What happened when ancient Greeks got old? In ancient Greece there was no pension and no retirement. When your body gave out, your survival depended on your son, the law, and whatever property you still controlled.

In this stick-figure history, we explore old age in ancient Greece: Solon's law that forced Athenian sons to feed their parents, the punishment of atimia for sons who refused, old men paid three obols a day to sit on juries, Sparta's Gerousia (a council where you had to be over 60 to rule), and adoption as a way to guarantee someone would care for you.

We also meet the myths the Greeks told about aging: Geras, the shrivelled god of old age, and Tithonus, who got eternal life but not eternal youth. Plus the true story of Sophocles, taken to court by his own son, who claimed he was too old to manage his affairs, and the Sphinx's famous riddle about the "third leg."

If you've ever wondered how the ancient Greeks treated the elderly, or what growing old was like in Athens versus Sparta, this is the full story.

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Would you rather grow old in Athens or Sparta? Tell me in the comments.

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