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Petros Manos

1871–1918

Born
1871, Athens
Country of birth
Kingdom of Greece, today Greece
Died
4 Apr 1918, Switzerland
facts
8
sources
1
images and files
0

Facts and their sources

Tap a fact to see where it comes from.

  • Birth1871, AthensProbableDisputed1 competing claim1 source
  • Death4 Apr 1918, SwitzerlandProbableDisputed1 competing claim1 source
  • UnionMaria ArgyropoulouConfirmed1 source

A life in time

  1. Born · Athens

    Birth, Athens

  2. Child born: Aspasia Manos

    Birth, Athens

  3. Died · Switzerland

    Death, Switzerland

What was it like?

The world around Athens, 1871: who ruled, who else was alive, how people lived. This is general history, not a record about the family, and every item shows where it comes from.

Petros was born around the same time as Sergei Rachmaninoff, Colette, and Enrico Caruso.

Born around the same time

  • Sergei Rachmaninoff

    1873 · Russian composer, pianist and conductor (1873–1943)

  • Colette

    1873 · French novelist (1873–1954)

  • Enrico Caruso

    1873 · Italian opera singer (1873–1921)

  • Pompeu Fabra

    1868 · Catalan linguist (1868–1948)

  • Maxim Gorky

    1868 · Russian and Soviet writer (1868–1936)

  • Nicholas II of Russia

    1868 · 14th and last Emperor of Russia (1894–1917)

Fashion

Festive attire with gold and coins

On feast days, well-to-do men wore crimson velvet jackets embroidered with gold, while women often accessorized with strings of coins and silver chains.

Mixed European and traditional attire

In 19th-century Greek cities like Athens and Piraeus, residents frequently wore a mix of European clothing alongside traditional garments such as the fustanella.

Music

Urban music and Western influences

In urban centers, the elite and middle class favored Western dances like waltzes and polkas at home gatherings, while lower social strata in ports developed rebetika music performed in tavernas using bouzouki, baglama, and guitar. Military bands also frequently performed Western music in public squares and streets of major cities.

Village dances and folk instruments

In rural villages, folk dances were held in squares or churchyards on Sundays and saints' days, often featuring circle or chain dances performed to the sounds of bagpipes, violins, or clarinets. If instruments were unavailable, dancers sang their own accompaniment to these communal celebrations.

Getting around

Crete journey times and distances

In Crete, a journey across the island from the Mesara plain to Heraklion, a distance of approximately 60 km, took 24 hours with a brief overnight stop.

Travel by horse in interior Greece

Travelers in the interior of Greece typically moved on horseback, with distances calculated by the hour rather than by miles. An average hour of riding covered about 3 miles, and a normal day's progress was between 20 and 25 miles.

Daily life

Simple Peasant Home Architecture

Most rural peasant homes were single-room cabins built of wood or stone with a roof of thatch or tiles, housing both the family and their domestic animals. Furnishings were minimal, typically lacking tables and chairs, with bedding stored in a corner and meals eaten while sitting on the floor around a common dish.

Widespread Public Schooling

Education was highly valued and accessible, with free primary schools available to children of all social classes, including the children of cab drivers and government officials sitting together. While many villages maintained schools for boys, girls' schooling was less common, though a growing interest in female education was gradually overcoming old prejudices.

Food

Costs of Basic Food Items

In 1870, bread cost between 55 and 65 lepta, and it was noted that a modest feast of olives, salted fish, and halvah could be bought for just three sous.

Modest Diet of Ordinary Families

Poor families in Greece often survived on little more than a handful of bitter olives, onions, or salted fish with bread.

Prices and wages
Around 1870–1870

Cost of bread and beef

In 1870, bread cost between 55 and 65 lepta per oka, while beef was priced between 1.20 and 2.60 drachmas per oka. The oka was a unit of weight equivalent to 1,282 grams.

Rural wages in the early 1870s

In the early 1870s, workers in cotton fields earned between 1.5 and 2.5 drachmas daily, while men working in vineyards received 3 drachmas plus provisions. Shepherds were paid significantly less, receiving only 60 drachmas for six months of work along with provisions.

Work

Wages and Long Shifts in 1870 Greece

In 1870, average daily wages were 2.5 drachmas for men, 1.5 for women, and 0.5 for children. Workers in textile factories often endured 12-hour shifts, six days a week, with two additional hours of unpaid work on Sundays.

Child Labor in Mines and Factories

Children as young as six were considered eligible for employment, with some young girls working in spinning mills having to stand on stools to reach the machinery. In the mines, children were employed in tasks such as sorting ores and carrying stone.

News and letters
Around 1881–1890

Growth of the telegraph network

The telegraph became a vital tool for business, with the number of telegrams increasing by 40% between 1883 and 1887. By 1890, there were 177 telegraph centers across Greece, following the territorial expansion of 1881.

Around 1880–1899

Folded letters replaced by envelopes

In the late 19th century, mail was often sent in folded sheets called plikos, which acted as their own envelopes, before standardized envelopes became the norm. Station masters acted as postal workers at railway stations, and letters were stamped with both departure and arrival marks to prevent tampering.

During their lifetime

  1. 1871

    Peasants gained property rights in 1871

    The 1871 Agrarian Reform granted property rights to peasants, allowing for the distribution of national lands.

  2. 1881

    Thessaly annexed to Greece in 1881

    In 1881, the region of Thessaly was annexed into the Kingdom of Greece, significantly altering the national territory and population.

  3. 1893

    Corinth Canal completed in 1893

    The Corinth Canal, a major infrastructure project begun in 1882, was finally completed in 1893, drastically changing maritime transport routes.

  4. 1893

    Greek state bankruptcy in 1893

    The Greek state declared bankruptcy in 1893 after the country's borrowing capacity was exhausted following years of heavy foreign lending.

  5. 1896

    First modern Olympics held in 1896

    Athens hosted the opening ceremonies of the first modern Olympic Games in 1896, a significant cultural event for the capital.

  6. 1914

    Expansion of the telegraph network

    In 1914, the Greek state took over the management of the railway telegraph service and expanded its network across the country.

Family

Spouses

Children

Ancestors and children

Open the full tree

Four generations back to the right, the children to the left. The number beside a child counts the generations of descendants known after them.