Daily Life of the Ancient Greeks

HOUSING
5
PRIVATE LIFE
The Greek household (oikos or oikia ) typically comprised an extended
rather than nuclear family, frequently with three generations
living under one roof: the grandparents, the father and
mother, their sons and unmarried daughters, their sons’ wives and
children, and the slaves. Quite commonly, therefore, there would
have been about ten people living under one roof, often, one suspects,
in rather cramped quarters. Only very trusted slaves would
have lived in proximity to their masters or mistresses. Although we
know next to nothing about slaves’ living quarters, it is likely that
most families domiciled them in a separate building, perhaps in
some cases in a stall shared by livestock.
The residential area of Athens consisted of narrow, winding streets
and small, poorly constructed houses. Most of it lay to the northeast
of the Acropolis. Somewhat paradoxically, it was not until the fourth
century b.c.e. , when Athens’s economy was declining, that houses
began to be constructed in a more luxurious style. One ancient commentator
named Herakleides was so contemptuous of Athens that
in a fragmentary work he wrote, “Most of the houses are mean, the
pleasant ones few. A stranger would doubt, on first acquaintance,
that this was really the renowned city of the Athenians.” Although