of vegetables, fish, and possibly honey cakes. (YUM!) Sugar was unknown to ancient Greeks, so natural honey was used as a sweetener.

*I’m just guessing that they ate near the sunset because of the beauty. But I know that they do eat near the sunset . But I bet I would like that!

Only if you’re wealthy, then you can eat meat. So, better go earn some money! Now that you know about the food in ancient Greece, how about I tell you just a little bit about the temples andbuildings there. Temples in ancient Greece were very grand buildings but a fairly simple design.

• One of the most famous temples in ancient Greece is a temple located in Acropolis, Athens. This temple was especially built for goddess Athena. (I would like to have a special temple of my own!) The temple is so big, 34 feet tall! Inside the temple,     there is a statue of Athena. Ancient Greeks also built large theaters, the theaters that could hold 10,000 people. Better get a good seat. So get to the theater early! The theaters were usually built at the side of a hill and were designed with acoustics that allowed even the back rows to hear the actors. They also built covered walkways called Stoas where people would sell goods and people would hold public meetings. They also build gymnasium, court house, council building and sports stadium. (That sure will be a busy architect)

• Column - The column is the most outstanding thing in Ancient Greek architecture. Columns supports the roof, but also gave buildings a feeling of strength and balance.

• Capital - The capital was a design at the top of the column. Some were plain (like the Doric) and some were fancy (like the Corinthian).

• Frieze - The frieze was a decorative board  above the columns that contained sculptures. The sculptures often told a     story or recorded an important event. (Can you think of a story just by     looking at a sculpture? HARD!)

• Pediment - The pediment was a triangle located at each end of the building between the frieze and the roof. It also contains decorative sculptures.

• Cella - The inner chamber in a temple was called the cella or the naos.

• Propylaea - A processional gateway. The most famous one is at the entrance to Acropolis in Athens.

Ok, this is way too much facts, how about some jokes to get in the greeky mood?

1. Knock Knock!

Who's there!

Greece!

Greece who?

Are Greece and oil the same thing?

2. What did the Ancient Greeks wear on their feet?

Tennis Zeus.

3. What do you call amovie about eating healthy?

My Big Fat Greek Yogurt.

Source:

LEARN ABOUT GREECE!

http://www.jokes4us.com/miscellaneousjokes/worldjokes/greecejokes.html

Now that the joke time is over, let’s keep going and learn some more about ancient Greece!

You sure don’twant to go on to the streets of ancient Greece naked, do you? So let’s get a perfect piece of clothing for you! First of all, I know that ancient Greece is hot, so their clothing is very light and loose. (Not that loose that it will fall off though) The clothing is made by servants and woman of the family. The materials are usually wool, made from fleeces of local sheep and linen made from the flax from Egypt. Wealthy Greeks used cotton and silk as their materials. Woman usually wear a long tunic called 'peplos.’ Sometimes woman would wear a smaller clothing under the 'peplos’ called a 'chiton.’ Men wear a peplos shorter than woman. They also wear a wrap called 'Himation.’ When the men go to war they wear something called a 'chlamys.’ (Whew, women don’t need to go to war.) “It isn’t the mountain to climb wearing you down, it’s the pebble in your shoe” Someone had said.  So, now you realize how important shoes are. In ancient Greece, people didn’t wear shoes in their house, when they went outside, they would wear sandals, day night, summer and even winter, no matter what, they would wear sandals. Sandals, sandal and sandals! Alright, one more thing about their wearing, that is…. make up and jewelry! So, wealthy people wear gold and silver jewelry. But normal Greeks wear a decorated pin attached to their wrap or cloak. Ancient Greek woman used to have a dream, that they could have pale skin because that meant that they weren’t poor. Sometimes they would wear lipstick and big long black eyebrows. (That’s not popular now, right?)

Ok, let’s move on, how about the gods and goddesses that Greeks had believedin?

·       Athena

·       Poseidon

·       Hermes

·       Ares

·       Zeus

·       Aphrodite

·       Hera

·       Artemis

·       Hades

·       Apollo

·       Hephaestus

·       Hestia

Let me tell you a little bit about them.

1. Athena. So, one of the most popular goddess you might have heard of is Athena, she is the goddess of wisdom. Her father is Zeus, king of the gods, Zeus was married to Metis, amortal. That means Athena is Metis’s daughter. But, the other gods warned Zeus, if Metis was going to have a daughter, Zeus would be in trouble. So, Zeus swallowed Metis in one whole. Athena’s birth is quite amazing; she sprang already grown out of Zeus’s big head. She was completely dressed in armor. She also carried a shield and a spear. What you might think, a woman in armor? She must be a great warrior. Let’s look at a little story about Athena and Poseidon.   Athena didn’t get along with the sea god Poseidon. Once the people of a new city in Greece were looking for a god/goddess to look over and protect them. Athena and Poseidon both wanted to do just that. To impress the new city’s citizens, the two gods/goddesses gave them gifts. Poseidon pounded the ground with his pointed spear, and water poured out. The water turned into a river that flowed into the sea. Poseidon told the people to build ships to sail to the sea. Hesaid that they could travel everywhere. They could become the most powerful people on earth. The citizens were indeed impressed. But then Athena told them to taste the water. It tasted awful. It was saltwater, which is impossible to drink. Then Athena gave the city’s citizens her gift. When she hit the ground with her spear, a tree magically grew up in a few seconds. She explained that it was a special olive tree. It’s wood was good for both for building houses and for heating those houses in winter. Better still, the tree’s little greenfruits, called olives were delicious. (My stomachs growling, Even though I don’t like olives.) And oil made out of the olives was useful for cooking things that needed oil. (I mean of-course!) The citizens liked Athena’s gift better than Poseidon’s. Not only did they choose Athena to watch over them,they named their city that had no name after her. They called it 'Athens’. Poseidon left in a miff, causing a huge flood on his way. But the Athenians weren’t bothered very much. (I would be bothered!) With Athena’s help, their city became strong, wealthy and powerful. Athens became one of the greatest cities of all time. Today it’s the capital and the biggest city of Greece.  

2. Hermes. Hermes was said to be the god of the market place. Strangely, he was also said to be the god of thieves. (He’s athief?!) He was a very clever thief in fact. He started stealing very early, actually on the day he was born, he already started stealing something. He was born in a mountain cave. (Wonder what are there to steal in a mountain cave??)Hermes is also the messenger god, you know, like the person who sends messages around? Hermes never stopped being full of mischief. But when he grew up, the gods learned that they could count on him for one pretty important task. With his winged hat and sandals, he ran and flew so fast, so Zeus named him the messenger of the gods. Whenever the gods wanted to send messages to mortals, they gave the job to Hermes.

3. Ares. Ares is the god of war but, surprisingly, he was no good at it! In fact, Ares was never really of use to anybody in a war. One time a group of giants declared war on the gods. The giants wanted to rule the entire universe. To keep Ares out of the fighting,they sneaked up on him and knocked him out cold, then they stuffed him into a jar.

The other gods heard Ares screaming for somebody to let him out. They just ignored him because they figured they could fight better without him. They went on to defeat the giants, and then they let Ares out of the jar after the battle was over. When Ares was let out of the jar, Ares bragged about how he could have beaten the giants if he’d been free. The other gods only laughed.

Ok, I think that is enough of ancient Greece, I hope you learnt some new facts! BYE!!!