Today, we remember the ancient Greeks for their contributions to art, politics, and
philosophy.
We tend to see them as solemn people, as devoid of life as the white marble statues they left
behind.
But a look into the past shows us that the Ancient Greeks were really, really weird.
Let's journey together into the past where we check out the weird ways of our ancestors.
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Looking at this weird, wacky, wonderful list, it’s easy to wonder whether our trends will
look just as strange to future generations!
26.
Beans.
Ancient Greeks had an... interesting relationship with the dead, something you'll probably hear
more about later in this video.
However, first, we're going to talk about the relationship between the dead, the ancient
Greeks and beans.
Apparently, the people of Athens would not eat beans as they believed them to contain
the souls of the dead.
Honestly... we don't see the correlation.
25.
The Law.
Here's a history lesson and interesting fact that'll blow your mind In ancient Greece,
they had a due process, which is unbelievable by itself, but the size of the juries is even
more of an interesting fact.
Apparently, they'd have up too 500 people deciding the fate of a criminal.
In fact, that was usually the NORMAL size of a jury so they could've had even more!
Wow, opinions must've gotten really bogged down amongst all the noise.
24.
Baths.
We tend to view our ancestors or anyone who lived in an ancient civilization as dirty,
unwashed and smelly.
However, this was not true for the Greeks.
The ancient Greeks use to love baths, so much so that they would typically go to the public
bath once a day.
Woah!
Talk about ruining your perception of an entire people!
That's unbelievable!
23.
Salt.
This interesting fact about one of our oldest civilizations is a pretty big downer.
Yes, they use to own a lot of slaves, but what was the cost of human life back then?
Well apparently, ancient Greeks use to trade people... for salt.
Nice, really nice, ancestors.
22.
0 How about an origin story?
Apparently, in ancient Greece, an idiot was anyone who WASNT a politician.
Isn't that unbelievable?
You'd be hard pressed to find someone today who WOULDN'T call most politicans idiots.
21.
School.
Here's an interesting fact that is sure to bend your brain– the origins of the word
"school".
Apparently, it comes from the Greek word for "free time".
Huh.
Try telling that to your average college student.
20.
The Mentor.
Speaking of school, a big part of a young man's education in ancient Greece was a mentorship
with an Elder.
Alright, so far so good, apprenticeships are always a good thing.
However, where it gets unbelievable is that these mentorships would often include... pederastic
love.
That's about as far as we're willing to elaborate on that one.
19.
Life Of A Boy.
Things get worse for boys living among ancient Greeks.
Depending on where you were as a young boy in ancient Greece, your life would change
significantly when you reached the age of 7.
If you lived in Athens, you would be sent to school.
However, if you were in Sparta, you'd be sent to the barracks.
Imagine if they did that these days?
If you're from New York you go to school, but if you're from Texas you go to the army.
18.
Slaves.
We all know slavery is wrong, at least today.
The people of ancient Greece however, not so much.
Between 40% and 80% of people in Classical Athens were slaves.
Wow!
Get it together ancestors, that's just not cool!
17.
Democracy.
The people of Athens, the Ancient Greeks, were the first to develop a democracy.
Unbelievable yes, especially in ancient history, but here's the even more interesting fact–
the democracy lasted 185 years!
Seems kind of standard in this day and age, but in a time with kings and despots as the
standard, it's pretty impressive!
16.
Toilet Paper.
The Greeks didn’t have toilet paper, but they found some ingenious solutions.
The rich were able to use a sponge attached to a stick, but poorer people had to use smooth
stones instead.
Jeez, you gotta hope those stones were the smoothest in the world!
15.
Celebrity Obsession.
Think this generation has an unhealthy love for celebrities?
The Greeks took it to a whole new level.
In the earliest known case of celebrity endorsement, Greeks who had muscle aches would eat the
sweat scraped off of their favorite athletes.
14.
No Cheating.
Ashley Madison wouldn’t have been very popular among the ancient Greeks because cheaters
could face some pretty harsh punishments.
Often, the cheater would have to take their clothes off to be paraded around town strapped
to a donkey.
On the other hand, wouldn't we all want that for our cheating exes?
13.
Poop baths.
Greek doctors believed that taking baths in crocodile dung would improve skin, so people
used crocodile dung as an anti-aging skin mask.
On the other hand, is it that much weirder than Botox?
Probably.
12.
An Apple A Day.
While today you might give your beloved flowers as a symbol that you love them, the Ancient
Greeks were far more direct: they would chuck an apple at the person they loved.
Unbelievable!
11.
Nude Workouts.
The body-conscious would not be at home in the gyms of Ancient Greece; custom dictated
that people go to the gym naked.
Fortunately (or, depending who you are, UNfortunately) those times are ancient history and we in
the present have developed a little more decency.
Jeez, no wonder those gyms were men only!
10.
Unibrows.
While modern women pluck their eyebrows, Greek women did the opposite, cultivating a unibrow
to convey wisdom and beauty.
If women were unlucky enough not to be able to grow a unibrow, they would pencil one in
as a replacement, much like women fill in their eyebrows today.
Once again, thank god those times are ancient history.
Thank you geniuses of Athens, but we're good with not seeing unibrows everywhere we go.
9.
A Sense Of Humor.
If you showed up to a doctor in Ancient Greece, he might lick your snot or smell your vomit
to figure out the balance of your bodily fluids (which they called “humor”).
Hm.... we wonder if the ancient Greek doctors would just lick your nose or would they get
you to spew it out first... gross.
8.
No Condoms Required.
The Greek physician Soranus of Ephesus believed that squatting and sneezing after intercourse
was an effective contraceptive.
Amazingly, he was one of the most respected physicians of his time!
Sorry, Soranus, you may have been a genius in Athens but by today's standards, your ideas
are ancient history.
7.
Pet Costumes.
The ancient Greeks were some of the first known originators of pet fashion.
Greek shepherds invented the spiked dog collar to keep their dogs safe from attacks by wolves
and lions.
It's unbelievable how these guys can do such weird things and yet such kick-butt things
at the same time.
6.
Voted off the island.
Once a year, citizens got to vote for whoever they most wanted out of the city.
If the “winner” got a sufficient number of votes, he had to leave the city for the
next ten years.
It was used for politicians or public figures who threatened the stability of the city.
Or maybe that one guy nobody likes.
Yes, we're talking about YOU, Adrian.
5.
Wacky Writing.
One of the first civilizations had a weird way of writing.
For a while, it was popular to alternate which way you wrote, with one line reading from
right to left and the next reading from left to right.
Surprisingly, it didn’t catch on.
4.
Wine-os.
Despite their reputation as a party-hard society, drinking undiluted wine was a serious faux-pas
among the Greeks.
If you really wanted to party, you could drink a mixture that was one part water to one part
wine, but most of the time, they drank one part water to three parts wine.
I think the most unbelievable of these interesting facts is that they diluted their wine!
Just despicable!
3.
Covering The Bases.
The people of Athens didn’t just worship their gods, they also worshiped a “Placeholder
God” that stood in for all the gods they might not know about!
Huh, that's what Agnostics do these days!
2.
Vending Machines.
Hero of Alexandria developed the first vending machine, where you could put a gold coin into
a slot to get holy water.
The most interesting part about this interesting fact is that holy water was in such high demand
they needed vending machines for it.
1.
The Living Dead.
In some ancient Greek tombs, the bodies have amphora parts and rocks over their hands and
feet.
Many archaeologists today believe that it was an attempt to stop the dead from rising
to terrorize the living.
No word on whether they would have enjoyed The Walking Dead.
And that about wraps it up!
Did you learn something today or did we completely forget a really interesting fact?
Let us know in the comment section below how we did today!