Ancient Life
By N.S. Gill, About.com Guide
Festivals
Life among the Greeks and Romans was punctuated by holidays. Many of the holidays were in honor of specific gods. Some had games or other spectator events attached. Some have survived to modern times in modified form. Here are some basic facts about some of the festivals celebrated by ancient people.
Fall of Rome
According to many, ancient history ends in A.D. 476. This is Edward Gibbon's date for the fall of Rome based on the fact that the Germanic Odoacer deposed the last Roman emperor to rule the Western Empire. However, the people who lived through the takeover would probably be surprised by the importance we place on this event.
Dynasties and Kings Lists
Timelines of kings and other rulers. Chronological lists of ruling houses of the ancient world.
- Dates of the Roman Emperors
- Dynasties of Ancient Egypt
- Dynasties of the Hebrew Kings
- Visigoth Kings Timeline
- Achaemenid Persian Kings Dates
- Sassanid Dynasty Persian Kings Dates
- Mauryan Dynasty of Kings
- Hittite Dynasties
- Mesopotamian Kings
- Chinese Dynasties
- Japanese Yamato Kings
- Mithridatid Dynasty Kings
- Vandals Kings Timeline
Marriage & Divorce
Marriage and divorce in the ancient world served to unite or separate families acting as financial and social cement. Women in most ancient societies had limited rights. Marriage transferred power over a woman from one male head of the family to the next. There were exceptional circumstances, though when a woman could manage herself and her property.
Daily Life & Death
Information on many of the aspects of daily life, including hygiene, education, birth and death, slavery, and religion. Much of what we know about early cultures comes from burial sites. Some ancient views on the Underworld or Afterlife were very different from modern religious concepts.
- Greek Costumes for Women
- 40 Foods They Didn't Eat
- Egyptian Foods
- Egyptian Clothing
- Roman Underwear
- 5 Facts About Ancient Clothing
- Roman Burial
- Odysseus in the Underworld
- Greek Underworld
- Ghost Stories
- Latin Death Vocabulary
- Pyramids for the Dead
- Greek Agricultural Festival
- Aqueducts, Sewage, and Water
- Parthenon
- Slave Revolts
- Lupercalia
- Saturnalia
- Curse Tablets
- Mesoamerican Ball Games and Sacrifices
Government
Civilization required some sort of hierarchical organization. Whether this was based on the family, the stories about the gods, or other principles, depended on the group governed. As civilizations expanded, governments evolved.
- 7 Points to Know About Greek Government
- 3 Branches of Roman Government
- Egyptian Dynasties and Kingdoms
Timelines
Part of a study of history includes knowing when events happened. Timelines give you a look at a glance at the sequence or chronology. On this site you'll find general and specific chronologies, for the whole ancient world and for specific ancient cultures. You'll also find dynasties and kings' lists. The "this day in history" page shows events from the ancient world that happened "today," but unfortunately, because of calendar conventions, it's mostly restricted to Roman events.
- 753 B.C.-A.D. 476 Ancient Rome
- 492-449 B.C. Persian War
- 356-323 B.C. Alexander the Great
- 477-404 B.C. Peloponnesian War
- 69-30 B.C. Cleopatra
- 55 B.C.-A.D. 450 Roman Britain
- 44 B.C.-A.D. 476 Major Events in Imperial Rome
- 400s B.C. Greece & Rome Pictures
- 300s B.C. Greece & Rome Pictures
- This Day in History
- Major Events in Ancient History
- Major Periods of Ancient China
- Major Periods of Ancient Jewish History
- Major Events in the History of Ancient Greece
- Trojan War Events
- Spanish Wars Chronology
- Periods and Kingdoms of Ancient Egypt
- List With Dates for the Roman Consuls
- 83-60 B.C. 1st Triumvirate
Olympics
The Olympics were a Greek festival, open to Greek men wherever they might live. It was a sporting event, like today's Olympics, but also a religious festival, with funereal associations. Some of the competitions were particularly dangerous and deadly.