A/N: I am trying to work on Aphrodisa again. Trying to make it better for if I will send it to graduate school as part of my application. The next draft could be different then this. When I am done I will publish the final draft in the Aphrodisa story after the original chapter so you can see how much it have changed. This is a painful process. 

As soon as the sun broke across the sky, my eyelids opened. Any joy I'd been feeling inside my sleeping life disappeared as my glum surroundings groaned into view. My cot woven of rough, scratchy hemp; the wooden walls of my quarters eaten away by mold; the coldness of the dawn breeze seeping through the window, nudging me to start getting to work. Such was the life of a slave in Greece.

I crawled off my cot and snatched the work tunic draped over the edge. Slaves only had two tunics to change into: one to sweat in while we slept, and one to sweat in while we worked. If we were lucky, the one we put on had dried off enough by the time we needed to wear it.

I slipped off the one I slept in and put on my working tunic. Just my luck: still moist and pungent from yesterday. The cloud-colored linen was stained orange-brown from dirt in the mines, and the rope belt at the waist was so worn and mottled it barely fastened together. Thankfully it didn't take much to wrap around my small waist, and I tied it tight just as my stomach rumbled for breakfast.

For breakfast I went out and fetched some barley. I had to go to the field where the crops were grown. I mostly walked barefoot, especially in or around the cabin and house. I had a pair of old leather sandals but I didn't feel like putting them on. The only thing I have control of. There were white flowers of jasmine on the vines.The smell of the jasmine brought me calm and pleasure. Filling the air with their scent as I go to the field to pick some barley.. Low bushes clung, their roots worn into a sculpture.Makes it looks like a peaceful paradise. I stopped to smell the flowers then continued walking. I love the feel of the grass under my bare feet as I walk through the field. It's the beginning of spring.

We're in April, the gaze of Helios is at its most intense. On the straight path from the cabin to the field, the riverbank on the river of Tigris. It's the countryside of Athens.

The family that owns me and the other slaves farm their crops and animals and then when it's time for harvesting, the master tells me to harvest what I need to prepare the meals. The land here was not very good for farming so we had to make sure we grew a lot in the small plots.We would grow enough for the family and us slaves to survive and then trade or sell any extras in the local markets. It's hard work when it's time for me to harvest the crop we need to make breakfast.

I used a single-handed agricultural tool designed with a blade called Sickle, for harvesting. I swing the blade against the base of the barley, catching the stems in the curve and slicing them at the same time. It was cut easily with the tool. I wriped sweat off my forehead from the beating sun.

After I finished harvesting the barley my master showed up. He has dark hair and dark eyes. He called my name as he walked over to me, ready to give me another demand. I rolled my eyes when I heard him walking over here. Thinking to myself "What now?" Because I am a slave I have no choice but to respect him. But how can I when he is the reason why I am not with my family? Deep down I hated this man. "Aphrodisa, after you are done with the barley, I want you to go to the grape press and make some wine" "Yes, master". He walked away and I crossed my arms. I can't wait until I can earn back my freedom.

I went to the wine press and stepped in to crush some grapes by foot. I put one foot in and then the other. With each step, it felt squachy and gross. I never enjoy stepping on these grapes to make the wine. I wish to the gods that it was someone else that had to do this duty.

Lastly, I had to also fetch some water to water down the wine.I walked back to the cabin. I use a stone to grind the barley. I pushed open the fragile termite-eaten door of the female slaves' quarter, careful to move slowly, lest the rusty hinges squeak loud enough to wake up the others I then kneel the dough with my feet. It took a lot of time and energy to do this as I sweat even more. I called for the other women in this cabin for breakfast.The other females here are Kassandra, Alexandra, and Ophelia. Waking them up. I put the bread I made on the table. There are 72 kinds of bread. The wealthy Greeks eat wheat-based bread, while the poorer Greeks and the slaves eat barley-based bread. Then I put the wine down and pour some water in it to water it down. ⅔'s of the wine has to be watered down so that we don't get drunk. We drink wine for the pleasure of the drink.

It's exhausting, waking up early to make the bread and wine and then waking up the others. I just want to be able to sleep and not have to do anything. While I am a chattel slave, Kassandra and Ophelia originally came from Sparta as helots. Alexandra is a bastard because she came here as a baby and doesn't know who her parents were.Slaves were at the bottom of Greek society. We were considered barbarians and had no legal rights. Helots are what Spartains called their slaves, Kassandra and Ophelia were sold here.Some parents would sold their own children into slavery and that is how Alexandria is a bastered slave.

White bread, enjoyed by the Athenian upper classes, was expensive because the bread wheat was imported. Mainly from Egypt, as the cultivation of wheat in Mediterranean climates was difficult. Demeter, the Olympian goddess of agriculture, grain, and life-giving bread, is who we would pray to, to ask for some white bread. I exhaled and forced myself to eat some hard bread after dipping it in the wine to soften it up. I gazed toward the sky and murmured, "Please gods give me some plain old white bread." The bread is hard to eat and doesn't taste good without dipping it into wine. We would eat with our hands. On the side we had figs and olives. I saved the rest of the bread for an offering to Demeter. Demeter has been good to me. Given me food to eat so I can live and work. Hopefully someday be free.

I wasn't born a slave in Athens. I was actually born in Cyprus. I had parents who educated me into women's work. They have also taught me how to read and write. Something most Greek parents don't. But my life changed forever when pirates came to my island, when I was six and kidnapped me. Brought me here and sold me into slavery. I might never see my parents again.

After breakfast, I was shackled and escorted to the mines to work. Most of the thousands of slaves in Athens received similar treatment. Some places in Greece treat us better than here. Time moves differently for us since we have to keep working all day.The other slaves would have conversations with each other while we work but I would just go to the side away from everyone and just do what I have to do. In the mines it's really dark and dusty.. If we don't work fast enough, the owners yell at all of us to work faster. This is not a comfortable life for anyone.

I was called Aphrodisa after the goddess of love and beauty Aphrodite, for my long blond hair. I have always thought the goddess was breathtaking and I loved that people said I resemble her. People have said that I might be the daughter of Aphrodite instead of my parents before I was kidnapped away. I have heard that I am the most beautiful woman in all of Athens but I don't know about that. What makes me so beautiful?

I have been having bad dreams since I first came here. My parents are probably wondering what has happened to me. I was ten then. Six years later, I woke up screaming, trying to get away from my kidnappers.The story on how I became a slave should last as long as you can hold your breath. So listen as fast as you can as I tell you my story.

In my dreams I would remember my parents telling me "You are special and with a destiny that awaits you." I often wondered, "What makes me special? What is my destiny?" I have wondered this even more ever since I was brought here by pirates. When I was a baby, my parents weren't sure if I would survive. They waited on naming me until the seventh or the tenth day and that was when they named me after the goddess. When I was a child, I spent the majority of my time with my mother. I would stay in the women's part of the house. While I was being raised, I would receive my entire education and training in the home with my mother because I am a girl.But my parents weren't like other Greek parents. They also taught me how to read and write. For my birthday one year, my mom gave me a belt. It wasn't an ordinary belt. It was Aphrodite's belt. The one that can make others fall in love with the wearer.

One day pirates came and kidnapped me from home in Cyprus and brought me here in Athens and sold me into slavery.. That was the last time I saw my parents. I sometimes wonder why would the gods let me be taken from my parents like that? Is this really part of my destiny? Every day I have thought about my parents, hoping that someday I'll see them again.

I overheard the other slaves talking about me. They were saying, "Aphrodisa is very beautiful, too bad she isn't interested in anyone." "I know she is so weird," said another. I rolled my eyes and kept on working.. For my name sake I did want to get married someday and start a family but not then. Not when I was a slave. If I ever start a family, I want it when I am free and I can do whatever I want. Go wherever I want. I was of age to be married but because I was a slave, it was harder. Marriage seems neither real nor important to me. Right now there just isn't anyone I am interested in. I wanted to free myself from this life first and find someone outside of Athens that is more interesting than the boys here.

I have tried to escape before. A couple of times when I first came here. I was trying to get back home to my parents but I had no idea how far I was from Cyprus. I just felt like I had to get back somehow. I ran out of the slave cabin I was put in that night. I ran and I saw a shrine to a goddess. It was for the Goddess Athena on top of a hill. It was surrounded by stones.I went inside and prayed for her guiding wisdom on finding my way back home. I left the shrine and kept on running. I didn't know where I was running so I knew I had to go home. I didn't get that much far though before I was recaptured and brought back to the cabin. I waited for another opportunity to try again and again. I didn't get too far and was brought back here. After a while I just gave up and realized my place is to be a slave. I don't think I'll see my parents again.

I planned on earning my freedom with the work I had to do. I was allowed to earn a small income, but a small part of the money we would earn had to be paid to the master. Sometimes, slaves would earn enough money to buy their freedom. After I was done, I was escorted back to the slave cabin and into my room where my cot was. I would lay on it and go to sleep. I can't help but to think of the day when I am finally free. It would take me awhile before I far asleep as I look listlessly at the ceiling.