Introductory American History | Page 9

upper picture, shows the book
open.]
WHAT THE BOYS WERE TAUGHT. The Greek boys were not very
good at arithmetic, and even grown men used counting boards or their
fingers to help them in reckoning. In learning to write they smeared a
thin layer of wax over a board and marked on that. There was a kind of
paper called papyrus, made from a reed which grew mostly in Egypt,
but this was expensive. Rolls were made of sheets of it pasted together,
and these were their books. One of the books the boys studied much
was the poems of Homer--the Iliad and the Odyssey--which tell about
the siege of Troy and the wanderings of Ulysses. Boys often learned
these long poems by heart. They also stored away in their memories the
sayings of other poets and wise men, so that they could generally know
what to think, having with them so many good and wise thoughts put in
such excellent words.
GAMES AND EXERCISES FOR BOYS. It is not surprising that
Greek boys knew how to play, but it is surprising that they played
many of the games which boys play now, such as hide-and-seek, tug of

war, ducks and drakes, and blind man's buff. They even "pitched
pennies." In school the boys were taught not only to read and write, but
to be skilful athletes, and to play on the lyre, accompanying this with
singing. The gymnasium was often an open space near a stream into
which they could plunge after their exercises were over. They were
taught to box, to wrestle, to throw the discus, and to hurl the spear.
Military training was important for them, since all might be called to
fight for the safety of their city.
THE OLYMPIC GAMES. Boys and young men were trained as
runners, wrestlers, boxers, and discus throwers, not only because they
enjoyed these exercises and the Greeks thought them an important part
of education, but also that they might bring back honors and prizes to
their city from the great games which all the Greeks held every few
years. The most famous of these games were held at Olympia. There
the Greeks went from all parts of the country, carrying their tents and
cooking utensils with them, because there were not enough houses in
Olympia to hold so many people. Wars even were stopped for a time in
order that the games might not be postponed.
THE REWARDS OF THE VICTORS. The principal contest was a
dash for two hundred yards, although there were longer races and many
other kinds of contests. Unfortunately the Greeks liked to see the most
brutal sort of boxing, in which the boxer's hands and arms were
covered with heavy strips of leather stiffened with pieces of iron or lead.
For the games men trained ten months, part of the time at Olympia. The
prize was a crown of wild olive, and the winner returned in triumph to
his city, where poets sang his praises, a special seat at public games
was reserved for him, and often artists were employed to make a bronze
statue of him to be set up in Olympia or in his own city.
[Illustration: GREEK GAMES--RUNNING From an antique vase]
THE GOVERNMENT OF ATHENS. The citizen of Athens, and of
other Greek cities, had more to do with his government than do most
Americans with theirs. As nearly all work was done by slaves, he had
plenty of time to attend meetings. All the citizens could attend the great
assembly, or ecclesia, where six thousand at least must be present

before anything could be decided. By this assembly foreigners might be
admitted to citizenship or citizens might be expelled, or ostracized,
from Athens as hurtful to its welfare.
There was a smaller council of five hundred which decided less
important questions without laying them before the general assembly.
This body was chosen by lot just as our juries are, but members of the
council whose term had ended had a right to object to any new member
as an unworthy citizen A tenth of the council ruled for a tenth of the
year, and they chose their president by lot every day, so that any worthy
man at Athens had a chance to be president for a day and a night.
[Illustration: A DECREE OF THE COUNCIL--ABOUT 450 B.C.]
Many citizens also served in the courts, for there were six thousand
judges, and in deciding important cases as many as a thousand and one,
or even fifteen hundred and one, took part. Before such large courts and
assemblies it was necessary to be a good speaker to be able to win a
case or persuade the citizens. Some of the greatest orators of the world
were Athenians, the best known being