Daily Life of the Ancient Greeks

134 Daily Life of the Ancient Greeks
the houses discovered in Olynthos were provided with an altar in
the courtyard, and no doubt this was true generally in the Greek
world. The role of priest would normally fall to the eldest son, who
would have inherited it from his father. It was his duty to perform
all the rituals pertaining to the welfare and prosperity of the household,
in particular by making offerings, perhaps on a daily basis,
to the three deities who were believed to safeguard its security and
prosperity: Zeus Ktesios, or Zeus as protector of the household’s
wealth; Zeus Herkeios, or Zeus as protector of the boundary that
surrounded it; and Apollo Agyieus, or Apollo as protector of the
entrance to the house.
Each deity had its own sanctified spot. Zeus Ktesios, who took
the form of a two-handled jar, was worshiped in the storeroom;
Zeus Herkeios was worshiped in the courtyard, where he had an
altar; and Apollo Agyieus was worshiped in the form of a statuette
or a small pillar that stood beside the street door. In addition, each
home possessed a hearth that was sacred to Hestia, the goddess
of the hearth. Hestia had a particularly important role in the initiation
of new members to the household, including brides, newborn
children, and slaves, all of whom were formally introduced to
her when they were showered with nuts and dried figs. We do not
know of any religious rituals that were performed by the mistress
of the house.
Because all the members of the household, as well as all its wealth,
was placed under the protection of these gods, slaves sometimes
participated in religious ceremonies, though the frequency of their
attendance probably varied from household to household. Overall,
however, the fact that the household was a religious unit may
have helped to humanize relations between freeborn and slaves
by reminding the former that the prosperity of the household depended
in part on the well-being of its slaves.
The head of the household was also responsible for the proper
conducting of funerals and for the rites that were performed at regular
intervals on behalf of the dead, which are considered later in
this chapter.
DRESS
Judged by current standards, Greek clothes were uniform and
utilitarian in the extreme. It was virtually impossible to make a
fashion statement by adopting an exotic or provocative style of
dress. The blatant attention seeker Alkibiades was notorious both