what was it like being an ancient greece peasant?

Answer 1

not pleasant

Answer 2

The peasants were at the mercy of the gods and the royals.
Theres some peasants mentioned in the ancient greek plays such as Alcestis.

http://oncampus.richmond.edu/academics/education/projects/webunits/greecerome/Greeceroles1.html

Answer 3

Pretty cool I bet. Just imagine being dependant on a society that made original thought illegal and you could screw the ole lady with impunity too because it was some God who made babies not your actions and then well, ever wonder why all of Europe isn't covered with cementaries because old age was something like 40? Oh oh, thats an original thought..shhh

Answer 4

The conditions of peasants in ancient Greece varied a great deal. It is tru to say of all peasants in Ancient Greece that they were almost all illiterate, worked on the land, and would have not had access to nearly any money, but barterred for good and services they could not themselves provide. They tended to be pretty self reliant though.
There is a great deal of debate about the lot of peasants in Archaic Greece. We know that large areas of the land were owned by the state, and that peasants worked state land in return for food, including a small surplus to the amount needed to stay alive that they could trade with. However, what is less clear is whether their were peasants who owned their own land and either worked it all the time, or worked it in addition to working land beloning to the palace. During the archaic period peasants had no political rights, although they could own their own property and were protected by tradtional laws, though these could be ignorred by autocratic rulers.
After the greek dark age, an anarchic period when settled agiriculture dwindled, and archaeological evidence is scarce and textual evidence non-existent, came the classical period.
There were many political systems during this period, although it is fair to say that there were three main ones, and the lot of peasants was very different under each.
Before describing these systems it is important to not that during the classical period in greece, the traditional jobs of peasants were increasingly done by slaves. By the end of the classical period some cities had populations that consisted of as much as one third slaves.
The three main political systems of the classical age are as follows:
Oligarchy: This means the rule of or on behalf of the richest elements in society. This was the most common form of government during the early classical period. Under this system the oligarchs tended to have massive estates which were worked by poorly paid peasant labourers. However, some peasants had their own land as well. Peasants had no political rights, and they were harshly oppressed by the rich.
Tyranny: Tyranny in ancient greece meant the rule of a state by a single man, usually someone who had won power in a coup or 'revolution'. Tyrants were usually put in power by the poor, who were eager to replace oligarchy with a system which treated them better. Tyrants tended to treat peasants well, lowering their taxes and parcelling out land which had belonged to the defeated oligarchs. Since greek history was written by aristocrats, it reflects poorly on tyrants since tyrants reduced the power of the richest in society in order to reward the poor who had put them in power.
Democracy: At the end of the classical period democracy was the most common form of government. The degree of equality in democratic states varied. Often only the richest could hold power, but usually major decisions were made by assemblies of all the free men in the state. Democracy tended to allow peasants greater political rights than ever before. However, since they were often run by the rich, the poor faired worse economically under many democratic governments than they did under tyrants. It was in democracies that the number of slaves increased massively, as the poor could not be induced to work for the tiny wages that they had to under oligarchy, but the rich could bring in slaves to do that work cheaply, which would not have been allowed under tyranny since it took the poor's jobs from them, and undermined their power.

Answer 5

As a pheasant, i flew around and ate grain & stuff then i'd go to watch the Olympic games, then fly around a bit more and sleep.

Answer 6

It was better than being a roman peasents (roman slaves where better off than peasents) but i think overall its wasnt truly awful unless of course you consider poverty diesease tryacal leaders and starvation a problem

Answer 7

Probably the same as one of New Labours engineered benefit claimants!!!

Answer 8

hard terrible life so long u r not middle or upper class.slaves r d worst.

Answer 9

Not much different from today I reckon.

Answer 10

Wait I'll wake up my wife and ask her.

Answer 11

i really wouln't know for sure but it doesn't sound like it would be a good thing