Key Stage 2 history · World history

KS2 Ancient Greek life: a guide for parents

Ancient Greece is a named topic in the primary National Curriculum for England, which describes it as a study of Greek life and achievements and their influence on the western world. This page covers the first strand, how people lived: the independent city-states, the contrast between Athens and Sparta, family life, religion and the evidence historians rely on.

Ancient Greek life, explained

Ancient Greece was not one country. It was hundreds of small, independent city-states, each called a polis, made up of a town and the farmland around it. They shared a language, gods and festivals, but they often competed and sometimes fought each other. Children usually place Ancient Greece on a timeline from about 800 BC until the Romans took control in 146 BC, and pay special attention to the Classical period in the 400s and 300s BC, when Athens was at its most powerful. The topic fits into the curriculum’s aim of a chronologically secure sense of world history alongside British history.

Athens and Sparta are the two city-states most schools compare. Athens was a democracy from about 508 BC: citizens voted directly on laws, but only free adult men from Athenian citizen families counted as citizens, while women, enslaved people and foreigners could not vote. Sparta had two kings and a famous military way of life. According to later writers, Spartan boys left home at about seven to train as soldiers, while enslaved workers called helots farmed the land. Spartan women had more freedom than Athenian women, including owning property. Comparing the two is a good way of exploring similarity and difference.

Everyday life depended on wealth, on whether you were free or enslaved, and on whether you were a man or a woman. A typical house was built of mud brick around an open courtyard. Meals centred on bread, olives, olive oil, figs, cheese and fish, with wine mixed with water. Boys from wealthy Athenian families went to school to learn reading, music and sport, while girls were usually taught at home. Slavery was a normal and widespread part of Greek society, and enslaved people did a great deal of the work in homes, workshops and mines. Teachers usually talk openly with children about how unfair this was.

Religion shaped the calendar. The Greeks worshipped many gods, headed by Zeus, and believed that each city had a god or goddess as protector; Athena looked after Athens. They held festivals with processions, sacrifices of animals, music and competitions, and they built temples as homes for the gods. Greek myths were part of people’s religion, not simply entertaining stories, so children are encouraged to think about why the Greeks told them.

Children are asked to understand how we know all this. Greek pottery is painted with scenes of daily life, ruins show how cities were laid out, and surviving writing includes histories, plays and speeches. Remember that most of these sources were created by wealthy men, and almost all the Spartan accounts were written by outsiders, so historians weigh them carefully. Which city-states are studied beyond Athens and Sparta, and which myths, is a school’s choice.

Words your child will hear

City-state: A city and its surrounding land, which governed itself like a small country.
Polis: The Greek word for a city-state.
Democracy: A system where citizens take part in decisions, from the Greek for “rule by the people”.
Citizen: A person with the right to take part in the government of a city-state.
Helot: An enslaved person who worked the land for the Spartans.
Acropolis: The high, fortified hill in a Greek city, often with its main temples.
Myth: A traditional story about gods and heroes, told to explain the world.

What the National Curriculum says

The programme of study for Key Stage 2 says:

Pupils should be taught about Ancient Greece – a study of Greek life and achievements and their influence on the western world
Pupils should continue to develop a chronologically secure knowledge and understanding of British, local and world history, establishing clear narratives within and across the periods they study.
Pupils should understand how our knowledge of the past is constructed from a range of sources.

Objectives from the National Curriculum in England, © Crown copyright, used under the Open Government Licence v3.0.

A model answer: Athens or Sparta?

Enquiry question: How was growing up in Athens different from growing up in Sparta?

Gather evidence on each city-state separately. Athens: boys of wealthy families went to school to learn reading, music and sport; girls were taught at home; citizens voted on laws. Sparta: boys were sent away at about seven to train as soldiers; girls took part in sport and could own property.
Decide on the headings to compare, such as education, the role of girls and women, and what the city thought was important. A table or two columns helps make the differences clear.
Look for similarities as well as differences. Both city-states relied on enslaved people, both worshipped the same gods, and in both the best opportunities were for the sons of free citizens.
Check the sources. Most written information on Sparta was written by people from other cities, or by writers who lived long afterwards, so some of it may be exaggerated.
Write a short paragraph that compares directly, using words such as “whereas”, “both” and “however”.

Growing up in Athens was very different from growing up in Sparta. In Athens, boys from wealthy families went to school to learn reading, music and sport, whereas in Sparta boys left home at about seven to train as soldiers. Spartan girls took part in sport and could later own property, whereas Athenian girls were usually taught at home. However, both cities used enslaved people to do much of the work and both honoured the same gods. Since most of what we know about Sparta was written by outsiders, we should be careful about how far these accounts can be trusted.

Common mistakes and how to help

Thinking Ancient Greece was a single country with one government

Modern Greece is one country, so children assume that the ancient world was the same.

What helps: Look at a map of Greece with several city-states marked. Ask how a city-state differed from a country, and why Athens and Sparta could be rivals.

“In Athens everyone voted.”

The word “democracy” sounds fair to us, and children often hear that Athens invented it.

What helps: Count who could vote: only free adult men from Athenian citizen families. Ask your child who was left out, and how that compares with voting today.

Picturing all Spartans as soldiers in red capes

Films and cartoons dominate how Sparta is shown, and they overlook Spartan farmers, women and helots.

What helps: Talk about the many people who made Spartan life possible, from helots to the women who ran estates. Explain that the picture of Sparta comes mostly from writers outside it.

Believing the Greeks thought myths were just made-up stories

Children meet myths as books and cartoons, so they assume they were entertainment.

What helps: Explain that the Greeks built temples to these gods and made offerings. Ask what a myth about the sea god might have helped sailors feel.

How to help at home

Stage an Athenian vote. Choose a family question, such as which film to watch, and vote on it. Then try again with some members of the family not allowed to vote, and discuss whether the result seems fair.
Make a Greek-style snack. Make a plate of bread, olives, cheese, figs and grapes (checking for any allergies), and talk about what people in Ancient Greece would and would not have had. Tomatoes and potatoes, for example, had not yet reached Europe.
Draw a pot story. Draw a scene from your day, such as a meal or a football match, on the side of a paper “pot”. Ask what a historian, 2,500 years from now, could learn from it, and what they would miss.
Compare two homes. Sketch a Greek courtyard house, then your own home, and list the differences. This builds the habit of noticing change and similarity over time.

Leads on to

Key Stage 3: A significant society in world history