The book Leon and Melite: Daily life in ancient Athens is associated with the permanent exhibition Daily life in Antiquity , presented on the 4th floor of the Museum of Cycladic Art. The design of the exhibition and the production of the audiovisual material were carried out by the Spanish company GPD Exposiciones y Museos. The academic documentation and the curating of the exhibition were by the Director of the museum, Professor Nikos Stampolidis, and the museum curator Yorgos Tasoulas to whom we would like to express our warm thanks for his invaluable help and support in the creation of the educational programme. Leon and Melite, brother and sister, grow up in a wealthy Athenian family in the 5th century BC. Young Leon gives us a guided tour of his city. He tells us about his parents’ wedding, as they had described it to him. Then he talks about the daily work of women, tells us about his friends and his sister’s friends and their favourite games, about school, athletics and military training. He describes dinner parties, the symposia , and how men take part in public affairs and, finally, says a few things about burial practices, concentrating on how people honoured their loved ones who had departed this life. The illustrations include reconstruction drawings and objects on display on the 4th floor of the Museum, most of which date from the Classical and Hellenistic periods (5th-1st century BC). Leon & Melite Daily life in ancient Athens Leon & Melite’s house My name is Leon. I was born and brought up in Athens, the most famous city in ancient Greece. Our house is a large one: it has two storeys and a big courtyard in the middle, around which all the rooms are arranged. In addition to my parents and my little sister Melite, slaves live with us too and help carry out the daily tasks. Klearchos, my tutor, the paidagogos , holds a special place amongst them. The Athens I live in is nothing like the Athens you know today. Its population, that is the Athenian cit - izens and their families, is about 200,000. There are also foreign residents (called metics) and slaves. The neighbourhoods of Athens extend at random, depending on the space available and the needs, around the Acropolis, which is the religious heart of the city. The streets are narrow and irregular, and have no paving or lighting. There are only three main public roads linking Athens with the port of Piraeus. Most of the houses have wells and cisterns to collect rainwater. There are fountains at various points of the city. The water for them is brought from the source of the river Ilissos by an aque - duct built by Peisistratos about 100 years ago. 3 When my parents got married, my mother was fourteen years old and my father thirty. Their wedding was arranged by their parents, because Marriage the views of the couple themselves don’t carry much weight. The bride’s father decides which of the young men he knows would be a suitable & husband for his daughter. He has to be hard-working and have enough money to support his household and family. The groom’s father is in - the family terested mainly in how hard-working the bride is, and what dowry her father will give her. If the couple divorce, which is very rare, the dowry is given back to the bride’s father. Weddings are usually held in the month of January, the Gamelion , which means ‘Marriage Month’. The ceremonies last three days, and one of the most important of the preparations for them is the bathing of the bride. On the day before the wedding, the bride usually dedicates her toys to one of the patron goddesses of marriage (Artemis or Hera) and carries out sacrifices. The marriage service takes place in the bride’s house, and ends with a procession of relatives and friends who escort the newlyweds to the groom’s house. Necklace with glass beads, 1st-3rd c. AD Attic red-figure white-ground tripod pyxis (jewellery box). Scene of gifts being presented to the bride on the day after the wedding, which was called epaulia , 460-450 BC Cypriot bronze mirror, late 4th c. BC Fill the gaps with the following words : mirror perfume containers jewellery boxes earrings finger-rings bracelets For the bride’s toilet, they used perfumes that were kept in and various items of make-up . The bride wore jewellery, such as , Attic white-ground lekythos (detail). and Seated woman holding a mirror Glass alabastron and a wreath, about 460 BC (perfume container), and when she was ready she admired herself in a 4th c. BC . On the day after the wedding , friends and relatives visited the newlyweds and brought gifts , such as and presented their best wishes . 5 On the day I was born, my parents hung an olive branch on the front door of the house, to show that they had a son. Seven days later, I became a member of the family at a ceremony called the amphidromia , in which I was carried around the hearth, and I was named after my grandfather, Leon. When my sister Melite was born, they hung sheep’s wool at the en - trance to the house, which is a symbol representing how hard women work. My My sister and I were brought up together in the women’s quarters of the house, the gynaikonites , first toy until I was seven years old. After that I began to spend my day with the men of the house, in the men’s quarters, the andronites . My upbringing and my daily routine are now completely different from Melite’s. My first toy was a clay rattle, a platage , which had little stones inside it that made a noise when I shook it; this used to attract my attention so that I stopped Attic clay black-glaze bell, 4th c. BC crying. My nurse believed that evil spirits lurked around babies’ cradles and that shaking the rattle fooled them. Attic clay black-glaze thelastron (feeding bottle), 430-425 BC What do you think the clay rattle you see in the showcase represents? At the left side of the case, the photograph shows a mother and her two children. She holds a clay in her hand and is about to feed the baby . Rattle with the figure of a baby lying on a bed, 3rd c. BC 7 y little sister Melite is brought up in the women’s quarters, the Mgynaikonites , with her nursemaid, the trophos , and our mother. Women’s Whereas my friends and I go to school, train in the palaestra and are being prepared to become Athenian citizens, my sister, like all girls, daily is learning about her own role in life, which is to marry, have chil - dren and run her house. That is why my mother takes pains to teach activities her all the household chores, to spin and weave, to cook and to manage the household finances. The ideal upbringing for a girl is “to see as little as possible, to hear as little as possible and to ask as few questions as possible”. Women’s daily chores include spinning and weaving on the loom. Ever since she was a little girl, Melite has been learning to help my mother and the other women of the household to make cloth for the home. The bedspreads, the rugs for the floor, the curtains and all the family clothing are woven and sewn at home. We even use wool from our own sheep, though other families buy their wool in the Marketplace, the Agora . Reconstruction drawing of a loom, based on a vase-painting dating from the middle of the 6th c. BC the women are What do you think doing on the vase you can see in the showcase? Attic black-glaze lekythos . Two women filling their hydrias (water jars) at the fountain, 520-510 BC 9 The days pass quickly for Melite and me, because we have such a lot to do. Even so, we find time for a game with our friends. These games are just like the ones you play today, only the names have changed. We play with dolls, tops, yoyos, balls and knucklebones. We also play group games: blind- man’s buff, hopscotch, hide and seek, and statues are just some of the games we enjoy with our friends. Playing One of Melite’s favourite pastimes is playing with her dolls. When she plays she likes to imitate the women of the house with our and so, without realizing it, she learns how to look after her family when the time comes. Her dolls are made of clay and friends the arms and legs are attached to the body with wire, so that they are moveable and appear lifelike. My sister and her friends spend hours and hours playing with them. They dress them in little clothes, put shoes on their feet, and pretend to make them walk, dance and fall asleep. They lay out a whole meal for their dolls, with tiny clay vases just like Clay doll (marionette) with moving arms and legs, those we use at home every day. They even have toy chairs, about 490 BC tables and beds. Tiny Attic clay bowl, 550-525 BC Attic clay figurine of a dog, 5th c. BC Tiny Attic clay exaleiptron (vase for aromatic oils and make-up), 550-525 BC Attic clay figurine of a pig, 5th c. BC Tiny Attic clay basket, 550-525 BC as many of the following toys as you can find Underline in the showcase: Ball top knucklebones yoyo rattle bell doll What were the tiny vases you see in the showcase used for? Toy dove on wheels, 5th c.