Category: Daily Life in the Past

By Tim Lambert Early Women’s Sports Greek women were not allowed to participate in the Olympic Games. However, women had their own games dedicated to the goddess Hera (wife of Zeus). The Heraean games were held once every 4 years. In Rome from about 55 AD, some women fought as gladiators but the practice was… Continue reading A History of Women’s Sports

By Tim Lambert Early Women’s Underwear Ancient Greek women wore a form of bra called an apodesme. Both Roman men and women wore a loincloth or shorts called subligaculum. Women also wore a band of cloth or leather around their chest called a strophium or mamilare. After the fall of Rome, women did not usually… Continue reading A History of Women’s Underwear

By Tim Lambert Work in Pre-Industrial Britain Before the Industrial Revolution of the late 18th century and 19th century, most people worked as farmers. Only a small minority of people worked in industry. Most of the Celts, who lived in Britain from 650 BC onward were farmers although were also many skilled craftsmen. Some Celts… Continue reading A History of Work

By Tim Lambert 2737 BC According to legend tea is discovered by the Chinese emperor Shen Nung 1000 AD According to legend coffee is discovered around this time c 1450 Coffee is drunk in Yemen c 1550 Coffee is drunk in Turkey and Persia 1610 The Dutch introduce tea into Europe 1651 A coffee house opens in Oxford 1652 A coffee house… Continue reading A Timeline of Tea and Coffee

By Tim Lambert In Anglo-Saxon England, women had considerable rights and freedom (unless they were slaves! Both men and women were slaves). Married women could own and inherit property. Some women were landowners. If a man married a woman he had to give her either money or land. After they married it was her property… Continue reading Anglo-Saxon Women

By Tim Lambert Britain has changed greatly since 1948. Today people are much richer. They live in far more comfortable homes and ordinary people can afford things that were luxuries in 1948 (like foreign holidays). People are also healthier and they live longer. They also have things like the internet that were not even dreamed… Continue reading Britain Since 1948

By Tim Lambert Celtic Warfare About 650 BC the Celts introduced iron into Britain and they made the first swords. Warfare was common during the Iron Age and many hill forts (fortified settlements) were built at that time. (Although there were also many open villages and farms). The Celts fought from horses or light wooden… Continue reading Celtic Daily Life

By Tim Lambert The industrial revolution created more demand for female and child labor. In the early 19th century when children worked in textile factories they often worked for more than 12 hours a day. In the early 19th century parliament passed laws to curtail child labor. However, they all proved to be unenforceable. The… Continue reading Children in the 19th Century

By Tim Lambert Philosophy and Religion in Ancient China The Chinese worldview was very different from the Western worldview. The Ancient Chinese Heaven was a kind of universal force. Heaven chose the dynasty to rule but it was a moral force. If the king or emperor were evil Heaven would send natural disasters as a… Continue reading Daily Life in Ancient China

By Tim Lambert Traditional games remained popular in the 18th Century. These included games such as chess, draughts, and backgammon. So was tennis and a rough version of football. Then in 1759, a man named John Jeffries invented an entirely new board game called A Journey Through Europe or The Play of Geography in which… Continue reading Leisure in the 18th Century