Daily Life of the Ancient Greeks

Private Life 159
slaves among their adherents. Very likely Epikouros also lectured
to well-born Athenians, who, though they were interested in his
philosophical theories, did not choose to dedicate themselves to a
life of withdrawal.
Stoicism, which was founded by Zenon, a Phoenician merchant
from Kition in Cyprus around 275 b.c.e. , took its name from the
Stoa Poikile or Painted Stoa, a colonnaded building in the northwest
corner of the Agora in Athens, where the followers of this
movement habitually assembled. (The building was discovered in
1981. It was called the Painted Stoa because of its spectacular wall
paintings on wooden panels that were displayed inside). As in the
case of Epicureanism, it is likely that well-born Athenians attended
lectures on Stoicism, perhaps in a more formal venue, though we
do not know of any designated space.
Only a very small percentage of Athenians would have had the
means and the disposition to provide their sons with any form of
higher education. One of the interlocutors in Plato’s Laches (179a)
states that most Athenian parents “allow their sons to do exactly
what they like once they become lads,” and this is likely to be a
fairly accurate generalization.
Apprenticeship
Herodotos (6.60) informs us that, in Sparta, some trades and professions
were exclusive to certain families, including those of herald,
flute player, and cook. In Athens, too, many skills and professions
were handed down from father to son, due partly to the law requiring
an Athenian father to teach his son a skill if he expected to be
supported by him in old age. For instance, the Athenian sculptor
Praxiteles was the son of a sculptor, and both his sons and grandson
were sculptors as well. Other professional skills, including the writing
of dramatic poetry, were also handed down over several generations.
Overall, however, it is likely that Athenian youths were
freer in their career choices than their Spartan counterparts, given
the less constricted tenor of Athenian society.
HEALTH AND SICKNESS
Ancient diseases are notoriously difficult to identify, even when
paleopathologists have skeletal evidence to work with. Poor sanitation,
the lack of a hygienic water supply, and malnutrition were
probably the major sources of illness that caused death.