Formal education

School days of Ancient Rome are believed to have begun before sunrise and lasted until the late

afternoon. The school year began on March 24, in honor of Minerva, the Roman Goddess of Wisdom

and Knowledge.

The Roman education system was divided into three stages:

Primary

Primary school consisted of children aged seven to twelve. Students were commonly accompanied

by two slaves: one to escort them and another to carry their books and possessions

Secondary

Boys aged 12–15 studied history, language and literature either at home with a personal tutor,

educated slave, or in public with a grammaticus.

Tertiary

Around 16, a relatively few number of boys went on to study rhetoric in public lectures. These

students, usually from privileged or wealthy families, were those who wanted to pursue important

jobs such as those in law or politics.

EducationIn the early days of the Roman Republic, Rome did not have any public education.  What education there was, and we're speaking of education for the citizens of Rome, was done within the context of the family.  In other words, it was within the family that children learned the basic techniques of farming, developed physical skills for war, learned Roman traditions and legends, and in the case of young boys, became acquainted with public affairs. However, in the second and third centuries B.C., contact with the Greek world during the Macedonian Wars stimulated new ideas and education.  The wealthiest classes wanted their children exposed to Greek studies, especially rhetoric and philosophy.  This was necessary, so they thought, to make them fit for successful public careers. This was a practical ideal because these children would eventually serve Rome as administrators, officials, and perhaps even members of the Senate. Incorporated in this new educational ideal was the concept of humanitas, an education in the liberal arts or humanities.  It was hoped that such an education in the liberal arts would prevent overspecialization and instead promote sound character. A sound knowledge of Greek was positively essential and schools taught by professional scholars began to emerge.  And, of course, the Ro`mans already had the example of Plato's Academy and Aristotle's Lyceum.

The very wealthy provided Greek tutors for their children. For the less wealthy there were private schools in which Greek educated slaves would instruct students.  Children learned the basic requirements of reading, writing and arithmetic.  By the age of twelve or thirteen, and if the child had shown promise, he could attend the grammaticus, or grammar school.  The standard curriculum in the liberal arts included literature, dialectics (or the art of reasoning), arithmetic, geometry, astronomy, and music.  At the core of this curriculum was, of course, Greek literature.  So, students were exposed to Homer's Iliad and Odyssey, Hesiod's Theogony andWorks and Days, as well as Pindar's Odes. The philosophies of Plato, Aristotle and Zeno of Elea, the histories of Herodotus and Thucydides and dramas of Sophocles and Aeschylus were also standard fare.

Education played a significant role in ancient Greek life since the founding of the poleis till

the Hellenistic and Roman period. From its origins in the Homeric and the aristocratic tradition,

Greek education was vastly "democratized" in the 5th century BC, influenced by

the Sophists, Plato and Isocrates. In the Hellenistic period, education in a gymnasium was

considered an inextricable prerequisite for participation in the Greek culture.

There were two forms of education in ancient Greece: formal and informal. Formal education was

attained through attendance to a public school or was provided by a hired tutor. Informal education

was provided by an unpaid teacher, and occurred in a non-public setting. Education was an

essential component of a person’s identity in ancient Greece, and the type of education a person

received was based strongly in one’s social class, the culture of one’s polis, and the opinion of one’s

culture on what education should include.

Formal Greek education was primarily for men, and was, in general, not offered to slaves, manual

laborers, or women.[1] In some poleis, laws were passed to prohibit the education of slaves.[2] A

young girl would receive an informal education from her mother and would be taught how to

maintain a household to serve her father and, later in life, her husband.[3] Women’s roles included

managing the household, raising children, preparing food, and making textiles.[3] One exception to

this was in Sparta, where women were expected to run the polis while the men were away at war.[4] Women in Sparta also received an informal physical education.[5]

Greek education focused heavily on training the entire person, which included education of the

mind, body, and imagination.[6] The specific purposes of Greek education differed from polis to

polis. The Spartans placed a high emphasis on military training, while the Athenians traditionally

gave more attention to music, literature, dance, and later also to the natural sciences, such as

biology and chemistry, as well as philosophy, rhetoric, and sophistry-the art of presenting an

argument using deception and reason to persuade the public to agree with a certain point of view.

The Spartans also taught music and dance, but with the purpose of enhancing their maneuverability

as soldiers.

Spartan System

The Spartan society desired that all male citizens become successful soldiers with the stamina and

skills to defend their polis as members of a Spartan phalanx. Thus, only the healthiest male babies

born to Spartan citizens were allowed to live. A council convened at the birth of each male child

with the purpose of examining the baby for defects and signs of weakness.[25] After examination, the

council would either rule that the baby was fit to live or would reject the baby sentencing him to a

death by abandonment and exposure.[26]

Education of Spartan Women

Spartan women, unlike their Athenian counterparts, received a formal education that was

supervised and controlled by the state [38] Much of the public schooling received by the Spartan

women revolved around physical education. Until about the age of eighteen women were taught to

run, wrestle, throw a discus, and also to throw javelins [39] The skills of the young women were

tested regularly in competitions such as the annual footrace at the Heraea of Elis [40] In addition to

physical education the young girls also were taught to sing, dance, and play instruments often by

travelling poets such as Alcman or by the elderly women in the polis [41] The Spartan educational

system for females was very strict, because its purpose was to train future mothers of soldiers in

order to maintain the strength of Sparta’s phalanxes, which were essential to Spartan defence and

culture [42]