The Ancient Greeks

The Ancient Greeks

The life in a day of a Greek teacherBy Devin S. Bucak

7:15 A.M.7:15 A.M.

I got out of bed and put on a light tunic

made of woven linen. Then I went out into

my court yard and went down to my

kitchen. There I ate a healthy meal of figs

on bread. Then I went into the kitchen to

get some wine to go with it. Then my wife

came down.

7:50 A.M.7:50 A.M.

On my way to the schoolhouse I walked

by the market. There were farmers selling

bread and berries, people selling slaves,

and some men arguing about politics.

Lastly, a woman was selling clothes made

of some high quality wool.

8:15 A.M.8:15 A.M.I came to the school. “Hello,” I said to the

class of boys, for girls never came to

school. Then we moved onto writing. I

wrote “Α” on the board, “is capital alpha,” I

said, and “α” lower case. “Beta, Β and β”. I

taught them the alphabet. “Omega, Ω and

ω, and that concludes writing”. I never

liked writing, but I had to have it so

children would actually come.

The Greek alphabetThe Greek alphabetΑα Alpha Νν Nu

Ββ Beta Ξξ Xi

Γγ Gamma Οο Omicron

Δδ Delta Ππ Pi

Εε Epsilon Ρρ Rho

Ζζ Zeta Σσς Sigma

Ηη Eta Ττ Tau

Θθ Theta Υυ Upsilon

Ιι Iota Φφ Phi

Κκ Kappa Χχ Chi

Λλ Lambda Ψψ Psi

Μμ Mu Ωω Omega

9:00 A.M.9:00 A.M.

Now we were getting to mathematics. I gave everyone a slate and made them write down the numbers αʹ- . (1-900!) I loved math, and I put two and a half hours of it into my schedule. And the people who couldn’t do their work in that time were whipped.

ϡʹ

11:30 A.M.11:30 A.M.

“Time’s up!” I yelled. But somebody wasn’t

done, and most couldn’t fit it on their

slates. CRACK! CRACK! CRACK! yelled the

whip. Now it was time to learn to play the

lyre, which all of them were afraid to play.

I am immensely good at it, and I hate it

when kids are bad at it.

12:30-1:45 P.M.12:30-1:45 P.M.Now I made them all read the third part

of the Iliad and paint a painting of the

impression they got. After that I taught

them about how the government ties into

some things but not others, like my

school. Now I went out to get lunch and

go to the market.

1:50 P.M.1:50 P.M.

I bought wine and bread, and dipped figs

in the wine as well as the bread. I ate

some of the food at my house. Then I

realized I was late for the gymnasium. I

ran with another group of men and finally

went back home.

5:00 p.m.5:00 p.m.

When I got home I went into the kitchen.Then we ate a dinner of pomegranates and bread (again). Finally, I finished and went to the courtyard to read.

7:00 P.M.7:00 P.M.

Then I sat down and read a little

of my copy of the Odyssey. When

I was done I went upstairs. Then I

got undressed and got into bed. The

next morning you asked me

about my day.

Weirdo FilmsWeirdo Films

Sources:MrDonn. Org,THE ANCIENT

GREEKS by Sophie Descamps

In Association with Seminar rules!

and the Farmer John Co.

Directed by Devin Bucak