Luis has now settled down into the home of Januis. Januis is 27 and lives with her parents. She is unmarried and because of her older age she is unacceptable to marry. She is restless and sits up in the middle of the night to tell Luis her story.
"So, is Athens a good place to live?"
"Uh…yes, I guess so."
"Tell me about your life here. Your religion, schooling, war, society."
"Where should I start?"
The normal stuff. The everyday things."
"Well, we worship many gods. Zeus, Poseidon, Athena…our polis is named after Athena. There is a god that rules each aspect of our lives."
"More about you."
"My ancestors were Mycenaens. Now we live here. Athens is an OK place to live. They've just expanded their citizenship laws to encompass more people as actual citizens. We just chose a new council too. We had a lottery. "
"So, who does all the work around here? Do you have slaves?"
"Actually, about one-third of our population is made up of slaves."
"What about the schooling?"
"Well, the young wealthy boys have tutors. Some of us women know how to read and write too. I'm learning."
"What about the not-so-wealthy children?"
"Most pay a small fee to go to public schools. If they don't do that then their parents usually teach them."
What do they do once they grow up?"
"The women raise families and the men usually become soldiers or athletes."
"And is there a war or something about to start? There are soldiers everywhere."
"No. We just finished one. We were fighting the Spartans."
"Why?"
"Because they were getting too powerful. They wanted to take us over and we wanted to take them over. They won. Well, we kind of gave up. The Spartans had no army at all when we started the war. Then the Spartans made a deal with the Persians. The Spartans would give Iona back to the Persians and, in exchange the Spartans got gold and established a fleet. After Pericles, our leader, died we tried to make peace with Sparta but they kept fighting so we finally just surrendered. "
"So, those are Spartan soldiers?"
"Most likely."
"Well, go to sleep, maybe I'll see you again someday."
"Maybe. Goodbye."