Feeling small in the ancient world…

Here I am being made to feel small in the ancient world…

You year sevens have just experienced a sudden change in your status. After being the head honchos at your primary school, you have stepped onto the bottom rung of the ladder at a school with nearly a thousand students. Ouch. Status is the word we use for relative social importance or standing; yours has taken a beating in the last month or two.

Don’t take it to heart, 7X. I think of you very highly indeed. In my mind your status is high. In fact, in my staffroom only the other day Mrs Iacopino and I were discussing your class. You have already made a name for yourselves, despite your lowly “rank”. The quality of your minds and the sweetness of your characters will tell!

Huge differences in status and power were a defining quality of ancient societies. With the growth of complex civilisations, the relative egalitarianism of the hunter-gatherer life was lost. The ancient world is not noted for equality, democracy and other modern ideals of human interaction. People were born into a certain level of society and for the most part they lived and died in that level.  In a sense it would have been like a group of students coming to our school and staying for ever in Year 7. Imagine that!

We give the Athenians the credit for the idea of democracy, but Athenian society was propped up by thousands of slaves; even the women of the citizen class had no right to vote. It was a beautiful idea, but in practice there was nothing truly democratic about ancient Athens.

Learning to write in ancient Egypt might have changed your status, but this opportunity would have been rare for a person not already in an elevated class.

Go to this link to read a detailed account of the ancient Egyptian hierarchy:

http://www.reshafim.org.il/ad/egypt/people/social_classes.htm

It is generally agreed that women in ancient Egypt enjoyed greater equality with men than in many other ancient societies, such as ancient Greece and ancient Rome. Nevertheless, there is also evidence that their role was in many ways subordinate to men. Read this brief but interesting summary from the British Museum:

http://www.britishmuseum.org/explore/highlights/article_index/w/women_in_ancient_egypt.aspx

This is one of the topics for your assignment. After reading these two links, feel free to go on with your own work. I’m giving you the power!

Kind regards,

Ms Green.