Lifestyle

By Kendall and Alia

There are many similarities and differences in Ancient Roman, Chinese, and Mesopotamian lifestyle. Some similarities and differences are social class, food, and clothing. Mesopotamian classes are: nobles, artisans/shopkeepers, peasants, and then slaves. The nobles were very rich and the peasants were very poor. In the middle were the artisans. The slaves were the workers and they were mainly prisoners from countries the Mesopotamian warriors had taken over. The Chinese class pyramid had five levels; The emperor and his family were at the top, then the subjects, or rich people, came next. Following the subjects, were the teachers. After the teachers were the students. At the bottom were the peasants. In Rome, the social pyramid was not much different from China. Basically, it was the same thing. They had the ruler on top, then the nobles, teachers or elders, learners, peasants, then slaves. Rome and China's social class was almost the same, and Mesopotamia's class was not too far different.

When it comes to food, almost all of the civilizations are different. In China, rich people had a normal meal for us, mainly of bread, water, fish, and rice. The poor ate rice, and drank water. In Rome, rich had large banquets and luscious feasts with fish, bread, olives, meat, wine, water, and stew.The Mesopotamians hunted their food, eating meat of anything they could hunt. The Chinese had it all in clothing, with silk? Yes, silk! Silk was a cloth that was woven by women and was kept a secret for over a hundred years. The men and the women wore silk wraps. They wore sandals and in the winter, they wore more than one wrap. In Mesopotamia, the civilians wore lightweight cloth or thin animal hide draped over their body to keep them cool in the hot sun. In Rome, the height of fashion was NOT togas. The fashion for the rich was cool cotton sheets of linen that were draped over their bodies to keep them cool in the warm sun. The poor wore mostly neutral colored tunics and rope belts. For footwear, the Roman sandal came to be. This sandal had a thin sole and laced up with string or thin rope. The gladiators wore cloth over one shoulder, wore a metal helmet, Roman-style sandals, and carried a sword.

There are many similarities and differences between the lifestyles of people from ancient Egypt, India and Persia, and Greece. Although these cultures all reached their peaks at different times, they were all similar and different in many ways.

The Egyptian social class pyramid.

One similarity between the lifestyles of these cultures is that they had social classes. In the Egyptian social class pyramid, there are five levels. The pharaoh was at the top. Below him were the nobles and priests. Under nobles and priests were merchants, craftsmen, and scribes. Below them were farmers and unskilled workers. At the bottom of the pyramid were slaves. In the Indian social pyramid,also called the Caste System, had Brahmin, or priests, were at the top. Below them were Kshatrya, or warriors. Vyasia, or merchants and land owners, were below that. Then, at the bottom of the pyramid, were Sudras, or peasants and servants. Then, there are untouchables, who's place in the social class is so low that there not even considered on the pyramid. In Greece, social classes were also divided. There were citizens, metics, and slaves. Citizens were people who were born in Greece, and who's parents and grandparents were also born there. They were the highest social class. Metics were also free people, but they weren't as high class as citizens. Metics were people who weren't born in Greece, but they still lived freely and weren't slaves. The lowest social class is slaves. Slaves had no control over their lives or over what happened to them or who owned them. Slaves were basically property for citizens and metics.

You may think that government doesn't have very much to do with lifestyle, but it does. If the United States wasn't a democracy, our lives would be very different. These are some differences in government between these three ancient civilizations: Egypt, India/Persia, and Greece. The Egyptian government had one leader, called a pharaoh. The pharaoh had some advisers, but if the pharaoh said something, whether or not his advisers advised him against it, it was the law. In ancient Greece, there was a democracy. That means that the people had a say in the government. Although there were different positions in the government with different levels of

Egyptian slaves harvesting grain.

power, no one person had all the power. If more than one person had control the government could be balanced, unlike what would happen if there was only one ruler who would have total control over the empire. In ancient Indian government, the government was a mix of ancient Egyptian and ancient Grecian government, but a little more like ancient Egyptian. There was a king who made final decisions about topics, but he also had many advisers and people in the government who had less power, but helped show the king the views of everyone in the empire. These different types of government had an influence on the life of the people living in an empire. It controlled what types of opportunities people got, which also played a part in dictating what types of crafts, clothing, and food people made. For example, in ancient Egypt, the pharaoh would make a decision about what crops were grown based on what he thought. It wouldn't necessarily be what the people wanted, but it would be what he thought was best. So, if most of the people in Egypt thought that more of one type of grain should be grown, but the pharaoh thought that another type of grain should be grown, then the type of grain the pharaoh chose would be the one that was grown. In ancient Greece, though, the government would make a decision about the crops that were grown based on what the people in the empire wanted. So, if the people living in Greece said that more olive trees should be planted, then the government would decide to plant more olive trees. In ancient India, the people would tell the kings advisers what they thought about growing something, and then the advisers would tell the king. But, the king would still be able to make the final decision. There are also other similarities and differences,between these three ancient civilizations.

Our last difference is the clothing that the people in each culture would have worn. In ancient Greece, the men and women would have worn most of the same clothing. Clothing was not shaped or fitted to

Greecian man in toga.

the body, but draped on the body with folds. The clothing was usually white- it reflected the sun. The Greeks used a variety of materials for making clothes. The main main materials were wool, linen, and cotton.these materials were relatively easy to get, and not too expensive. In ancient Egypt, the men would have worn light shirts and mini skirts. The women wore long, light white dresses. The clothing was made mainly of plant fibers, and occasionally cotton. The clothing was light in both color and weight because it was very hot in Egypt. In special religious ceremonies, priests would sometimes wear animal skins. This wasn't very common otherwise, though. In ancient India they wore long, colorful, traditionional clothing .This clothing probably helped reflect India's hot sun. All of the clothing was basically made for the conditions of the enviroment. Sometimes, though, for parties and celebrations, people would dress more formally. Throught the lifestyles of India/Persia, Greece, and Egypt they all have very different, but simaliar ways of lifestyles that are throughout the world.

There were many similarities and differences between the civilizations we studied during this time, especially with ways of life. With Mesopotamia, India/Persia, and Greece, I shall note the similarities and differences of their lifestyles. It is important to realize that their ways of life may have been passed down to us. Yet, some were distinctive to only that civilization.
With the similarities, I shall first highlight one of the most important occupations for the people in all three civilizations. Being a farmer and being involved in agriculture were notable occupations for Mesopotamia, India/Persia, and Greece. Most people did indeed farm, although some did not. Another interesting occupation that a person in any one of these civilizations might have obtained would have been the artisans. In all of theses civilizations, there were artisans, or craftspeople. Jobholders such as potter and weavers in Ur, or the artisans that worked towards many magnificent crafts in the time of Ashoka and Cyrus I, or even the artisans that made crafts in the agoras of Greece, which were sold to the men who shopped. Each craft required a skill, and almost all paupers, or even middle-class people, had skills in these civilizations, skills that were only conducive to a certain art or craft. Along with that, the third most notable feature was how the government worked with the people. People yielded to government officials or religious leaders because they were believed to have a kind of divine power. In Mesopotamia, India/Persia, and Greece, many people contributed to the government also, such as helping as senators, religious leaders, or even just helping with decisions for that person's government.
The differences were somewhat clear between the civilizations. For one, the gods that were worshipped were all different. People all spent parts of their day worshipping their gods, but the gods were different. In Mesopotamia , you had Anu, Enlil, Enki, and Ninhursag. In India, there was Indra, Ganesha, and Shiva. In Greece, there was of course, Zeus and Athena. (These were not all of the gods.) Another difference was how they wrote or spoke. Each of the civilizations would have a difference in their written and spoken languages. For example, you have cuneiform, Hindi, and Grecian tongues, or dialects. A previously mentioned similarity, though, however also a difference, was government. Each government operated differently and used its authority in many different ways. As you can see, ways of lifestyle could be shared and differed from in many different civilizations, all the way from worship of different gods by different people everyday to how the people all contributed to their governments, such as a highly respected person to a senator giving advice.

See full size image