6 July 2025 The Future is the Product of the Past

How Was the Life of Teenager in Ancient Times?

Youth is the same in every era. Not so hard to guess. How was your life as a teenager? You have wandered in high school, got into pranks from time to time, flirted with everyone, maybe played some sports, and were generally frustrated in the easy life of young people.

You might also assume that the teenagers who lived thousands of years ago suffered hardship, oppression, and danger.In fact, it may be surprising to learn that ancient youths are not different from those of our time. They played pranks, loved, fought – they just did it another time. Okay, so they were also forced into arranged marriages, sometimes sacrificed to their gods, and had a good chance of not reaching puberty at all. Admittedly, life was a little harder for them.

education in ancient times

Education was for the rich 

For young people who are currently struggling in school, young people have to struggle in school for thousands of years. This may bring them comfort, but this is true. Throughout the ancient world, children and adolescents were educated, perhaps to a higher degree than their peers in the Middle Ages. The only difference from modern times? At that time, you must be rich.

Egyptian children had to come from wealthy backgrounds to receive a formal education. If so, they would continue their education in reading, writing, and arithmetic. In ancient Greece, education may have been more common in the early years, but only wealthy teenagers received a secondary education – this time in rhetoric, science, and philosophy. if you are a slave or extremely poor, you probably didn’t intend to spend your time doing geometry homework.

Fitness was important

Physicality was a particularly important part of a teenager’s upbringing in some ancient cultures. As Scholastic said, gymnastics was introduced to Greek society through a range of exercises such as running, jumping, swimming, throwing, wrestling, and weight lifting. Because these forms of gymnastics prepared Greek citizens so well for war, they became a central part of the Greek education system.

Fitness was important

Later, the Romans adopted the idea of ​​using physical training to prepare for war. With the development of the empire, physical education became more and more important for raising a young Roman child. Today, the foundations laid by the Greeks and Romans have survived, and their dedication to physical fitness lives on in sports and other competitive physical activities as part of modern primary and secondary education.

Ancient teens were not so innocent

Some of the teen hijinks that rose up, however, often took on a more sinister edge. A Greek document dating from 267, when translated, provided evidence of match-fixing at a wrestling tournament held in Egypt. One of the signatories to the deal – the father of a teenage wrestler named Nicantinous – agreed to pay a bribe to his son’s opponent, Demetrius, if he wanted to throw a match.

If Demetrius “fell and yielded three times,” he would have received “three thousand eight hundred drachmas” of silver coins. “Cool, sounds like a lot of drachmas,” you say. According to Aristophanes, one drachma roughly corresponded to the daily wage of a skilled worker in ancient Greece. This is quite a bribe, and the competition – known as the Great Antinoeia – was no small competition. Don’t think that teenagers have never been completely innocent.

Coming-of-age rituals

Puberty ceremonies have existed in some form in nearly every culture for thousands of years. They usually took place during adolescence and often involved unusual rituals or tests to bring the teenager into adulthood. Some have even survived to the present day.

Coming-of-age rituals 
Puberty ceremonies have existed in some form in nearly every culture for thousands of years.

Faith Spotted Eagle, a native from South Dakota, explained to NPR that in the past, a girl would be isolated from the camp immediately after experiencing her first menstrual cycle. Then, she will participate in a four-day ceremony where other women teach her how to cook, take care of the family and face the troubles of life. The ceremony was eventually lost but was restored by the Brave Heart Women’s Society in the 1990s. Like many civilizations with a long history, Native American culture is full of similar rituals and rituals, often different from tribe to tribe.

Ancient teenagers were forced into marriage

Even today, arranged marriages have not been fully heard of in some cultures in the world, but in the ancient world, arranged marriages were more common. In ancient Mesopotamia, marriage was more important than romantic entanglement. For example, Herodotus’s book describes a bridal auction in which adolescent young women are sold to the highest bidder male Babylonians.

Ancient teenagers were forced into marriage 
Herodotus’s book describes a bridal auction in which adolescent young women are sold to the highest bidder male Babylonians.

As with many arranged marriages, Mesopotamians approached them as a contract between the father of a girl and the future husband. Unsurprisingly, older girls (like, according to PBS, Roman girls who often got married in their teens) had little to say about it. If any of the participants in a marriage wanted to rebel against the engagement, she would likely be put off by the number of penalties and incentives that were written into their marriage contracts. In the ancient world, adult life started early, especially if you were a girl.

Every young soldier would be

Teenage girls arranged marriages and bridal auctions, while boys always had the expected military service. The Roman army is one of the strongest and most disciplined in human history it is not surprising that many young and impressive people are willing to join. Everyone in the empire except the lowest social class can join the army.

Young Roman soldiers could expect to receive decent pay, be sent to the other side of the known world, and, in the last years of the Empire, serving in some rather luxurious military bases. Of course, if you weren’t very interested in going to fight in Rome’s wars, that didn’t exactly exclude you: Rome was known to employ compulsory military service from time to time.

Ancıent teens of the sacrifice expected

children sacrificed in ancient times

In some ancient civilizations, forced marriage or conscription was not the worst thing that could happen in adolescence. No, this honor must be attributed to human sacrifice. Since prehistoric times, human blood donation has existed in some form around the world.

Children and teenagers are common fodder for altars. In Geisel, which is now part of Israel, archaeologists discovered the burned bones of a six-year-old child who had been burnt in half and the skulls of two teenagers. In nearby Meggido, the body of a 15-year-old girl was also found. Further excavations showed that many of these young victims were buried alive.

Related Articles

The discovery that surprised archaeologists; a Rare glass cup adorning the table of rich Romans in Crimea

2 April 2022

2 April 2022

A discovery made in Frontovoye-3 necropolis in Crimea shows that during the Roman Empire there were more centers of glass...

The Oklahoma City Museum of Art will launch “The Painters of Pompeii” on June 26

23 June 2021

23 June 2021

A number of collection highlights will travel to North America for the first time as part of the exhibition The...

Analysis Of Roman Coins sheds light on the Roman financial crisis

17 April 2022

17 April 2022

New scientific analysis of the composition of Roman denarii has brought fresh understanding to a financial crisis briefly mentioned by...

The tomb of the “Bird Oracle Markos” was found in the ancient city of Pergamon

31 August 2022

31 August 2022

During the excavations carried out in the Ancient City of Bergama, which is on the UNESCO World Heritage List, the...

The mystery of the silver bracelets of Queen Hetepheres in her celebrated tomb at Giza solved

2 June 2023

2 June 2023

The discovery of silver bracelets in the tomb of Queen Hetepheres I, wife of Pharaoh Snofru and mother of Pharaoh...

2,000-year-old Roman Military Sandal with Nails Found in Germany

25 June 2024

25 June 2024

Archaeologists have discovered the remains of a 2,000-year-old Roman Military Sandal near an auxiliary Roman camp in Germany. Archaeologists from...

How Chariot Racing Saved Constantinople?

17 February 2021

17 February 2021

Chariot racing “ludi cirenses” was one of the indispensable sports for the Roman and Byzantine Empires. The days on which...

Two new fragments of the Fasti Ostienses, a kind of chronicle engraved on marble slabs, have been found in the Ostia Antica Archaeological Park

19 August 2023

19 August 2023

Two new fragments of the Fasti Ostienses have been discovered in the Ostia Antica Archaeological Park, following investigations carried out...

This summer, a 2,000-year-old “thermopolium” fast-food restaurant in Pompeii will reopen to the public

8 August 2021

8 August 2021

Archaeologists excavated a 2000-year-old fast food and drink counter “termopolium” on the streets of the ancient Roman city of Pompeii...

2700-year-old Assyrian carvings found near Mashki Gate destroyed by Isis

20 October 2022

20 October 2022

The U.S. and Iraqi archaeologists have unearthed ancient rock carvings believed to be more than 2,700 years old in Iraq’s...

HS2 archaeologists discover Romanization of Iron Age village in Britain

12 January 2022

12 January 2022

Archaeologists have uncovered a vast Roman trading town on Britain’s HS2 high-speed rail route. Evidence found during a dig of...

Archaeologists Reveal a Hair Style They Think Was Fashion 2000 Years Ago

19 February 2021

19 February 2021

The small 5 cm figurine found during excavations at Wimpole in Cambridgeshire surprised with its details. National Trust archaeologists and...

New discoveries show that Claros continued to serve as an oracle center after Christianity

14 September 2022

14 September 2022

Game boards and forked cross motifs dating to the fifth and seventh centuries AD were discovered at the ancient Greek...

Hellenic and Roman statue heads unearthed in Knidos

9 December 2021

9 December 2021

Hellenic and Roman sculpture heads were unearthed in the ancient Carian settlement Knidos, located in the Datça district of Muğla...

2000-year-old tomb guarded by two bull heads found in Tharsa Ancient City, Türkiye

18 May 2024

18 May 2024

In Türkiye, archaeologists have discovered a new 2000-year-old tomb protected by two bull heads during excavation and cleaning efforts in...