EDUCATION.
Schools--At Sparta--At Athens--Methods of Instruction--Reading
Lessons--Music--Geometry--The Gymnasia--Physical Training--The
Education of Girls.
Here, as in so many other domains of which we must treat, there is a
marked distinction between the Doric and Ionic states. In the latter the
education of boys was a private duty of the parents, and the State only
retained a general right of control; while in the Doric states, and
especially at Sparta, with whose institutions we are best acquainted,
boys were regarded as belonging, not to the family, but to the State,
which undertook the entire charge of their physical and intellectual
well-being.
At the age of seven years the Spartan boy left his father’s house to
live with companions of his own age, whose occupation and mode of life
were regulated by definite rules. All the boys were divided into
companies, according to age. Several of these companies were again
combined into a troop. At the head of each company and of each troop was
a superintendent, chosen from among the youths. His duty was to direct
the occupations and exercises of the boys under his charge, and, as
leader in their gymnastic exercises, to help them by his example. The
general care of their education was in the hands of the trainers
(παιδόνομοι), themselves under the control of a Board of Inspection
(βιδιαῖοι), but in other respects their power was unlimited, and they
had the right, by means of “scourge-bearers” (μαστιγόϕοροι), to inflict
punishment for disobedience or other faults. In this office, which was a
very responsible one for a single man, they were assisted by the whole
body of citizens, who were not only permitted, but even bound by their
duty, to take part in the exercises of the boys, instructing,
encouraging, or even punishing them. Every Spartan citizen could, in a
measure, exercise paternal rights over every boy, and, again, was
regarded by every boy in the same light as his own father. Obedience
towards their elders, modest and reverent bearing, were impressed on the
Spartan boys from their earliest years, and they were thus
advantageously distinguished from the somewhat precocious Attic youth.
The aim of their whole education was to harden the body and to attain
the greatest possible bodily skill. The boys had only the most necessary
clothing; from their twelfth year onwards they wore only an upper
garment, even in winter, and in all other respects their life was of the
simplest, so that it is not a mere figure of speech to talk of Spartan
discipline. They received only sufficient food for the barest needs,
and, though the boys were often taken to the meals of the grown men, yet
these too were anything but luxurious. Their bed was hay or straw; from
their fifteenth year onwards reeds or rushes, which they had themselves
to fetch from the Eurotas. Indifference to physical pain was carried to
an excess which appears to us absolutely barbarous, even in later times,
when they had departed in some respects from the original severity of
the so-called laws of Lycurgus.
The instruction at Sparta also corresponded to these principles. There
was little question of developing the intellect, nor was this part of
the public duty, but only a private matter. Those who wished to learn
reading and writing doubtless found an opportunity of doing so, but not
in the institutes conducted by the State; at any rate, we find no
mention of such. Probably most Spartans did learn so much, but very
little more. A little arithmetic was added, as mental arithmetic
especially was regarded as important on account of its practical
utility. But this was all the literary culture which a young Spartan
received. They also studied music, for which the Doric race had always
natural ability and liking; and this instruction was compulsory. The
boys learnt to play the cithara and flute, and to sing songs or choruses
of serious moral nature. The inspectors were careful to see that nothing
unsuitable was admitted here, and that traditional methods were adhered
to in harmony and metre; therefore, every innovation on the domain of
music was regarded with suspicion, and departure from the traditional
custom was sometimes even punished.
The most important part of the instruction consisted in gymnastic
exercises. These were methodically studied on rational principles; the
exercises were graduated according to age, and only those were admitted
which developed strength and skill, and did not merely fit a man for the
career of an athlete. Their first aim was to make their men good
warriors, and this they certainly attained. But it was a necessary
consequence of the excessive development of the physical side, and the
disregard of all higher intellectual developments, that Sparta never
attained any real greatness in literature or art. Again, however
attractive the moral seriousness developed by the Spartan education may
seem to us, we cannot deny that the deadening of the family feeling, and
the complete abandonment of everything to the State, produced that
hardness and cruelty which we so often meet with in the history of
Sparta.
Very different was the system of education at Athens. Here it was left
entirely in the hands of individuals. The State provided no public
schools, but only appointed certain boards, whose duty it was to see
that there were no offences against tradition or morality committed in
the private institutes. This duty was entrusted to the superintendents
(ἐπιμεληταί and σωϕρονισταί). These were, however, chiefly concerned
with the youths, and thus especially with the instruction in the
gymnasia. We do not know how far the Areopagus took part in this
control.
As a rule, Athenian boys, when they had completed their sixth year, were
entrusted to the charge of an old slave, called _Paidagogos_, whose duty
it was, not to train or instruct the boys, but simply to accompany them
to school, or on their walks, and to watch over their behaviour. As it
was not considered correct for the son of an Athenian citizen to carry
his school utensils himself, it was the duty of the paidagogos who
accompanied him, to carry his books or his cithara, his strigil, or even
his ball. Very often the paidagogos remained in the room (or perhaps in
an ante-room) during the lesson, and at the end again accompanied his
charge home. Though he was only a slave, and often but slightly
educated, he generally had authority given him over the boys entrusted
to his care. When they reached the age of eighteen the control of the
paidagogos either ceased entirely, or assumed a different character.
It is impossible not to recognise that there were many objections to
this system. It was by no means always the worthiest and most
trustworthy slaves who were chosen for this office, but rather old men
who were of no use for other work, and who were not only entirely
ignorant intellectually, but whose manners were often bad. As foreigners
they often spoke barbarous Greek, set their charges a bad example by
fondness for drink, or else winked at their faults and bad habits; in
short, were by no means fitted to have the charge of growing boys. Many
complaints seem to have been made, but the practice still continued; in
fact, in some respects matters grew worse in the Hellenistic period. On
monuments, where we often see them accompanying boys, even in
mythological representations (_e.g._, The Children of Niobe, Archemorus,
Medea, etc.), the paidagogoi appear in a special dress corresponding to
their non-Hellenic origin--in a chiton with sleeves, rough cloak, and
high boots. However, this corresponds to the practice of Greek tragedy,
which had fixed costumes for certain characters. In reality the
paidagogoi probably dressed much like other citizens.
The instruction at Athens is divided into two headings: music and
gymnastics. Let us first consider the former. It appears to have been
very rare for boys to be taught at home by private teachers. They were
usually sent to some school conducted by an elementary teacher. We know
very little about the arrangement and curriculum of these schools. It
seems that boys from the same neighbourhood generally attended the
nearest school, and were taught there in the same room by one teacher,
who had to instruct in turns the beginners and the more advanced pupils.
Cases of over-filled classes are mentioned, but these do not refer
specially to Athens. It is not improbable that classes not only received
different instruction, but were also taught in separate rooms; and that
besides the master who was the director and proprietor of the schools,
assistants paid by him also took part in the instruction. But in reality
we know very little about these matters; it is however, certain that
some teachers had no schoolroom at all, but sat out in the street with
their scholars--a thing which is only possible in the sunny South. No
doubt these were only schools for the poor, and the sons of rich parents
did not attend them.
The furniture of the schoolroom was doubtless very simple. A music
teacher sometimes set up in his school statues of Apollo and the Muses,
but he would be well paid, and we must not expect to find such luxuries
in the furniture of ordinary elementary schools. Here probably, there
was little more than the benches for the boys, a seat for the master,
and some aids to teaching, such as we see hanging on the walls on the
few ancient monuments which introduce us to Greek schoolrooms. (Compare
Fig. 75.) Among the requisites was a white board. It is not probable
that the charts, used in the Roman period to impress dates of mythology
and history on the pupils’ minds by plastic representation, were already
known to Greek antiquity. The master supplied the ink required for
instruction in writing: we may infer this from the fact that Aeschines,
who as a boy used to help his father, a schoolmaster, had to mix the ink
and sweep out the schoolroom. The salary which the master received for
his instruction probably depended on his knowledge and ability;
doubtless popular teachers were well paid. But it was not a paying
profession, for it is not likely that the school fees, usually paid
monthly, were high; also negligent fathers often put off paying them for
a long time; while stingy parents kept their children at home during a
month in which there were many holidays, in order to save the school
fees. We must not assume high culture in these elementary teachers, and
we find that the pupils feared their masters more than they loved them,
which is natural, seeing that they seem to have made a freer use of
canes and sticks than our present pedagogic principles would permit.
Still we do not find any Greek pendant to Horace’s _Plagosus Orbilius_.
[Illustration: FIG. 75.]
Instruction usually began early in the morning; we do not know how long
it lasted, but there certainly were lessons given in the afternoon; an
ordinance of Solon’s forbade their continuance after sunset. We do not
know how the elementary and gymnastic instruction were combined. There
were plenty of holidays, owing to the numerous feasts and festivals;
there were also special school festivals, especially those of the Muses
for the grammar schools, and of Hermes for the gymnasia.
A very interesting picture by the vase painter Duris, represented in
Fig. 75, gives us, in spite of some artistic liberties, an excellent
idea of Attic school teaching in the fifth century B.C. The scenes are
represented on the outside of a bowl; on each half five people are
depicted: two masters, two pupils, and an oldish man looking on. This
cannot, therefore, represent one of the ordinary schoolrooms, where a
single master instructs together a whole class of boys, for each boy is
being instructed by a separate teacher. Perhaps this is a liberty on the
part of the painter, who has grouped together four separate scenes, or
else this individual instruction may really have taken place even in the
public schools. Masters and pupils are dressed alike, wearing only the
himation. It is important, however, to remember what was stated on page
20, that this dress on the monuments by no means corresponds to reality,
and, as a rule, the chiton cannot have been wanting under the himation.
The masters, some of whom are young and beardless, others more advanced
in age, sit on simple stools; with the exception of one pupil, who is
learning the lyre, the boys stand upright before them, both arms wrapped
in their cloaks, as was considered fitting for well-bred youths. Of
course, the boy with the lyre must have the upper part of his body
free, and his himation is folded over his knee. There is a difference of
opinion as to the two bearded men leaning on their sticks, who are
present at these scenes, and attentively looking on; it has been
suggested that they are paidagogoi, who have accompanied the boys to
school, and are superintending them during the instruction; or else, on
account of the manner in which they are sitting, it has been assumed
that they are fathers or inspectors.
The subjects taught here all belong to musical instruction (that is,
instruction over which the Muses preside), and are partly concerned with
grammatical teaching, partly with actual teaching of music. On one side
we see a young teacher playing the double pipe, while the boy standing
in front of him listens attentively. It is usually assumed that the boy
is learning to play the flute, but then it is curious that he has not an
instrument in his own hands, like the boy who is learning the lyre; for
if he wished to imitate what the teacher is showing him, he would have
to take the master’s instrument. There is something, therefore, to be
said for the hypothesis that the boy is learning to sing, and the master
is giving him on the flute the notes or the melody which he has to sing.
The scene on the right of this represents instruction in writing. The
boy stands in the same position as the other, before another young
teacher, who holds a _triptych_ consisting of three little folding
tablets, open before him, and has a pencil in his right hand. He is
looking attentively at the tablet, either correcting the boy’s writing
or about himself to write a copy for the pupil. On the other side of the
picture we have, on the left, musical instruction. Both master and
pupil have seven-stringed lyres in their hands; at the moment
represented the master seems to be only showing the boy how to grasp the
chords by the fingers of the left hand, and is making no use of the rod
(πλῆκτρον), which he holds in his right. The boy, who sits bent forward,
is trying to imitate the master’s action. The last group represents a
pupil who appears to be reciting a poem, the beginning of which is
written on the scroll which the master holds in his hand.
Various implements hang on the walls of the schoolroom: at one side a
roll of manuscript with a handle; next to it a writing tablet, with a
cord fastened round it, and a handle; next, a lyre and a curious cross,
which is not easy to interpret; some think that it is meant for a
sextant for the geometrical instruction. On the other side hang two
drinking-cups, which the pupils are probably allowed to use during the
intervals; two seven-stringed lyres; a basket with handle and feet,
probably used to contain the manuscripts; and finally, a case for a
flute, with the capsule for the mouthpieces hanging to it.
We must now examine more closely the special implements used in musical
instruction, and the mode in which that instruction was given.
Elementary knowledge of reading and writing was very common, at any rate
in Attica, and people who were unacquainted with either were even rarer
in ancient Greece than in our own day. In the school of the teacher who
had charge of the boys’ elementary grammatical instruction
(γραμματιστής), the boy was probably first taught his letters, their
names and shapes, and very likely some external helps were used for this
purpose; at any rate, these were common in later periods. The next
process was combining the letters in syllables; and thus gradually they
advanced to reading whole words. At the same time, probably, instruction
in writing began. The master made single letters and words for the
pupils to copy in the space left free under his lines, and probably
helped them a little by guiding their hands. The place of our slate was
taken by a wax tablet. This was a wooden tablet covered with a thin
coating of wax, in which the letters were scratched with a pointed
style, made of bone, ivory, or metal; the broad end was used for
flattening the wax when the slate was full, and then it could be used
again. There were generally two, three, or more of these tablets
connected by hinges, and these were called _diptych_, _triptych_, etc.
It was only more advanced pupils who were allowed to use such expensive
material as papyrus and reeds for writing, and even then, on account of
the expense, they were not provided with new paper, but wrote on the
back of what had already been used. Chance has preserved to us, in a
discovery dating from the age of the Ptolemies, some very interesting
specimens of Greek instruction in writing--several wax tablets, six
inches long and four inches broad, all containing the same Greek
trimeter verses, probably by Menander. The writing on one of these
tablets, which was probably the master’s copy, is good and careful; that
on the others, the pupils’ copies, is inferior. Under one the word
“industrious” has been written by the master’s hand. But slight demands
seem to have been made on the pupils in the matter of writing, and more
stress was laid on clearness than beauty or speed, since there were
always experienced slaves ready to do work of this kind.
For reading lessons the poets were chiefly used, and their writings
were inscribed in manuscripts which were either rolled or folded.
(Compare Fig. 75.) Homer was used as the school book of the Greeks, from
the earliest periods to the fall of the Byzantine Empire, and his
writings were read and expounded, as well as other poems in various
metres, chiefly of a lyrical character. The master then either gave the
boys copies, which he had probably made himself, or else, if they were
already able to write, dictated longish passages to them; the pupils
also had to learn a good deal by heart. Many teachers prepared
anthologies of various writers for reading purposes; those especially
were chosen which by their contents were well adapted for the reading of
youth, such as Hesiod, Theognis, Phocylides, etc. The boys thus, by
their reading and learning, acquired a knowledge of mythology, while at
the same time the most important ethical principles were impressed on
them. We must be careful not to rate too low the results of this
instruction, however little we may think of the Athenian acquirements in
the mechanical arts of reading and writing. A people who knew how to
appreciate the tragedies of Aeschylus, who could understand the comedies
of Aristophanes, with their fulness of mythological, literary, and
political allusions, must have possessed a degree of culture which in
many respects was far above the average of the present day. It was, of
course, easier for the pupils to acquire a large amount of mythological
and literary knowledge when there were so few subjects to study; since
natural science, geography, history, and foreign languages were all
disregarded. In reading, the elements of prosody were also learnt, and
these were more fully treated in the musical instruction.
We are no longer in a position to state how arithmetic, with whose
practical uses the ancients were naturally well acquainted, was taught;
but it is probable that--at any rate at Athens--this instruction was
given at home and not at school, and was acquired by children in play by
means of concrete objects, which enabled them to learn the principal
notions and relations. As regards method, counting on the fingers was
very common in Greece. The left hand was used to represent all the units
and tens, and with the addition of the right hand all the hundreds and
thousands; the mode in which a finger was placed on the open palm and
the number of the fingers, which were either bent or stretched out,
determined the number required. More complicated calculations were
performed by help of an _abacus_ with little stones, an ancient
invention long known to the Egyptians, in which the arrangement of the
stones in the parallel lines on the board determined their value as
units, tens, hundreds, etc. We do not, however, know anything further
about the arrangement of the Greek abacus.
The instruction in these elementary subjects occupied the first years of
school life. In the twelfth or thirteenth year the instruction in music
began, and was given by a special master called the harpist
(κιθαριστής), the Greeks regarding music not from the standpoint of the
modern amateur, as only a pleasant distraction for hours of recreation,
but rather as an essential means of ethical development. The main object
of the instruction was not the attainment of facility in execution on
any instrument, but rather ability to render as well as possible the
productions of the poets, especially the lyrists, and at the same time
to accompany themselves suitably on a seven-stringed instrument.
Accordingly, most weight was given to the instruction in the lyre (which
we see in Fig. 75 in the hand of both teacher and pupil), while the
cithara, on account of its louder sounding-board, as well as the
phorminx, which was connected with it, if not, in fact, identical, were
reserved for the use of professionals, and were regarded as a kind of
concert instrument, and therefore learned specially by those who desired
to attain something more than average proficiency in music. No doubt
there was opportunity given in the ordinary schools for learning both
kinds of stringed instrument. The flute, which, when used for purposes
of accompaniment, could naturally not be played by the singer, was on
this account less popular at Athens; at Thebes, on the other hand, it
was universally popular, and it has been supposed that the neglect of
the flute at Athens was due to the ancient antagonism between Attica and
Boeotia; moreover, the flute, which originally belonged to the Bacchic
worship of Asia Minor, with its sharp, shrill tone, was regarded as an
exciting instrument, hostile to a calm state of mind, and therefore the
philosophers all agreed in considering it unsuitable from a pedagogic
point of view. We must not forget that the Greek flute was very
different from that to which we give the name at the present day, which
is regarded as a somewhat sentimental, effeminate instrument. There was,
however, a time when flute-playing was popular at Athens among amateurs;
according to Aristotle, the flute was introduced into Attic schools
after the time of the Persian Wars, and soon became so popular that
almost all the youths of the better classes learnt to play on it.
Afterwards, however, apparently about the time of the Peloponnesian War,
they recognised how very unsuitable this instrument was for
intellectual and musical development, and it was again discarded by
people of culture, probably in consequence of the example set by
Alcibiades, who was regarded as a leader of fashion. Afterwards the
flute was still learnt, and on vase pictures we see flutists and
hetaerae playing it, as well as youths, but it was no longer a subject
of instruction in the ordinary schools--at any rate, not at Athens.
Naturally Sparta carefully avoided an instrument which was regarded as
absolutely dangerous in its ethical effect.
No musical instruction, besides the elementary subjects and playing on
stringed instruments and singing, was given at school during the best
period of Athens. Boys attended school until the age of adolescence:
that is, about their sixteenth year; though it is not probable that
there was a definite limit of age; those who wished to extend their
education had opportunities for doing so, even in the fifth century, by
attending the sophists’ lectures. However, compared with the cheap fees
of the elementary schools, the honorarium paid to these by their pupils
was very high. There was no question of organised school instruction.
In the course of the fourth and the third centuries B.C. some other
subjects of instruction were added to these. After the time of Alexander
the Great, drawing was also taught to boys; probably this was due to the
influence of Pamphilus, who was the Principal of the Painting School of
Sicyon. The pupils learnt to draw with a style, or brush, on boxwood
tablets, specially prepared for the purpose. As the school of Sicyon
laid especial stress on correct drawing, and appears to have been
rather behind the others in colouring, we may assume that the
instruction in drawing was chiefly confined to outline, but we have few
exact details concerning it.
At that time instruction in the elements of geometry was added to the
teaching in arithmetic, but only the older boys appear to have learnt
it. This seems to have begun as early as the fifth century, but Socrates
thought it ought to be limited to what was absolutely necessary. The
philosophers of the fourth century, however, recommended geometry as an
excellent means for developing and sharpening the intellect and logical
powers. Plato even suggests teaching boys in play not only arithmetic
and geometry, but also the first principles of astronomy, and afterwards
continuing the study more seriously till about their eighteenth year.
Astronomy, however, would only signify to them what we now include in
mathematical geography. Less educated people had a decided prejudice
against geometry and other such abstract studies, on the ground that
they were quite superfluous, since they were of no practical use in
after years, either for the purposes of private or public life; and the
opinion so often heard at the present day prevailed even then, that
these subjects, since they could not be practically applied in after
life, were only learnt for the purpose of being forgotten as soon as
possible.
In this manner the grammatical and musical instruction developed the
intellect of the boys, while gymnastic exercises were used to strengthen
and train their bodies. Although these did not occupy quite so prominent
a position at Athens as in the Dorian states, yet considerable time and
attention were devoted to them, since the real aim of all pedagogic
efforts was supposed to be the harmonious development of body and mind.
It is not easy to determine at what age the gymnastic training began;
what Plato and Aristotle say on the subject merely gives the pedagogic
opinion of these philosophers, but does not refer to actual existing
circumstances. Among modern scholars some assume that both musical and
gymnastic instruction began with the seventh year, and that from that
time onwards boys went every day to two distinct schools. Others suppose
that gymnastic instruction came first, but that at first the exercises
were easy ones, suited to the previous life of the child and tending to
strengthen his body, and that afterwards the training in elementary
subjects began. We have too little information to pronounce a definite
opinion.
The buildings in which the boys received their gymnastic training were
not, as was formerly supposed, the gymnasia, but the wrestling schools
(παλαῖστραι)--a name given to these establishments because wrestling and
running were regarded as the most important exercises in elementary
gymnastic training. No doubt other gymnastic exercises were practised at
the wrestling school. Of course, many changes took place in the course
of centuries till the time of the Roman Empire, and therefore it is but
natural that very various opinions should prevail about the wrestling
school and the gymnasium. The most probable theory is, that, at any rate
at Athens in its best period, the instruction in gymnastics was given at
the wrestling school, while the gymnasium was used for the further
training and development of the youths. The wrestling school was not a
public institute, but a private undertaking conducted by a teacher of
gymnastics, who received a fee for the use of the building and the
instruction given by him. These schools were under directors and
managers (παιδοτρίβαι); the institutes usually bore their names, but
they were sometimes called after the founder. Like other masters, they
had a full disciplinary right over their pupils but they were also
subject to the supervision of the inspectors mentioned above, whose duty
it was to see that nothing which offended against morality took place in
the gymnastic institutes, and also that the instruction was methodical
and suited to the different ages. Besides these inspectors, no one else,
except the paidagogoi who accompanied their charges, was allowed to be
present at the instruction in the wrestling school; an ordinance of
Solon’s forbade admission to grown men, but in later times this rule
seems to have fallen into disuse.
The gymnastic training had a double purpose; in the first place to teach
the boys a modest and dignified bearing (much as dancing is taught in
the present day), and in the second, which, of course, was most
important, to train them in the chief gymnastic exercises. These were
jumping, which included both the high and long jump, for which purpose
dumb-bells were generally used; racing, throwing the quoit and the
spear, and wrestling. Boxing was not included in the instruction given
to boys, nor yet the _pancratium_, a combination of wrestling and
boxing, nor the _pentathlum_, a combination of five exercises specially
used in athletic contests, and therefore not generally practised at the
wrestling unless boys were to take part in some public contest, in which
case they might, of course, be prepared here beforehand. We shall deal
later on in greater detail with the separate exercises, and must
therefore content ourselves for the present with merely enumerating
them, since the exercises of the boys only differed in degree, but not
in kind, from those of the youths and men.
Such was the training given to the boys until about their sixteenth
year. This was, however, by no means the end of their education, at any
rate not for boys of the better classes, who were not obliged to follow
any definite profession; and the gymnastic training extended for several
years longer. The years between adolescence and somewhere about the
twentieth year were generally called _ephebeia_; but besides this
expression we find a good many others, especially in inscriptions, which
prove that there were several sub-divisions for the purposes of
gymnastic exercises and tests, made according to age; in fact, they
generally distinguished between a first, second, and third class of
_ephebi_. But there were other special names in use. In ancient times
the only distinction in the gymnastic tests was between boys and men,
and the ephebi were therefore included in the former class; but
afterwards they distinguished between boys, youths, and men, though
these designations and their sub-divisions according to age seem to have
varied a good deal according to time and place. In any case, we must
distinguish between the use of the term _ephebus_ in the gymnastic
classes and in the State. For State purposes it was not applied till the
eighteenth or nineteenth year, and the boy had then to take his oath as
a citizen; his name was entered in the book of his deme, and he received
a warrior’s shield and spear. The oath taken by the ephebi, composed by
Solon, has been preserved to us. The youth had to swear “Never to
disgrace his holy arms, never to forsake his comrade in the ranks, but
to fight for the holy temples and the common welfare, alone or with
others; to leave his country, not in a worse, but in a better state
than he found it; to obey the magistrates and the laws, and defend them
against attack; finally to hold in honour the religion of his country.”
The witnesses to this oath were, besides Zeus, a number of special Attic
local deities of military or agrarian importance.
When a boy attained to the condition of ephebus he discarded the
himation and adopted the chlamys as his characteristic dress. The hair,
which was worn long by boys, was cut short, and this act of cutting the
hair was a kind of religious ceremony, since the hair cut off was often
dedicated to some deity. This sacred rite, the importance of which we
can better understand if we imagine our modern rite of Confirmation
combined with the attainment of majority, was usually celebrated as a
festival in the family circle. The new ephebi, after taking their oath
and receiving their arms, were presented publicly to the people in the
Theatre. This usually took place at the festival of Dionysus,
immediately before the performance of a tragedy. It is, however, not
quite certain whether this introduction was confined to the sons of
those only who had fallen in battle, whose equipment was presented to
them by the State. This, however, like most of the details which we have
about the ephebeia in Ancient Greece, refers specially to Athens; at
Sparta and other places there were customs, more or less different, of
which we know little or nothing. Moreover, at Athens, as well as in the
rest of Greece and Asia Minor, the usage concerning the ephebi underwent
many changes during the Hellenistic period and the Roman Empire. The
numerous inscriptions give us far more exact details of this later
period than of the best time; but we refrain from discussing them, since
this institution, which originally had an essentially warlike
character, gradually became a mere matter of form, and was confined to
the sons of rich citizens, who merely played with the customs without
regarding their ethical or political importance. Most of the information
which the inscriptions supply about the officers and teachers of the
ephebi also belongs to the later period; a great many boards of
management for the arrangements concerning the ephebi, which became more
and more complicated, were either created fresh or transformed out of
the older ones, but their importance and powers were entirely different.
Moreover, our purpose is to confine our attention to the classical and
Hellenistic period.
We mentioned above that the place where the ephebi received their
gymnastic instruction, or practised on their own account, was the
gymnasium. The gymnasia, of which every town possessed one or more, were
not, like the wrestling schools, private undertakings on the part of
gymnastic teachers, but State institutions. At Athens the two oldest
institutions of the kind were the _Academy_ and the _Cynosarges_, at the
foot of the _Lycabettos_, and in the time of Pericles the _Lyceum_ was
added as a third; the gymnasium of Ptolemy was not built till the
Hellenistic period. The originally simple structure and arrangement of
these institutions became in the course of centuries more complicated
and extensive; and, though the first gymnasia were probably not more
than simple halls supported by columns, with a racecourse attached, in
course of time other rooms were added, and also baths, since the
gymnastic exercises rendered bathing immediately afterwards absolutely
necessary. At the time of Plato a number of different rooms belonging to
the gymnasia are mentioned, which show that even at that time these
must have been very extensive. We cannot clearly tell, from the accounts
of the Greek writers, how these rooms were arranged and connected, and
the description given by Vitruvius of a gymnasium is but unsatisfactory,
because in many points he is not clear in his expressions. Moreover, it
does not give a general scheme, but only a particular description, and
this may not refer to his own period, as has been generally assumed,
since the Roman gymnasia were on a far more complicated plan than the
one described by Vitruvius, but rather to an earlier period, though not
the best.
We are enabled to complete and correct the statements of Vitruvius from
the ruins of various gymnasia in Asia Minor and Greece, especially those
of Pergamum and Olympia. The description of Vitruvius connects the
gymnasium and the wrestling school, but we must distinguish this
wrestling place, which was a necessary part of the whole plan of the
gymnasium, from that mentioned above, which was only used as a gymnastic
school for boys. In the plan given by Vitruvius the centre is a square
court with covered arcades; connected with this are a space for the
ephebi, rooms for exercises with the _corycus_ (boxing with a dummy),
for anointing, sprinkling with dust or sand previous to wrestling,
bath-rooms for hot and cold baths, etc.; further, in connection with
these principal buildings there are covered racecourses, with levelled
floors, gardens, and places for exercise, for rest, exedrae, etc. The
arrangements of the gymnasium at Olympia, which probably dates from the
end of the fourth or the beginning of the third century B.C., seem to
have been simpler. We can distinguish two separate buildings--a smaller
one, the actual palaestra, which has been almost entirely uncovered;
and a larger, the large gymnasium, of which only a little has been
excavated. Both lie close together, west of the sacred grove of Altis,
near the banks of the Kladeos; it was, in fact, very common to place the
gymnasia near running water, in order to have at hand the water so
necessary for the baths. We do not, however, find any trace of those
complicated bathing arrangements described by Vitruvius, and probably
they did not become common till the Roman period. In the wrestling
school of Olympia we can only trace one large bath, but still it is
possible that there were more extensive arrangements in the larger
gymnasium. The wrestling school itself is a square, the sides of which
measure about sixty-four yards each, surrounded with Doric arcades; on
the south there is a long hall in the Ionic style; on the three other
sides are also halls and little rooms, the purpose of which we cannot
determine, connected with the inner court by doors or porticoes; on the
north wall is the door connecting it with the south hall of the larger
gymnasium. This latter was separated from the wrestling place, though,
as a rule, this is an integral part, or even the centre of the whole
structure; it is oblong in form, and is surrounded by arcades on two or
three sides. The eastern hall extends to the length of 210½ yards. No
doubt the exercises in jumping, running, throwing the quoit and spear,
took place here. The best-preserved ruins are those of Ephesus and
Alexandria Troas, but even here we are obliged to be very arbitrary in
our attempts at reconstruction.
In any case it is certain that the gymnasia of the classic period gave
sufficient opportunity for different kinds of gymnastic exercises, as
well as for wrestling and the various contests, and also supplied places
for recreation and comfortable repose from the fatigues of physical
exertion. The superintendence of the youths who practised here, and the
maintaining of order were the duty of the _Gymnasiarchs_. They had the
right of discipline, which they could exercise on any visitor to the
gymnasium, and in token of this they carried a rod; thus we often see on
vase pictures, among the gymnasts, men with long sticks, probably meant
to represent the gymnasiarchs. In the older period at Athens there was
but one gymnasiarch, but afterwards several shared the dignity. We
cannot decide how far they also exercised a right of control over the
wrestling-schools. Besides the gymnasiarch, or perhaps below him, was a
board of officials whose duty it was to see to the preservation of the
buildings and of the implements used in the gymnasia, while the general
superintendence of the gymnastic exercises, and therefore also of the
gymnasia, was exercised by the superintendents mentioned above (page
113), and, as a rule, men somewhat advanced in years were chosen for
these posts.
There were other officials who were not so much concerned with the
external arrangements of the gymnasia as with the instruction given
there. The president of the gymnasium and head of the teachers
(κοσμητής) is not mentioned until the late Hellenic and Roman periods;
under him were the actual teachers and also those who instructed the
ephebi in grammar, rhetoric, and philosophy; but in the classic period
no instruction of this kind was given. At that time, however, we find
the trainer (γυμναστής) acting as gymnastic teacher to the older youths,
whose aim was to prepare themselves for athletic contests, and who
intended to enter the lists as professional athletes. As boys were
sometimes prepared for such contests, no doubt the trainer sometimes
took the place of the ordinary teacher; and again, on the other hand, a
competent gymnastic master sometimes undertook the training of athletes.
Generally speaking, however, in the older period this distinction was
maintained, that the boys’ teacher was concerned chiefly with the
general training of the body suitable for everyone, and wrestling on a
rational and hygienic basis, while the trainer was a professional
teacher, and was more concerned with special subjects than the general
harmonious development of the body. Below these teachers stood the
rubber (ἀλείπης), whose task was originally a purely mechanical one, but
gradually when anointing and rubbing came to be regarded from the
hygienic point of view, and were perhaps connected with a kind of
_massage_, his standing improved, and after a time he took a far more
important position than belonged to him of right.
In spite of the numerous allusions to the instruction of the ephebi
which have come down to us, there is a good deal that is still doubtful
or unexplained; as, for instance, in how far the trainers also
instructed those ephebi who were not in training for the contests, and
whether they were paid for their services by the State or by each pupil
individually. Afterwards, at any rate, the ephebi as a rule only paid a
fee to the teacher for musical instruction, while the gymnastic teacher
seems to have been paid by the State.
As for the subjects of gymnastic instruction, these were in part the
same as those in which the boys had already been trained in the
gymnastic school, but gradually becoming more difficult, while others
were added to them which were usually excluded from the wrestling
school--namely, boxing, pancratium, and pentathlum. Besides these there
was fencing with heavy weapons (ὁπλομαχία); the fencing was not properly
connected with the exercises of the gymnastic tests, but it formed an
important part of the military education of the ephebi, and was the more
important for these because, when they attained their majority as
citizens, they had to spend several years in a kind of garrison and
frontier service (περίπολοι). This was a training for military service
which the ephebi, like all other citizens capable of bearing arms, had
to perform from their twentieth year upwards, and they generally served
the State for two years before in the manner above mentioned. Methodical
instruction in fencing was originally rather looked down upon, but still
was accepted in the curriculum of the ephebi, and in the inscriptions
the fencing-master (ὁπλόμαχος) has a regular place beside the other
masters. Plato also recommends fencing as strengthening for the body and
useful in case of war, but he warns people to avoid all display and
professionalism.
In the course of time other exercises in arms were added. Throwing the
spear was part of the regular gymnastic training practised even by boys;
and in many inscriptions of the last three centuries B.C. mention is
made of special teachers (ἀκοντίσται). Shooting with bow and arrows was
also learnt, and a teacher for this is mentioned in these inscriptions,
as well as one who gave instruction in hurling and in the use of
machines for throwing. Probably these purely military exercises were not
part of the regular gymnastic curriculum. The same may be said of
riding. Every youth had to learn riding, for he had to perform his
frontier service on horseback; and at the great festivals, especially
the Panathenaea, the troops
[Illustration: FIG. 76.]
of ephebi on horseback formed one of the most conspicuous parts of the
procession, and, indeed, they occupy the greater part of the relief on
the Parthenon frieze. Fig. 76, taken from a vase painting, represents
ephebi racing on horseback; on the left stands a column, no doubt
marking the limit of the course. In fact, representations on vase
paintings of ephebi on horseback are very common. Still we cannot assume
that regular methodical instruction in riding was given in the older
period, at any rate not as part of the instruction of youths, though
even in the time of Plato there were riding-masters who seem to have
understood how to deal with difficult horses. At a later period the
president seems to have occupied himself with instruction in riding, but
we know no details about this. The Greeks used neither horse-shoes nor
stirrups, therefore, unless some stone for mounting happened to be at
hand, they had to jump on to their horses, and this they usually did
with the help of their lances; saddles were also unknown, but
horse-cloths were generally used, and though on the Parthenon frieze and
the vase pictures we see the ephebi riding without these, we must regard
this as an artistic license, like the absence of the chiton on the same
pictures. To ride thus in a procession, clad merely in the chlamys,
without any under garment, on a horse without a saddle, would appear a
very doubtful pleasure even to the most hardened Athenian youths.
As regards the other exercises not directly included in gymnastics, we
may state that swimming was practised from earliest youth, and was
regarded as indispensable for everyone, so that it was proverbially said
of an absolutely uneducated person that he could neither swim nor say
his alphabet. The most celebrated swimmers were the inhabitants of the
island of Delos, but the Athenians were also distinguished. There were
no special swimming masters; children learnt to swim by themselves or
were instructed by their fathers.
Inscriptions also tell us that the Attic ephebi every year made
expeditions by sea from the Peiraeus to the harbour of Munychia, and in
later times also to Salamis, and these apparently partook of the nature
of a regatta. Connected with these, even in the Hellenistic period, were
naval contests, so that at that time the ephebi must have had some
knowledge of the elements of seafaring, unless these sea-fights bore the
character of naval games, and were conducted rather for amusement than
for serious military purposes; and this is the more probable as at that
period, when Athens had long ago lost its political importance, actual
preparations for naval warfare had no special aim for young Athenians.
Finally there were, even in the earlier centuries, exercises in marching
in the neighbouring country. These were partly connected with the
military position of the ephebi as protectors of the frontier, and they
partly aimed at extending their knowledge of localities as well as
giving practice in marching and riding. As they sometimes had to march
out in heavy armour, and generally bivouacked in hastily-pitched tents,
sometimes even in the open air, these marches supplied an excellent
opportunity for growing accustomed to the fatigues of military life. It
is clear from all this that the instruction of the ephebi bore a
half-gymnastic, half-military character, and thus chiefly aimed at
physical development; yet, on the other hand, many opportunities were
given the young men for further intellectual development. We cannot, of
course, determine whether the majority of them took advantage of this,
for undoubtedly it was optional, and not immediately connected with
their necessary training. However, in the second century B.C. the custom
prevailed of letting the presidents of the various gymnasia at Athens
see that they were regularly attended.
As regards the subjects of this more advanced instruction, opportunity
was certainly given for further study in arithmetic, geometry, and
astronomy, as well as music and drawing. After the fourth century the
various schools of philosophy which arose at that time, began to take a
very important place in the intellectual development of these youths. As
early as the fifth century the Sophists gave instruction to young and
older men for payment; but after the time of Plato the higher
instruction was regularly organised and also given free of charge, and
from this time forward it was closely connected with the training of the
ephebi, since the gymnasia destined for gymnastic teaching were also
used for instruction in philosophy. Plato and his school taught, as is
well known, in the Academy; Aristotle and the Peripatetics in the
Lyceum; and Antisthenes and the Cynic school in the Cynosarges; the
Stoics also originally taught at the Lyceum, but afterwards in the _Stoa
Poikile_ (the “painted portico”) near the old _Agora_; at Athens the
Epicurean school only was not connected with any existing gymnasium.
This connection, however, between these schools and the gymnasia was
merely an external one, and really meant that the ground and gardens
belonging to them were situated in the domain of these special gymnasia.
However, the fact that the schools possessed a fixed place under the
direction of the head for the time being did very much to establish
their stability. We must not regard these philosophical schools as
higher schools in the modern sense; though each school had a head who
had the management in his own hands, and at his death appointed a
successor, yet there was no question of an organised scheme of studies
or of instruction regularly occupying certain hours of the day, or,
indeed, of any of the conditions which could be compared with our modern
universities, at any rate not before the period of the Roman Empire. In
the fourth century and in the Hellenistic period the instruction merely
consisted in a discourse given by the head, or a disputation with his
scholars, by means of which the various branches of philosophy and
ethics were treated. Practical instruction in rhetoric was also given,
sometimes by philosophers, but oftener by celebrated rhetoricians, such
as Isocrates, and this training lasted several years. Very often young
men prepared themselves in this way for their future career as statesmen
or lawyers; and in the Hellenistic period the study of philological
grammar began to gain importance, especially in the schools of
Alexandria, Pergamum, and Antioch, to which places celebrated teachers
attracted numerous pupils. These studies were in no way connected with
the regular training of ephebi.
Generally speaking, we may say that the main object of the education of
the youths in the best period of Greek antiquity was to train a citizen,
capable in body and mind, who should be able to serve his country as
well in war as in peace, in a public as in a private capacity, while all
special development of any branch of learning, except, of course, the
gymnastic element, was excluded. This is the more comprehensible since
Greek antiquity was unacquainted with the higher professions in our
sense of the word.
There is far less to be said about the education of girls, since no
regular instruction was given. The sphere to which women were confined
in all the Greek states was the household, and their position,
especially in the Ionic states, was so distinctly a subordinate one that
it was not considered desirable to give them also regular teaching. In
consequence there were no girls’ schools; girls belonging to the better
classes were taught a little reading and writing by their mothers or
nurses--the women of the lower classes did not learn even this--and,
with the addition of some superficial knowledge of religion and
mythology, such as could be acquired from stories or by reading the
poets, this constituted all the intellectual development which fell to
the lot of the girls. Sometimes a little musical instruction was also
given, and even in the Ionic states there were some exceptions, since we
hear of women of higher intellectual development. As a rule, it was only
the hetaerae, whose freer intercourse with men enabled them to gain from
them more extensive literary culture; and as a consequence we find that
even men of high intellectual powers chose to associate with these
persons, and that at Athens, at any rate, the men who desired the
stimulus of intercourse with intellectual women, were bound to seek it
from this class. The fault was, of course, their own, since the
semi-Oriental system of shutting off women from the outer world and
degrading them into mere managers of the household, necessarily lowered
the average culture of women. Still, it sometimes happened that a man
who had married a young open-minded girl contrived to raise her up
intellectually to himself, and to develop her powers, as Xenophon has
shown in his _Oikonomikos_.
On the other hand, Greek women appear to have been experienced in
feminine arts--such as spinning and weaving, sewing and embroidery,
accomplishments which they certainly learnt from their mothers and
nurses. No regular instruction was given in them, or in cooking, an art
with which Greek women were undoubtedly well acquainted. This system of
educating girls did not, however, meet with general approval, for we
find that Plato, in his “Laws,” prescribes regular school instruction
for girls in the subjects required for women, and also musical and even
gymnastic training. These principles were, however, never practically
realised at Athens, though elsewhere the conditions may have been
different, since an inscription from Teos of somewhat late date makes
express mention of instruction given in common to boys and girls.
It was a natural consequence of the very different position occupied by
women at Athens and Sparta, that the latter had a very different
education from the Athenian women. Though the young Spartan maidens did
not, like the boys, associate together in clubs, but remained with their
families, yet the State took cognisance of these also, and especially
prescribed for them gymnastic training, which was in essentials the same
as that given to the boys, though with
[Illustration: FIG. 77.]
corresponding modifications, in order to develop and strengthen their
bodies. Of course, they had their own special schools for this purpose,
distinct from those of the boys, where they were instructed in running,
jumping, wrestling, throwing the spear and quoit, as well as in several
exercises in running and springing, which were partly of a military
character, partly allied with dancing. For this purpose they wore a
special dress; Fig. 77 shows us a female racer from Elis. The statue
which is in the Vatican is in the ancient style, and represents a robust
girl clad in a short chiton, with a girdle descending only a little way
below the hips, and leaving the right breast exposed. This special dress
used for gymnastic exercises must not, however, be confused with that in
which the Spartan ladies usually appeared, though this, too, as already
stated (page 39), differed from the ordinary dress of Greek girls. In
spite, however, of this dress, and of the fact that youths and maidens,
who in the Ionic states scarcely ever met each other except at religious
festivals, were brought into frequent contact at Sparta, especially at
public contests, games, choruses, etc., the Spartan women bore an
unstained reputation. The system of physical exercises produced healthy
women, strongly built, with blooming complexions; and it also implanted
and developed in them the manly and determined spirit for which the
Laconian women and mothers were distinguished. Yet, even at Sparta,
there was no question of intellectual training for the girls; and,
indeed, as we have already seen, even in the case of the boys, it was
regarded as far less important than physical education.