Gregory Aldrete

Well, the easy answer, the one you often get, is technology. And obviously there's huge differences in technology between the ancient world and today. But I think some of the more interesting stuff is a little bit more amorphous things, more structural things. So I would say, first of all, childhood mortality.

Well, the easy answer, the one you often get, is technology. And obviously there's huge differences in technology between the ancient world and today. But I think some of the more interesting stuff is a little bit more amorphous things, more structural things. So I would say, first of all, childhood mortality.

Well, the easy answer, the one you often get, is technology. And obviously there's huge differences in technology between the ancient world and today. But I think some of the more interesting stuff is a little bit more amorphous things, more structural things. So I would say, first of all, childhood mortality.

In the ancient world, and this is true of Greeks, Romans, Egyptians, really anybody up until about the Industrial Revolution, about 30% to 40% of kids died before they hit puberty. So, I mean, put yourself in the place of an average inhabitant of the ancient world. If you were an ancient person – Three or four of your kids probably would have died. You would have buried your children.

In the ancient world, and this is true of Greeks, Romans, Egyptians, really anybody up until about the Industrial Revolution, about 30% to 40% of kids died before they hit puberty. So, I mean, put yourself in the place of an average inhabitant of the ancient world. If you were an ancient person – Three or four of your kids probably would have died. You would have buried your children.

In the ancient world, and this is true of Greeks, Romans, Egyptians, really anybody up until about the Industrial Revolution, about 30% to 40% of kids died before they hit puberty. So, I mean, put yourself in the place of an average inhabitant of the ancient world. If you were an ancient person – Three or four of your kids probably would have died. You would have buried your children.

And nowadays, we think of that as an unusual thing. And just psychologically, that's a huge thing. You would have seen multiple of your siblings die. If you're a woman, for example, if you were lucky enough to make it to, let's say, age 13, you probably would have to give birth – four or five times in order just to keep the population from dying out.

And nowadays, we think of that as an unusual thing. And just psychologically, that's a huge thing. You would have seen multiple of your siblings die. If you're a woman, for example, if you were lucky enough to make it to, let's say, age 13, you probably would have to give birth – four or five times in order just to keep the population from dying out.

And nowadays, we think of that as an unusual thing. And just psychologically, that's a huge thing. You would have seen multiple of your siblings die. If you're a woman, for example, if you were lucky enough to make it to, let's say, age 13, you probably would have to give birth – four or five times in order just to keep the population from dying out.

So those kind of grim mortality statistics I think are a huge difference psychologically between the ancient world and the modern.

So those kind of grim mortality statistics I think are a huge difference psychologically between the ancient world and the modern.

So those kind of grim mortality statistics I think are a huge difference psychologically between the ancient world and the modern.

Crude answer, yes. I think human nature is roughly constant. And for me, as an ancient historian, the kind of documents that I really like dealing with are not the traditional literary sources, but they're the things that give us those little glimpse into everyday life.

Crude answer, yes. I think human nature is roughly constant. And for me, as an ancient historian, the kind of documents that I really like dealing with are not the traditional literary sources, but they're the things that give us those little glimpse into everyday life.

Crude answer, yes. I think human nature is roughly constant. And for me, as an ancient historian, the kind of documents that I really like dealing with are not the traditional literary sources, but they're the things that give us those little glimpse into everyday life.

So stuff like tombstones or graffiti or just something that survives on a scrap of parchment that records a financial transaction. And whenever I read some of those, I'll have this moment of – feeling, oh, I know exactly how that person felt. Here across 2,000 years of time, completely different cultures, I have this spark of sympathy with someone from antiquity.

So stuff like tombstones or graffiti or just something that survives on a scrap of parchment that records a financial transaction. And whenever I read some of those, I'll have this moment of – feeling, oh, I know exactly how that person felt. Here across 2,000 years of time, completely different cultures, I have this spark of sympathy with someone from antiquity.

So stuff like tombstones or graffiti or just something that survives on a scrap of parchment that records a financial transaction. And whenever I read some of those, I'll have this moment of – feeling, oh, I know exactly how that person felt. Here across 2,000 years of time, completely different cultures, I have this spark of sympathy with someone from antiquity.

And I think as a historian, the way you begin to understand an alien, a foreign culture, which is what these cultures are, is to look for those little moments of sympathy. But on the other hand, there's ways in which ancient cultures are wildly different from us. So you also look for those moments where you just think, how the hell could these people have done that?

And I think as a historian, the way you begin to understand an alien, a foreign culture, which is what these cultures are, is to look for those little moments of sympathy. But on the other hand, there's ways in which ancient cultures are wildly different from us. So you also look for those moments where you just think, how the hell could these people have done that?