The Most Unusual Jobs In Ancient Greece

 Today in the European Language Cafe we will talk about the most unusual jobs in ancient Greece that will make you love your job again.

 Are you still complaining about your current job? Are you dreaming about an office with a gym, swimming pool and canteen with Italian treats? In Ancient Greece, people would call the job that you have now, even without those dream features, science fiction. 

Gymnasiarchs 

   In ancient Greece, athletic sports and competition were well respected. Athletes in ancient times were men in great physical shape taking part in a lot of competitions. They definitely had a busy schedule and without assistants, would never have achieved their moments of glory. Gymnasiarchs were the people assigned to do all the menial jobs for the athletes. To get this job you would need to be a man between 30 and 60 and have a lot of savings in your bank account. The Gymnasiarchs were hired for one year and their main job was to make athletes look presentable, organise competitions and train them. Before every competition, they had to wash athletes bodies and rub special oils on them.  Gymnasiums were not slaves but they wouldn’t get any payment and had to cover all expenses by themselves. Despite this, they were very respected people and could even teach manners to aggressive or lazy athletes. 

Slaves in Public Baths

  Another not-so-pleasant job in ancient Greece that we are sure is worse than your current job was being a slave in Public Baths. Before going to the bath, Greeks would usually work out and get sweaty. Bath Slaves were the poor guys who had to wash them, rub them with olive oil and use a special metal stick to peel off the remaining oil and dirt after their sweaty gym sesh.

The Armpit Hair Plucker

   It probably wouldn’t seem so bad to beauticians nowadays, but another unusual job on our list is the armpit hairs plucker. As you already know, the ancient Greeks admired sports and athletes obviously wanted to look perfect while performing, so they would hire a person who would pluck their hair from this sensitive part of the body.

Druggist

  It might sound like an exciting and well-paid job, in full Walter White style, but in reality it was simply what we would call nowadays a Pharmacist. Druggists were female workers that had a lot of knowledge in chemistry and botany. They collected herbs and made different types of medicine. Their job was in high demand. 

Curse Creator

  You could consider this position a kind of copywriter but with a very specific unusual twist: if someone wanted to send a curse to an enemy or even a noisy neighbour they would need to hire a specialist in cursing. This person would write a curse with the name of your enemy and bring it to the temple. Greeks believed that Gods would read it and make it happen. The poor fellers had to listen to complaints all day and then come up with terrifying ideas for curses. 

  We hope that you’re feeling a bit better now about your current job but if you’re still feeling fed up, why don’t you explore some job opportunities on our website and look for a new one? Check out the job positions available for Greece! Thank Zeus we have plenty to offer. Tell us which one of the most unusual jobs in ancient Greece you would never do in your life? 

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