24 Hours in Ancient Athens, Philip Matyszak
24 Hours in Ancient Athens, Philip Matyszak
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24 Hours in Ancient Athens
A Day in the Life of the People Who Lived There

Author: Philip Matyszak

Narrator: Gareth Richards

Unabridged: 6 hr 38 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Tantor Media

Published: 07/26/2022


Synopsis

Athens, 416 BC. A tenuous peace holds. The city-state's political and military might are feared throughout the ancient world; it pushes the boundaries of social, literary, and philosophical experimentation in an era when it has a greater concentration of geniuses per capita than at any other time in human history. Yet even geniuses go to the bathroom, argue with their spouse, and enjoy a drink with friends.



Few of the city's other inhabitants enjoy the benefits of such a civilized society, though—as multicultural and progressive as Athens can be, many are barred from citizenship. No, for the average person, life is about making ends meet, whether that be selling fish, guarding the temple, or smuggling lucrative Greek figs.



During the course of a day we meet twenty-four Athenians from all strata of society—from the slave-girl to the councilman, the vase painter to the naval commander, the housewife to the hoplite—and get to know what the real Athens was like by spending an hour in their company. We encounter a different one of these characters every chapter, with each chapter forming an hour in the life of the ancient city. We also get to spy on the daily doings of notable Athenians through the eyes of regular people as the city hovers on the brink of the fateful war that will destroy its golden age.

Author Bio

Philip Matyszak holds a doctorate in ancient history from St John's College, Oxford University, and has been studying, teaching and writing on the subject for over twenty years. He specializes in the history of Classical Greece and of the Late Republic and Early Imperial periods of Rome. Matyszak has personal military experience both as a conscript in Rhodesia and with the Territorial Army in Britain. These days he splits his time between writing in his home in Canada's Monashee Mountains and providing e-learning courses for Cambridge University's Institute of Continuing Education.

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