Schools of Hellas: An Essay on the Practice and Theory of Ancient Greek Education from 600 to 300 B. C.Freeman, Kenneth J. (Kenneth John)
History
Schools of Hellas: An Essay on the Practice and Theory of Ancient Greek Education from 600 to 300 B. C.
Freeman, Kenneth J. (Kenneth John)
Education, Greek
“He gets up at dawn, washes the sleep from his eyes, and
puts on his cloak. Then he goes out from his father’s house,
with his eyes fixed upon the ground, not looking at any one
who meets him. Behind him follow attendants and paidagogoi,
bearing in their hands the implements of virtue,
writing-tablets or books containing the great deeds of old,
or, if he is going to a music-school, his well-tuned lyre.
“When he has laboured diligently at intellectual studies,
and his mind is sated with the benefits of the school
curriculum, he exercises his body in liberal pursuits,
riding or hurling the javelin or spear. Then the
wrestling-school with its sleek, oiled pupils, labours under
the mid-day sun, and sweats in the regular athletic
contests. Then a bath, not too prolonged; then a meal, not
too large, in view of afternoon school. For the
schoolmasters are waiting for him again, and the books which
openly or by allegory teach him who was a great hero, who
was a lover of justice and purity. With the contemplation of
such virtues he waters the garden of his young soul. When
evening sets a limit to his work, he pays the necessary
tribute to his stomach and retires to rest, to sleep sweetly
after his busy day.”
The school hours were naturally arranged to suit the times of Hellenic
meals, for which the boys returned home. The ordinary arrangement was
a light breakfast at daybreak, a solid meal at mid-day, and supper at
sunset. So the schools opened at sunrise.[208] Solon enacted that they
should not open earlier. They closed in time to allow the boys to
return home to lunch,[209] opened again in the afternoon, and closed
before sunset.[210] How many of the intermediate hours were spent in
work,[211] and what intervals there were, is unknown. There was, of
course, no weekly rest on Sundays; but festivals, which were whole
holidays, were numerous throughout Hellas, and, in Alexandria at any
rate, on the 7th and 20th of every month the schools were closed,
these days being sacred to Apollo.[212] There were also special school
festivals, such as that of the Muses, and holidays in commemoration of
benefactors; thus Anaxagoras left a bequest to Klazomenai, on
condition that the day of his death should be celebrated annually by a
holiday in the schools.[213] It must also be remembered that one of
the three branches of Primary Education in Hellas would be called play
in England: an afternoon spent in running races, jumping, wrestling,
or riding would not be regarded as work by an English schoolboy.
Music, too, is usually learned during play-hours in an English school.
Even Letters, when the elementary stage was past, meant reciting,
reading, or learning by heart the literature of the boy’s own
language, and most of it not stiff literature by any means, but such
fascinating fairy-tales as are found in Homer. There is little trace
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account