Daily Life of the Ancient Greeks

96 Daily Life of the Ancient Greeks
Toys. Courtesy akg-images, London.
Another popular game, which resembled checkers or draughts,
was played on a board with black and white squares. It is frequently
represented on vases with Achilles and Ajax as players, as
they enjoy an interval of repose from the battlefield. The best throw
was three sixes, which incidentally was proverbial for good luck. Its
invention was ascribed to Palamedes, a Greek warrior who fought
in the Trojan War, which indicates that the game was believed to be
very ancient.
Ball games were also extremely popular, despite the fact that it
was impossible to produce a completely spherical ball. Children
used to blow up a pig’s bladder and then try to make it rounder
by heating it in the ashes of a fire. Some ancient ball games are still
popular today. In one, the player who was “it” threw the ball and
the others had to drop out one by one as they were hit. Boys at
puberty and girls at marriage customarily dedicated their toys to
the gods.
Growing Up
Both boys and girls spent a great deal of time in the company of
their mothers and slaves. Fathers, being absent much of the time,
played only a minor role in the rearing of their children, until the
children reached puberty. In Sparta, where men spent most of their
time communally with their peers, the matriarchal tendency of the
home was especially pronounced. Spartan mothers had a reputation
for reinforcing the Spartan value system. One is said to have
remarked to her son as she handed him his shield before he departed
for war that he should return, “Either this or on this” (Plutarch,
Moral Sayings 241f). What she meant was that he should either be
carried back dead on his shield or not disgrace himself by throwing
away his shield in flight.