2. Social and Political Structure
Athens was a democracy. Democracy means "exercise of power by the whole people"， but by "the whole people" the Greeks meant only the adult male citizens， and citizenship was aset of rights which man inherited from his father. Women， children， foreigners and
slaves were excluded. They had no rights.
The economy of Athens rested on an immense amount of slavelabour. Slaves worked on farms and in workshops and mines owned by their masters. There was harsh exploitation in Greek society.
The Greeks loved sports. Once every four years， they had a big festival on Olympus Mount which included contests of sports. Thus began the Olympic Games. Revived in 1896， the Games have become the worlds foremost amateur sports competition.
3. Homer
Ancient Greeks considered Homer to be the author of their epics. He probably lived around 700 B.C. Two such epics， the Iliad and the Odyssey， have survived. They are not about events of
Homers own time， but about great men and wars of a remoter age， probably in the period 1200-1100 B.C.
The Iliad deals with the alliance of the states of the southern mainland of Greece， led by Agamemnon in their war against the city of Troy. The heroes are Hector on the Trojan side and Achilles and Odysseus on the Greek. In the final battle， Hector was killed by Achilles and Troy was sacked and burned by the Greeks.
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