The Other Side of History: Daily Life in the Ancient World

Course Overview

Course No. 3810

Experience history through the eyes of ordinary people across civilizations with Professor Robert Garland’s immersive 48-lecture journey.

This groundbreaking course explores:

• The daily realities of farmers, slaves, soldiers and women
• Cultural practices from birth rituals to funeral customs
• How common people shaped civilizations behind the scenes
• Striking comparisons between ancient and modern life
• Forgotten perspectives from Mesopotamia to medieval Europe

Video Lectures

01: Taking on the Other Side of History (31 min)

Introduce the revolutionary approach of studying history through ordinary lives.

02: Being Paleolithic (32 min)

Experience survival as early humans from Homo erectus to Neanderthals.

03: Living in Mesopotamia (31 min)

Farm the Fertile Crescent when agriculture revolutionized human settlement.

04: Being Egyptian (32 min)

Walk the Nile as a New Kingdom commoner in history’s first great civilization.

05: Belonging to an Egyptian Family (31 min)

Explore marriage customs, women’s rights, and domestic life along the Nile.

06: Practicing Egyptian Religion (31 min)

Worship alongside priests barred from temple inner sanctums.

07: Being a Dead Egyptian (30 min)

Navigate mummification and Osiris’ judgment in the afterlife.

08: Being an Egyptian Worker (31 min)

Labor as a Deir el-Medina craftsman building royal tombs.

09: Being Minoan and Mycenaean (33 min)

Sail the thalassocracy empires of Crete and mainland Greece.

10: Being Greek (31 min)

Participate in Athenian democracy (if you’re a free male citizen).

11: Growing Up Greek (30 min)

Face childhood challenges from infant exposure to Spartan agoge training.

12: Being a Greek Slave (32 min)

Endure domestic service or deadly mine labor in antiquity’s slave society.

13: Being a Greek Soldier (30 min)

March in a phalanx as a hoplite or elite Spartan warrior.

14: Being a Greek Woman (31 min)

Navigate limited freedoms as an Athenian wife or independent hetaera.

15: Relaxing Greek Style (30 min)

Debate at symposia and cheer Olympic athletes during leisure time.

16: Being a Greek Refugee (31 min)

Survive the harrowing colonization process from 8th-6th centuries BC.

17: Being Sick in Greece (31 min)

Face disability and disease without modern medicine’s comforts.

18: Practicing Greek Religion (33 min)

Worship capricious Olympian gods through festivals and sacrifices.

19: Being an Old Greek (29 min)

Discover retirement strategies for poets and philosophers.

20: Being a Dead Greek (30 min)

Cross the Styx to Hades after proper funeral rites.

21: Being Persian (32 min)

Live under Cyrus’ tolerant rule and Darius’ innovative administration.

22: Living in Hellenistic Egypt (32 min)

Experience Alexandria’s multicultural tensions post-Alexander.

23: Being Roman (30 min)

Balance civic duty with violent tendencies as a Roman citizen.

24: Being a Roman Slave (31 min)

Endure agricultural drudgery or earn domestic manumission.

25: Being a Roman Soldier (31 min)

March, fight, and build roads across the empire.

26: Being a Roman Woman (31 min)

Navigate patriarchal society from wedding rituals to business rights.

27: Being a Poor Roman (30 min)

Survive rat-infested insulae apartments and urban fires.

28: Being a Rich Roman (28 min)

Enjoy country villas and client-patron morning salutations.

29: Being a Roman Celebrity (30 min)

Seek fame as a gladiator, charioteer, or scandalous empress.

30: Being a Roman Criminal (30 min)

Face punishments from exile to crucifixion.

31: Relaxing Roman Style (30 min)

Cheer chariot races and bloody gladiatorial games.

32: Practicing Roman Religion (30 min)

Worship household gods and deified emperors.

33: Being Jewish Under Rome (31 min)

Resist polytheistic demands leading to diaspora.

34: Being Christian Under Rome (29 min)

Practice forbidden faith facing persecution.

35: Being a Celt in Britain (31 min)

Live in tribal villages with legendary Druids.

36: Being a Roman Briton (29 min)

Adjust to then mourn Rome’s 365-year occupation.

37: Being Anglo-Saxon (30 min)

Enter the Dark Ages with warrior cultures like Beowulf’s.

38: Being a Viking Raider (30 min)

Trade and pillage beyond the raider stereotype.

39: Living Under Norman Rule (31 min)

Experience 1066’s transformative conquest.

40: Being Medieval (29 min)

Witness Magna Carta and Chaucer’s vernacular revolution.

41: Being Poor in Middle Ages (30 min)

Join the 1381 Peasants’ Revolt against feudalism.

42: Being a Medieval Woman (28 min)

Choose between marriage, nunnery, or prostitution.

43: Being Medieval Christian (29 min)

Enter monastic life or face heresy accusations.

44: Being a Medieval Knight (29 min)

Train from childhood for bloodthirsty chivalric combat.

45: Being a Crusader (30 min)

Answer Urban II’s call to holy war.

46: Being a Pilgrim (28 min)

Trek from London to Canterbury or dangerous Jerusalem.

47: Relaxing Medieval Style (32 min)

Play early soccer, chess, and enjoy touring minstrels.

48: Daily Life Matters (36 min)

Reflect on profound human connections across millennia.