KNOCK KNOCK

Ancient Greek city states are thought to have had distinctly different approaches when it came to visitors announcing their arrival. While Spartans would advertise their presence at the door with a hearty shout, the refined Athenians came up with a more ‘sophisticated’ guest-alert system. A household slave would be chained to the door and assigned to answer it. It wasn’t uncommon for them to fall asleep, so a short iron bar was attached, enabling the visitor to rap on the door to wake them up. After it became apparent that this bar could be used as a weapon, the