Everyday Life in Greece and Rome
In both classical Mediterranean societies, families were patriarchal, although women in the elite
classes of Rome often wielded considerable influence within the family itself. In both Greece and
Rome, women sometimes owned property and small businesses. In matters of law, however, women
had fewer rights than men. Even Aristotle felt that women should be kept in a subordinate role.
Slavery was commonplace in both Greece and Rome. Aristotle attempted to justify slavery,
believing that it was necessary to a thriving society. In some Greek poleis , such as Sparta, slaves
performed agricultural tasks. In Athens, slaves labored in the silver mines and as household servants.
Roman slaves made up as much as one-third of the population. In fact, among the reasons for Roman
expansion was the acquisition of slaves from among conquered peoples. Some Roman slaves were
used to mine iron and precious metals. Other slaves carried out household duties. Especially prized
were educated Greek slaves, who became tutors for the children of Rome’s elite class. Slave labor
was so widely used by both Greeks and Romans that neither culture found much need for
technological advances as labor-saving devices. As a result, the Mediterranean world fell behind the
technological level of China and India in the areas of agriculture and manufacturing.
American Civilization
The Maya civilization of the Yucatán Peninsula and present-day Guatemala and Belize reached its
height about 300 CE, building on the cultural traditions of the societies of Mesoamerica. Termed the
“Greeks of the Americas” because of their exploration of numerous branches of learning, the Maya:
• Developed a system of writing based on pictographs, or glyphs
• Understood the value of zero as a placeholder
• Studied astronomy and predicted eclipses
• Calculated the length of the year within a few seconds of its actual length
The Mayan political organization consisted of small city-states ruled by kings who often fought
against one another. Prisoners of war usually ended up as slaves or as sacrifices to the Mayan gods.
To the north of the Mayan homeland, in the Valley of Mexico, the grand and heavily populated city
of Teotihuacán featured pyramids, public buildings decorated with murals, and active marketplaces.
The city also served as a center of long-distance trade with coastal peoples and Mayans. To the south
of Mayan lands, the Mochica people established cities in the central Andes during the first millennium
CE. Inhabitants of these cities cooperated to construct irrigation systems.
Rapid Review
Classical civilizations in China, India, and the Mediterranean forged lasting institutions in their
respective regions. China created a complex bureaucracy based on the traditions of family and
education. In India, cultural diversity prevailed while a caste system gradually evolved to rigidly
organize this diversity. In the Mediterranean, rational thought and the rule of law prevailed during the
dominance of the Greeks followed by the Romans.