van Hooff A J
Tijdschr Gerontol Geriatr. 1983 Aug;14(4):141-8.
There is room for a more balanced view of old age among the ancient Greeks than is furnished by De Beauvoir's la Vieillesse and other more or less one-sided publications. The old body was despised by the Greeks of classical times; especially walking with three legs (tripous) was stressed as a mark of old age. The Hippocratic writings show some interest in the infirmities of elderly people. Specific psychic and intellectual qualities were not attributed to senescence: old age brought out good and bad qualities of a person more sharply than before. The share of old people in the population cannot be established with any certainty, but there was always a group of men in their sixties who had specific tasks in society. Old age was not an autonomous theme in art, it was solely accidental. The position of the elderly was challenged occasionally in democratic Athens, but it was never undermined. Old people were never marginated in classical Greece.
与德·波伏娃的《老年》及其他或多或少片面的出版物相比，古希腊人对老年的看法更具平衡性。古典时期的希腊人鄙视衰老的身体；尤其强调走路时拄着三条腿（拐杖）是老年的标志。希波克拉底的著作对老年人的体弱有所关注。衰老并未被赋予特定的心理和智力特质：老年比以往更鲜明地凸显出一个人的优点和缺点。老年人口在总人口中的占比无法确切确定，但总有一群六十多岁的男性在社会中承担特定任务。老年在艺术中并非一个独立的主题，只是偶然出现。在民主的雅典，老年人的地位偶尔会受到挑战，但从未被削弱。在古典希腊，老年人从未被边缘化。
