24 Hours in Ancient Athens: A Day in the Life of the People Who Lived There (24 Hours in Ancient History Book 3) by Philip Matyszak (PDF)

Description

Spend 24 hours with the ancient Athenians. See the city through their eyes as it teeters on the edge of the fateful war that would end its golden age.Athens, 416 BC. A tenuous peace holds. The city-state’s political and military might are feared throughout the ancient world; it pushes the boundaries of social, literary and philosophical experimentation in an era when it has a greater concentration of geniuses per capita than at any other time in human history. Yet even geniuses go to the bathroom, argue with their spouse and enjoy a drink with friends.Few of the city’s other inhabitants enjoy the benefits of such a civilized society, though – as multicultural and progressive as Athens can be, many are barred from citizenship. No, for the average person, life is about making ends meet, whether that be selling fish, guarding the temple or smuggling lucrative Greek figs.During the course of a day we meet 24 Athenians from all strata of society – from the slave-girl to the councilman, the vase painter to the naval commander, the housewife to the hoplite – and get to know what the real Athens was like by spending an hour in their company. We encounter a different one of these characters every chapter, with each chapter forming an hour in the life of the ancient city. We also get to spy on the daily doings of notable Athenians through the eyes of regular people as the city hovers on the brink of the fateful war that will destroy its golden age.

User’s Reviews

Reviews from Amazon users which were colected at the time this book was published on the website:

⭐not as informative as a sociology text would be, but much more memorable.Highly recommended

⭐One day in a critical period of Athens’ history brought to life in a wonderful way. My compliments to author for stitching together such a wonderful tapestry of research and giving us this entertaining and delightful book.

⭐This is a very interesting and humorous book.

⭐I’ve read a couple of Matyszak’s fictional-non-fiction works before, and I find his style refreshing. 24 Hours in Ancient Athens doesn’t disappoint, and delivers an excellent education resources – packaged in easy to consume storytelling.*** What to ExpectThis isn’t fiction in the normal sense – no plot and characters as such. Instead, Matyszak reconstructs daily life in ancient Athens from original sources into a collection of loosely-interconnected scenes. These bring to life the both the concerns of regular people and historical figures.Original historical sources and modern works naturally concentrate on the grand personalities and events of the period. Matyszak flips this around, showing us everyone from Socrates to Alcibiades, from Aristophanes to Xenophon through their interactions with the common people. His Athens is a living, breathing, city, full of colourful characters with their quintessential human concerns.*** What I likedI love this way of learning and the subject matter. Covering the progress of history is one thing, but all too often one misses the experiences of the “man on the street”, what was life like during those times. Matyszak brings expert scholarship, quoting, referencing, and rewriting original sources, and the result is an easy-to-digest learning experience. Add a bit of chasing down rabbit holes, and this becomes a springboard to learning more about the period, providing a solid basis as you read more advanced works.*** What to be aware ofThis isn’t a book about the history of ancient Athens, in the sense of covering major events and the people behind it. Rather, it focuses on what daily life looked like, on the concerns of citizens (and metics, foreigners, and slaves) throughout their comings and goings.*** SummaryThis is an excellent resource to learn about daily life in Ancient Athens. If the subject intrigues you, if you like historical fiction set in antiquity, this is a must read.–Assaph Mehr, author of

⭐- for lovers of Ancient Rome, Murder Mysteries, and Urban Fantasy.

⭐Excellent coverage of Athenian life compiled from tidbits into a broad survey.

⭐This book was prefaced by the author saying how, unlike most books on ancient history, he did not want to focus on the famous people of the time. Instead he wanted to give the regular people of Athens the chance to shine and the famous citizens would only be glimpsed from the average Joe’s eyes. That was a key selling point for me. It wasn’t the most highly placed selling point (I’m an ancient history lover), but the fact that it wasn’t going to be revolving around Socrates, Hippocrates, Alcibiades, etc … and was going to focus on the daily grind of the average Athenian citizen excited me.So, imagine my annoyance when EVERY chapter starts out with your average citizen, only for ninety percent of said chapter to focus on a different famous person. ‘Oh, such and such was walking along and, would you believe it, they encountered Socrates.’ from then on in any given chapter it was all about the famous person, and the commoner we were promised to live the hour alongside was simply there as a vehicle to introduce you to said famous Athenian. It frustrated me no end and it was pretty much the only aspect of the book that I absolutely hated. I just felt as though the author had not only lied to me, but assumed I, and any other reader, wouldn’t be clever enough to realise they were being lied to.I know what you’re thinking ‘why give it nearly top marks if the book was essentially clickbait?’. Once you get past the fact you were sold snake oil, the book is incredibly enjoyable. If you don’t know much about the famous citizens of Athens then the above gripe will not even bother you. There truly is a wealth of information inside the book and it’s enjoyable to read and discover new titbits from one of history’s greatest cities.As with all books in this series, it is set into twenty-four chapters, each focusing on the daily life of a different person within Athenian society … and how they have miraculous connections to a famous person each chapter ;)This book, although very enjoyable, felt like it was a bit of a different path from the books on Rome and Egypt which, to their credit, focused more on the daily lives of average people. 24 Hours in Ancient Athens is a marked improvement, writing-wise, on the Egypt book. Unlike in the Egypt book, the tense doesn’t change from paragraph to paragraph.In short; I really enjoyed it but felt let down by what were essentially false promises in the preface. Had the author have kept quiet on that front, or simply said ‘I plan to intermingle the more famous citizenry of Athens along with the average daily grind of the common men and women’ I’d have loved it and given it the full five stars.

⭐The book’s structure: Each chapter is an hour of the day or night in Athens, during the Peloponnesian War.Each hour/chapter is a (very) short story which attempts to give a little glimpse into what the life of various citizens, metics, slaves, etc. In Athens, and therefore what life in Athens overall, would have been like.We are introduced, for example, to such-and-such who owns a tavern or such-and-such who is a slave in the local silver mine, and around ten pages are given to each of these people, laid out like (as mentioned above) a short story, explaining what the subject person is doing/thinking/feeling, during his allotted hour/chapter.It’s fiction; fiction often based on archaeological findings. For example we are introduced to Celeus (I believe a creation of the author) who visits a local sorceress to curse his rivals – this is based on some lead tablets with curses written on them, unearthed in Athens. The rest of course is conjecture and story-telling.I have read other books on the subject of Athens or its famous citizens which have brought life there totally – well – to life! Books such as Bettany Hughes’ “The Hemlock Cup”, which is so beautifully written and excellent, so I was a bit disappointed with “24 Hours in Ancient Athens”, it almost feels like a book aimed at younger people – teenagers perhaps.Overall, it was a relatively interesting read but I’m glad it was short!

⭐Twenty four short chapters, each representing an hour in the day, give glimpses into the lives of real people, both ordinary and famous. Each chapter is packed with facts but in the context of (usually) true stories to make this a very readable book. Each character, event and fact is referenced for those who want to study in more detail.

⭐I found this interesting rather than gripping. Lots of reference to Greek mythology and it was obvious that the author knows his stuff. I eventually speed read some of the book but if you are interested in Ancient Greece then this is for you.

⭐Just didn’t engage me at all, despite huge potential for an interesting read

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