How to Survive in Ancient Greece

by Robert Garland

What would it be like if you were transported back to Athens 420 BCE? This time-traveler’s guide is a fascinating way to find out . . .

Imagine you were transported back in time to Ancient Greece and you had to start a new life there. What would you see? How would the people around you think and believe? How would you fit in? Where would you live? What would you eat? What work would be available, and what help could you get if you got sick?

All these questions, and many more, are answered in this engaging blend of self-help and survival guide that plunges you into this historical environment—and explains the many problems and strange new experiences you would face if you were there.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Historical, Greece, Audiobook, Ancient, Ancient History

169 pages, Kindle Edition

First published May 30, 2020

About the author

Dr. Robert S.J. Garland is the Roy D. and Margaret B. Wooster Professor of the Classics at Colgate University. He earned his B.A. in Classics from Manchester University, his M.A. in Classics from McMaster University, and his Ph.D. in Ancient History from University College London.

A former Fulbright Scholar and recipient of the George Grote Ancient History Prize, Professor Garland has educated students and audiences at a variety of levels. In addition to teaching classics at Colgate University, he has taught English and Drama to secondary school students and lectured at universities throughout Britain as well as the British School of Archaeology in Athens.

Professor Garland is the author of numerous articles in both academic and popular journals and books capturing details of all aspects of ancient Greek and Roman life, including The Greek Way of Life: From Conception to Old Age; Introducing New Gods: The Politics of Athenian Religion; and Daily Life of the Ancient Greeks. His expertise has been featured in The History Channel's "Last Stand of the 300," and he has repeatedly served as a consultant for educational film companies.

Reviews

[Sumit RK · Rating 4 out of 5]

We all have read the stories about Ancient Greece. From the rise of Athens and Sparta to the Persian Wars and from King Leonidas and Themistokles to Alexander the Great. But imagine, if you went back in time to Ancient Greece and you had to start a new life there. How and Where would you live? What would you eat? How would you earn your livelihood? All these questions, and many more, will be answered in How to Survive in Ancient Greece in a mock survival guide for those who wish to live in Ancient Greece.

Throughout history, the focus has always been on kings and empires. There has been little focus on how the common people lived in any particular era. Set in the year 420 B.C, often considered the Golden Age of Classical Greece, How to Survive in Ancient Greece is a funny yet informative look at the life in ancient Greece. The author has covered several important aspects of Greek life, such as food, housing, gods, slavery, family, food and clothing, class/social structure, politics, religion. It covers even several less discussed aspects like entertainment, marriage, travel, crime, etc. Any aspect of life, which is you can think of, is covered in this book.

The book is written in a light and humorous style, explaining varied facts in a fun way. The author has done a great job when it comes to research, which in my opinion was top notch. The chapters are kept short to keep you interested.

However, the arrangements of the chapters felt a little disjointed and haphazard, which went randomly from say; houses to slavery to marriage. I wish the chapters had been grouped and arranged in some order. The book also lacked a comprehensive list of source materials for further reading.
Overall, This book is an exciting way to learn more about life in classical Athens. If you wish to learn more about history, even as a casual fan, you will enjoy this book. 3.5 stars out of 5

Many thanks to the publishers' Pen & Sword and Netgalley for the ARC.

[Tom The Great · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nie być niewolnikiem 👍

[Becks! · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.75 ⭐'s

[Emy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was sent an ARC through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I really really enjoyed this. I barely know anything about ancient Greece, which I think helped me enjoying this book because a lot of it seemed simplified. What I'm saying is that it was prefect for me, but I am not sure someone who knows a lot about Ancient Greece would enjoy.

The chapters were well divided and a perfect length to keep you interested but not too long and too detailed that you lose focus.

Overall the reason why I am not giving it five stars is only because I don't like seeing very unclear sources the author got their information from. Maybe it's just because this is an ARC and those haven't been finalized yet?

[Jett Odle · Rating 3 out of 5]

Safe to say I wouldn’t survive

[Vince · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.2/5⭐

[Karolina♌️ · Rating 2 out of 5]

240 stron a ja nie dowiedziałam się niczego, czego bym już nie wiedziała po historii w 1 klasie liceum🧍

[Natalie all_books_great_and_small · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received an advance reader copy of this book to read in exchange for an honest review via netgalley and the publishers.

This was a fantastic read to ponder through!
Have you ever wondered about a time period and how people would have lived and survived? Well this book takes you through what days would have been like in ancient Greece and upon reading this, as a woman I don't think I would have survived long in that time period.

This book is humorous and stoked in historical information. Find out so many things you have forgotten from school and learn so many more too.

This is a different type of way of learning about ancient history and times in a fun, interesting and unique way!

[Theeeonlylimit · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5/5⭐️

[Dawn · Rating 5 out of 5]

"How to Survive in Ancient Greece" was a fun, and funny, look at life in Ancient Greece. It's really well-written, and the humour has probably helped me remember a few things I probably would have forgotten otherwise. The very last section of the book could have been 10 times longer, and I'm kind of hoping that Mr Garland will write another book with more of this. Sadly, I learned that my chances of surviving are very slim... I think I'll just stay home and read this book again!

My thanks to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for an advance copy to review. This review is entirely my own, unbiased, opinion.

[Zoe · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ever wondered what it would be like to live with the Ancient Athenians or Spartans? Well, mostly not that much fun (especially if you are a woman or non-citizen) but it certainly sounds interesting. This vivacious exploration of the lives led by people in the city states now collectively known as Ancient Greece is a thoroughly engaging read. Robert Garland takes us through every aspect of daily life from how people bathed or socialised to weightier matters like religion and politics. The style of this book is light and energetic, it’s a fun way to learn fascinating facts about this period of history.

Thank you to NetGalley and to the publishers for a copy of this book in return for an honest review.

[Achour · Rating 3 out of 5]

"How to Survive in Ancient Greece" is a very informative and fun read. The author has done a great job to give all details on life in ancient Greece. Certain parts of the book like those describing how was cultural life in Athens are really fascinating and seem very modern, even for our time. However, for other considerations such as short lifespan, the importance of diseases, male-female relationships, slavery and others, I will definitely not change today's life to go and live in ancient Greece.

I recommend this book to those who like history. They will definitely appreciate the fun way taken by the author to describe the everyday life in the Ancient Greece.

Read: June, 2020
Source: NetGalley and Pen & Sword, the Publisher.

[Anna (booksandbookends) · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you ever wondered if you would be able to survive in Ancient Greece, this is the answer! I don't think that I would have coped particularly well at all. After reading this I think I may have been mugged in the streets or rendered useless by being unable to cope with how dirty things were. Despite the fact I probably wouldn't survive, I loved learning about life in Ancient Greece and found it truly interesting.

This wasn't a heavy read and remained informative without becoming dull. Robert Garland gives us a guided tour on life for the Ancient Greeks. From clothing and appearance to work, health and hygiene to travel and religion. This has been perfectly created as half survival guide and half information book. It's refreshing escapism when you can't leave the house.

Thank you to NetGalley and to the book's publishers for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

[Linde · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is such a fun book! I learned so much about ancient Greece. I really enjoyed that you learned how to live there, and what you could encounter if you were to be living in ancient Greece. It touches on so many aspects of life, and it never failed to bore me. I would highly recommend this book to anyone.

(I got this book for free from teh publisher and Netgalley in exchange for a honest review)

[xyron · Rating 1 out of 5]

my honest opinion - ja pierdolę
lepiej czytać opracowania dotyczące wybranych aspektów kultury greków niż takie gówno mające mniejszą wartość i większą liczbę błędów niż wikipedia (dobrze że spiraciłam więc nic nie wydałam na to)
jan szk*dliński powinien już ogarnąć że się pisze "homoseksualność"

[Marcelina Szulc · Rating 3 out of 5]

Wiele z podanych tutaj informacji było mi już znanych, toteż ta książka wypadła, w moim mniemaniu, nieco gorzej niż ta o Egipcie. Nie czułam takiego zaangażowania i zaskoczenia jak przy poprzedniej części.

[Danrowl · Rating 2 out of 5]

Spodziewałem się ciekawszej formy.

[Adrienne French · Rating 3 out of 5]

Super fun time travellers guide to Ancient Greece!

[Virginia B · Rating 4 out of 5]

Written in a very jaunty fashion, like many travel books, but unlike most, did not entice me to want to visit Greece, at least at that time in history. Lots of pictures, descriptive drawings and even first-person accounts of how different classes of imaginary people lived their (very short) difficult lives.

[Terry · Rating 4 out of 5]

The content is great, but there’s a lot of overlap between this material and his lecture on The Other Side of History. Not a criticism, just a heads up.

[Carol-lee · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was an interesting book that takes you through all aspects of life in ancient Greece. This guide was written with humour and made me chuckle often. What I learned was as a woman I probably would have already died by my age due to being married off very young 13-14) and having babies ASAP, this wouldn't have changed if I was born into a wealthy household or not.

[Shoggothey · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ciężko ocenić tę książkę, z jednej strony mamy dobrze zarysowane społeczeństwo Aten, często z zabarwieniem humorystycznym, ale z drugiej strony jest za mało odniesień co do tego, jak faktycznie przeżyć w tej starożytnej Grecji.

Moim zdaniem autor zbyt mocno nastawił nas na podróż do Aten. Oczywiście odpowiednio to uzasadnił, można powiedzieć, że nawet z troską o osobę z dzisiejszych czasów, tak aby jakoś się odnalazła w starożytności, ale często podkreśla przewagę nad wieloma aspektami ludności Sparty. Co ciekawe, jesteśmy praktycznie zamknięci w tych dwóch społecznościach, jakby w starożytnej Grecji nie było innych miejsc. Można to podsumować tak - trafiacie do Aten, bo jest tam dobrze, ale w Sparcie gorsze jest to, a lepsze tamto, innych polis nie ma i kropka. Moim zdaniem Robert Garland powinien albo skupić się na oprowadzeniu nas po ulicach Aten, zapoznaniu nas z miejscowym życiem i pominąć wszystkie inne miejsca, albo dać możliwość nam, czytelnikom, na wybór miejsca, do którego chcemy trafić i po części opisać każde z tych miejsc. Osobiście wtrącenia dotyczące Sparty niejeden raz zachęciły mnie właśnie do trafienia do niej. I nie chodzi tu nawet o to, że wojna peloponeska toczyła się między Atenami a Spartą i ich sojusznikami, bo w wojnie jako podróżnicy raczej udziału brać nie chcemy, chcemy jedynie w tej Grecji przeżyć.

Jeżeli chodzi o same informacje, to chyba najwięcej ich dostajemy o prawie, polityce i różnicach między kobietami a mężczyznami, przyziemne sprawy zajmują czasami tylko jedną stronę. Inną sprawą jest to, że te informacje są bardzo podstawowe i zapewne większość czytelników pamięta chociaż połowę tego, co zawarte jest w książce, z lekcji historii.

To co moim zdaniem ratuje książkę, to humor. Nie jest on jakiś wybitny, ale bawiły mnie przykładowo częste nawiązania do pewnego znanego filozofa, określanego przez ówczesnych ludzi "menelem".

Książka więc godna polecenia, ale z wieloma brakami i niedopowiedzeniami, ma większy potencjał i powinna zostać rozwinięta o kolejne miejsca w starożytnej Grecji, lub zredukowana tylko do Aten z poszerzeniem informacji o nich.

[Abdul Alhazred · Rating 3 out of 5]

There are a few ways to do these 'general insights into history' books, and this is well structured in giving each topic its due. If you're interested in something specific like the afterlife, slavery or war it's easy enough to look up. There's a common issue with trying to make "ancient greece" a singular place though, since each city state functions differently, and you end up mostly writing about Athens and mentioning Sparta a couple of times, which is exactly what happens here. It doesn't do too much with the premise of a time traveller either, it's mostly general history.

Alternative: 24 Hours in Ancient Athens: A Day in the Life of the People Who Lived There, which focuses on Athens specifically, and gives you a more compelling personal portrait of different people at different levels of society during an imagined 24 hour day. It benefits a lot from creating small narratives that showcase what people would want, what they could do, expectations and so on.

[William Barrick · Rating 4 out of 5]

The concept for this volume caught my attention and caused me to look forward to some sort of immersion into the culture of ancient Greece. Garland selected the classical period and the city of Athens as the historical and cultural contexts. Did I gain a better understanding of the ancient Greek culture? Yes. However, aspects of Garland's treatment left me with the impression that he himself was not the expert, but presented the information secondhand. For example, he claimed that the Greek of that period lacked a word for "work"/"labor." That is false information, since there are a number of words in classical Greek for the concept of "work"/"labor" or whatever might be involved in the action of digging a trench, building a stone wall, or any other act of work either vocational, do-it-yourself, or slave labor. This kind of linguistic failure kept cropping up together with some fairly strained lexical derivations for purportedly related English words. Read this volume with a view to confirming information elsewhere in solidly researched reference materials by the experts. Garland should have provided endnotes with references to such materials, but did not do so.

[Debbie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book talked about what daily life was like in Athens during the classical period (specifically in 420 BC). The author used a humorous tone but provided good, educational material. He covered war, work, family, food and clothing, class/social structure, politics, religion, entertainment, marriage, travel, crime, trials, slavery, medical practices, illness, and death. He talked about the differences in how men, women, and children were treated as well as the difference between slaves, poor, and rich. After talking about the different aspects of life, the author had pretend interviews with different types of people (teenage girl, widow, crime victim, politician, philosopher, etc.) talking about their life in ancient Athens. Overall, I'd recommend this entertaining way to learn more about daily life in classical Athens (and some about Sparta).

I received an ebook review copy of this book from the publisher through NetGalley.

[joyce w. laudon · Rating 4 out of 5]

The publisher of this book, Pen & Sword, previously issued a book called How to Survive in Ancient Egypt.  I enjoyed that book so was delighted to have the opportunity to read the ARC of a book on surviving in Ancient Greece.  (See archive for a review of the Egypt title).


If you are interested in the subject, this book is a treasure trove.  Read about Athenian history and learn how the city was run.  Learn more about the religion, the family the system of slavery and more.  Find out how women were viewed by men, how children were treated and educated, where to shop, what a house looked like, jobs and more.  This book includes so many interesting sections.


If you are a person who enjoys imagining life in other eras, give this book a try.  I think that you will be fascinated.


Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this title in exchange for an honest review.

[Theresa · Rating 3 out of 5]

A light read, a basic look at Ancient Greece, but that’s what I wanted. The content is very similar to Garland’s The Other Side of History as other reviews have mentioned. While it was informative, I ended up finding his sense of humour to be a bit too… pithy? For my tastes. I had the same problem with The Other Side of History. It gives professor who thinks he’s a stand-up comedian in front of a captive audience.

I could have done without the “interview” section with ordinary Ancient Greeks at the end. I’m sure this would be fine to read in the book, but the audiobook producer didn’t think it’d be a biiiit weird to listen to an older British male narrator pretend to be a Greek child taking about her “Mummy and Daddy”? No one thought this was as weird as I did??

[Madeline · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced copy of this book.

This was an enjoyable foray through Ancient Greece. Written as a bit of a travel guide for the erstwhile 21st century time traveller, Garland provides a whistle-stop account of what to expect upon arrival. It was easy to read and provided some interesting facts that I hadn't encountered before. However, it was a little disjointed and I could have done without the "interviews" with Athenians that concluded the book - it was a little twee.

This book would be good for a young adult reader looking to learn more about this period of history.

[Lacee Bergstrom · Rating 5 out of 5]

Informative, well paced, and easy to understand

Title says it all tbh. I loved all the descriptions of the food they ate and where all their food and wine got imported from. The book was divided into a bunch of different sections so it was very easy to set down and resume when I got the chance to keep reading!
The political climate and social expectations were also talked about in a really interesting and easy to understand way! All the little snippets of life each chaptet had in addition to the explanations were really good and added a lot to the story.

I wasn't a huge fan of the letters at the end of the book, but that's only a small issue and the rest was amazing!

[Tanya · Rating 3 out of 5]

Greek religion does not promote morality. Piety towards the gods and the dead, not good behaviour, is its central aim. [loc. 350]

Read in fits and starts between other books, mostly for the fascinating factoids and descriptions of legal process in classical Greece. Presented as a handbook for time-travellers, How to Survive in Ancient Greece is good at highlighting some key differences: the improbability of growing old, the more equitable distribution of wealth (1% really wealthy, 1% really poor, 'the majority of Athenians are very poor by our standards'), the less equitable treatment of women. Entertaining, engaging, informative.