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HOW PEOPLE LIVED IN THE TIME OF ULYSSES
When Ulysses was a young man he wished to marry a princess of his own
rank. Now there were at that time many kings in Greece, and you must be
told how they lived. Each king had his own little kingdom, with his
chief town, walled with huge walls of enormous stone. Many of these
walls are still standing, though the grass has grown over the ruins of
most of them, and in later years, men believed that those walls must have
been built by giants, the stones are so enormous. Each king had nobles
under him, rich men, and all had their palaces, each with its courtyard,
and its long hall, where the fire burned in the midst, and the King and
Queen sat beside it on high thrones, between the four chief carved
pillars that held up the roof. The thrones were made of cedar wood and
ivory, inlaid with gold, and there were many other chairs and small
tables for guests, and the walls and doors were covered with bronze
plates, and gold and silver, and sheets of blue glass. Sometimes they
were painted with pictures of bull hunts, and a few of these pictures may
still be seen. At night torches were lit, and placed in the hands of
golden figures of boys, but all the smoke of fire and torches escaped by
a hole in the roof, and made the ceiling black. On the walls hung swords
and spears and helmets and shields, which needed to be often cleaned from
the stains of the smoke. The minstrel or poet sat beside the King and
Queen, and, after supper he struck his harp, and sang stories of old
wars. At night the King and Queen slept in their own place, and the
women in their own rooms; the princesses had their chambers upstairs, and
the young princes had each his room built separate in the courtyard.
There were bath rooms with polished baths, where guests were taken when
they arrived dirty from a journey. The guests lay at night on beds in
the portico, for the climate was warm. There were plenty of servants,
who were usually slaves taken in war, but they were very kindly treated,
and were friendly with their masters. No coined money was used; people
paid for things in cattle, or in weighed pieces of gold. Rich men had
plenty of gold cups, and gold-hilted swords, and bracelets, and brooches.
The kings were the leaders in war and judges in peace, and did sacrifices
to the Gods, killing cattle and swine and sheep, on which they afterwards
dined.
They dressed in a simple way, in a long smock of linen or silk, which
fell almost to the feet, but was tucked up into a belt round the waist,
and worn longer or shorter, as they happened to choose. Where it needed
fastening at the throat, golden brooches were used, beautifully made,
with safety pins. This garment was much like the plaid that the
Highlanders used to wear, with its belt and brooches. Over it the Greeks
wore great cloaks of woollen cloth when the weather was cold, but these
they did not use in battle. They fastened their breastplates, in war,
over their smocks, and had other armour covering the lower parts of the
body, and leg armour called "greaves"; while the great shield which
guarded the whole body from throat to ankles was carried by a broad belt
slung round the neck. The sword was worn in another belt, crossing the
shield belt. They had light shoes in peace, and higher and heavier boots
in war, or for walking across country.
The women wore the smock, with more brooches and jewels than the men; and
had head coverings, with veils, and mantles over all, and necklaces of
gold and amber, earrings, and bracelets of gold or of bronze. The
colours of their dresses were various, chiefly white and purple; and,
when in mourning, they wore very dark blue, not black. All the armour,
and the sword blades and spearheads were made, not of steel or iron, but
of bronze, a mixture of copper and tin. The shields were made of several
thicknesses of leather, with a plating of bronze above; tools, such as
axes and ploughshares, were either of iron or bronze; and so were the
blades of knives and daggers.
To us the houses and way of living would have seemed very splendid, and
also, in some ways, rather rough. The palace floors, at least in the
house of Ulysses, were littered with bones and feet of the oxen slain for
food, but this happened when Ulysses had been long from home. The floor
of the hall in the house of Ulysses was not boarded with planks, or paved
with stone: it was made of clay; for he was a poor king of small islands.
The cooking was coarse: a pig or sheep was killed, roasted and eaten
immediately. We never hear of boiling meat, and though people probably
ate fish, we do not hear of their doing so, except when no meat could be
procured. Still some people must have liked them; for in the pictures
that were painted or cut in precious stones in these times we see the
half-naked fisherman walking home, carrying large fish.
The people were wonderful workers of gold and bronze. Hundreds of their
golden jewels have been found in their graves, but probably these were
made and buried two or three centuries before the time of Ulysses. The
dagger blades had pictures of fights with lions, and of flowers, inlaid
on them, in gold of various colours, and in silver; nothing so beautiful
is made now. There are figures of men hunting bulls on some of the gold
cups, and these are wonderfully life-like. The vases and pots of
earthenware were painted in charming patterns: in short, it was a
splendid world to live in.
The people believed in many Gods, male and female, under the chief God,
Zeus. The Gods were thought to be taller than men, and immortal, and to
live in much the same way as men did, eating, drinking, and sleeping in
glorious palaces. Though they were supposed to reward good men, and to
punish people who broke their oaths and were unkind to strangers, there
were many stories told in which the Gods were fickle, cruel, selfish, and
set very bad examples to men. How far these stories were believed is not
sure; it is certain that "all men felt a need of the Gods," and thought
that they were pleased by good actions and displeased by evil. Yet, when
a man felt that his behaviour had been bad, he often threw the blame on
the Gods, and said that they had misled him, which really meant no more
than that "he could not help it."
There was a curious custom by which the princes bought wives from the
fathers of the princesses, giving cattle and gold, and bronze and iron,
but sometimes a prince got a wife as the reward for some very brave
action. A man would not give his daughter to a wooer whom she did not
love, even if he offered the highest price, at least this must have been
the general rule, for husbands and wives were very fond of each other,
and of their children, and husbands always allowed their wives to rule
the house, and give their advice on everything. It was thought a very
wicked thing for a woman to like another man better than her husband, and
there were few such wives, but among them was the most beautiful woman
who ever lived. _
Read next: THE WOOING OF HELEN OF THE FAIR HANDS
Read previous: THE BOYHOOD AND PARENTS OF ULYSSES
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