Education in ancient Greece

Last updated

Education for Greek people was vastly "democratized" in the 5th century B.C., influenced by the Sophists, Plato, and Isocrates. Later, in the Hellenistic period of Ancient Greece, education in a gymnasium school was considered essential for participation in Greek culture. The value of physical education to the ancient Greeks and Romans has been historically unique. 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.

Contents

Formal Greek education was primarily for males and non-slaves. [1] In some poleis, laws were passed to prohibit the education of slaves. [2] [3] The Spartans also taught music and dance, but with the purpose of enhancing their maneuverability as soldiers.

Athenian systems

Classical Athens (508–322 BCE)

Old education

A view of Athens from the Temple of Olympian Zeus to Mount Lycabettus From Temple of Olympian Zeus to Lycabetus Athens Greece.jpg
A view of Athens from the Temple of Olympian Zeus to Mount Lycabettus

Old Education in classical Athens consisted of two major parts – physical and intellectual, or what was known to Athenians as "gymnastike" and "mousike." [4] Gymnastike was a physical education that mirrored the ideals of the military – strength, stamina, and preparation for war. [5] Having a physically fit body was extremely important to the Athenians. Boys would begin physical education either during or just after beginning their elementary education. Initially, they would learn from a private teacher known as a paidotribes. Eventually, the boys would begin training at the gymnasium . [6] Physical training was seen as necessary for improving one's appearance, preparation for war, and good health at an old age. [7] On the other hand, mousike—literally 'the art of the Muses'—was a combination of modern-day music, dance, lyrics, and poetry. [8] Learning how to play the lyre, and sing and dance in a chorus were central components of musical education in Classical Greece. [9] Mousike provided students with examples of beauty and nobility, as well as an appreciation of harmony and rhythm. [10]

Students would write using a stylus, with which they would etch onto a wax tablet. When children were ready to begin reading whole works, they would often be given poetry to memorize and recite. Mythologies such as those of Hesiod and Homer were also highly regarded by Athenians, and their works were often incorporated into lesson plans. Old Education lacked heavy structure and only featured schooling up to the elementary level. Once a child reached adolescence his formal education ended. [11] Therefore, a large part of this education was informal and relied on simple human experience. [12]

Higher education

Isocrates sculpture located at the Parc de Versailles Parc de Versailles, Rond-Point des Philosophes, Isocrate, Pierre Granier MR1870 03.jpg
Isocrates sculpture located at the Parc de Versailles

It was not until about 420 BC that Higher Education became prominent in Athens. [13] Philosophers such as Socrates (c. 470–399 BCE), as well as the sophistic movement, which led to an influx of foreign teachers, created a shift from Old Education to a new Higher Education. [11] This Higher Education expanded formal education, and Athenian society began to hold intellectual capacity in higher regard than physical. [11] The shift caused controversy between those with traditional as opposed to modern views on education. Traditionalists believed that raising "intellectuals" would destroy Athenian culture, and leave Athens at a disadvantage in war. [13] On the other hand, those in support of the change felt that while physical strength was important, its value in relation to Athenian power would diminish over time. [14] Such people believed that education should be a tool to develop the whole man, including his intellect. [15] But Higher Education prevailed. The introduction of secondary and post-secondary levels of education provided greater structure and depth to the existing Old Education framework. [11] More focused fields of study included mathematics, astronomy, harmonics and dialectic – all with an emphasis on the development of philosophical insight. It was seen as necessary for individuals to use knowledge within a framework of logic and reason. [16]

Wealth played an integral role in classical Athenian Higher Education. In fact, the amount of Higher Education an individual received often depended on the ability and the family's willingness to pay for such an education. [17] The formal programs within Higher Education were often taught by sophists who charged for their teaching. In fact, sophists extensively used advertisements in order to reach as many customers as possible. [18] In most circumstances, only those who could afford the price could participate [11] and the peasant class who lacked capital were limited in the education they could receive. Women and slaves were also barred from receiving an education. Societal expectations limited women mostly to the home, and the widely-held belief that women have inferior intellectual capacity caused them to have no access to formal education. [19] Slaves were legally disallowed access to education. Women, while expected to stay at home and fulfill the role of a housewife, were still educated in such aspects. At about the age of seven, where boys and girls would exhibit distinct differentiation between sexes, girls were taught by their mothers the specific tasks related to a housewife as well as other moral education. [20]

After Greece became part of the Roman Empire, educated Greeks were used as slaves by affluent Romans – indeed this was the primary way in which affluent Romans were educated. This led to the continuation of Greek culture in the Roman sphere. [21]

Classical Athenian educators

Isocrates (436–338 BC)

Isocrates was an influential classical Athenian orator. [22] Growing up in Athens exposed Isocrates to educators such as Socrates and Gorgias at a young age and helped him develop exceptional rhetoric. [23] As he grew older and his understanding of education developed, Isocrates disregarded the importance of the arts and sciences, believing rhetoric was the key to virtue. [24] Education's purpose was to produce civic efficiency and political leadership and therefore, the ability to speak well and persuade became the cornerstone of his educational theory. [25] However, at the time there was no definite curriculum for Higher Education, with only the existence of the sophists who were constantly traveling. [23] In response, Isocrates founded his school of Rhetoric around 393 BCE. The school was in contrast to Plato's Academy (c. 387 BCE) which was largely based on science, philosophy, and dialectic. [26]

Plato (428–348 BC)
Plato bust on exhibition at The Louvre Platon- Samir Terkih.jpg
Plato bust on exhibition at The Louvre

Plato was a philosopher in classical Athens who studied under Socrates, ultimately becoming one of his most famed students. Following Socrates' execution, Plato left Athens in anger, rejecting politics as a career and traveling to Italy and Sicily. [27] He returned ten years later to establish his school, the Academy (c. 387 BCE) – named after the Greek hero Akademos. [27] Plato perceived education as a method to produce citizens who could operate as members of the civic community in Athens. [10] In one sense, Plato believed Athenians could obtain education through the experiences of being a community member, but he also understood the importance of deliberate training, or Higher Education, in the development of civic virtue. [28] Thus, his reasoning behind founding the academy – what is often credited as the first University. [29]

It is at this school where Plato discussed much of his educational program, which he outlined in his best-known work – the Republic. In his writing, Plato describes the rigorous process one must go through in order to attain true virtue and understand reality for what it actually is. [30] The education required of such achievement, according to Plato, included an elementary education in music, poetry, and physical training, two to three years of mandatory military training, ten years of mathematical science, five years of dialectic training, and fifteen years of practical political training. [31] The few individuals equipped to reach such a level would become philosopher-kings, the leaders of Plato's ideal city. [32]

Aristotle (384–322 BC)
Bust of Aristotle Aristotle Bust White Background Transparent.png
Bust of Aristotle

Aristotle was a classical Greek philosopher. While born in Stagira, Chalkidice, Aristotle joined Plato's Academy in Athens during his late teenage years and remained there until the age of thirty-seven, withdrawing following Plato's death. [33] His departure from the academy also signalled his departure from Athens. Aristotle left to join Hermeias, a former student at the academy, who had become the ruler of Atarneus and Assos in the north-western coast of Anatolia (present-day Turkey). [33] He remained in Anatolia until, in 342 BCE, he received an invitation from King Philip of Macedon to become the educator of his thirteen-year-old son Alexander. Aristotle accepted the invitation and moved to Pella to begin his work with the boy who would soon become known as Alexander the Great. [34] When Aristotle moved back to Athens in 352 BCE, Alexander helped finance Aristotle's school – the Lyceum. [35] A significant part of the Lyceum was research. The school had a systematic approach to the collection of information. Aristotle believed dialectical relationships among students performing research could impede the pursuit of truth. Thus, much of the school's focus was on research done empirically. [36]

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. It was a rumored by Plutarch, a Greek historian, that Sparta killed weak children. [37] After examination, the council would either rule that the child was fit to live, or would reject the child, condemning him to death by abandonment and exposure. [37]

Agoge

Military dominance was of extreme importance to the Spartans of Ancient Greece. In response, the Spartans structured their educational system as an extreme form of military boot camp, which they referred to as agoge . [38] The pursuit of intellectual knowledge was seen as trivial, and thus academic learning, such as reading and writing, was kept to a minimum. A Spartan boy's life was devoted almost entirely to his school, and that school had but one purpose: to produce an almost indestructible Spartan phalanx. Formal education for a Spartan male began at about the age of seven when the state removed the boy from the custody of his parents and sent him to live in a barracks with many other boys his age. [38] For all intents and purposes, the barracks was his new home, and the other males living in the barracks his family. For the next five years, until about the age of twelve, the boys would eat, sleep and train within their barracks unit and receive instruction from an adult male citizen who had completed all of his military training and experienced battle. [38]

The instructor stressed discipline and exercise and saw to it that his students received little food and minimal clothing in an effort to force the boys to learn how to forage, steal and endure extreme hunger, all of which would be necessary skills in the course of a war. [39] Those boys who survived the first stage of training entered into a secondary stage in which punishments became harsher and physical training and participation in sports almost non-stop in order to build up strength and endurance. [40] During this stage, which lasted until the males were about eighteen years old, fighting within the unit was encouraged, mock battles were performed, acts of courage praised, and signs of cowardice and disobedience severely punished. [41]

During the mock battles, the young men were formed into phalanxes to learn to maneuver as if they were one entity and not a group of individuals. [41] To be more efficient and effective during maneuvers, students were also trained in dancing and music, because this would enhance their ability to move gracefully as a unit. [42] Toward the end of this phase of the agoge, the trainees were expected to hunt down and kill a Helot, a Spartan slave. [37] If caught, the student would be convicted and disciplined-not for committing murder, but for his inability to complete the murder without being discovered.

Ephebe

The students would graduate from the agoge at the age of eighteen and receive the title of ephebes . [37] Upon becoming an ephebe, the male would pledge strict and complete allegiance to Sparta and would join a private organization to continue training in which he would compete in gymnastics, hunting and performance with planned battles using real weapons. [37] After two years, at the age of twenty, this training was finished and the now-grown men were officially regarded as Spartan soldiers. [38]

Education of Spartan women

Spartan women, unlike their Athenian counterparts, received a formal education that was supervised and controlled by the state. [43] 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. [44] The skills of the young women were tested regularly in competitions such as the annual footrace at the Heraea of Elis, [45] In addition to physical education, the young girls also were taught to sing, dance, and play instruments often by traveling poets such as Alcman or by the elderly women in the polis. [46] 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 defense and culture. [47]

Other Greek educators

Pythagoras (570–490 BCE)

Bust of Pythagoras Pythagoras in the Roman Forum, Colosseum.jpg
Bust of Pythagoras

Pythagoras was one of many Greek philosophers. He lived his life on the island Samos and is known for his contributions to mathematics. Pythagoras taught philosophy of life, religion, and mathematics in his own school in Kroton, which was a Greek colony. Pythagoras' school is linked to the Pythagorean theorem, which states that the square of the hypotenuse (the side opposite the right angle) is equal to the sum of the squares of the other two sides. The students of Pythagoras were known as Pythagoreans.

Pythagoreans

Pythagoreans followed a very specific way of life. They were famous for friendship, unselfishness, and honesty. The Pythagoreans also believed in a life after the current which drove them to be people who have no attachment to personal possessions everything was communal; they were also vegetarians. The people in a Pythagorean society were known as mathematikoi (μαθηματικοί, Greek for "learners"). [48]

Teachings

There are two forms that Pythagoras taught, Exoteric and Esoteric. Exoteric was the teaching of generally accepted ideas. These courses lasted three years for mathematikoi. Esoteric was teachings of deeper meaning. These teachings did not have a time limit. They were subject to when Pythagoras thought the student was ready. In Esoteric, students would learn the philosophy of inner meanings. [48] The focus of Pythagoras in his Exoteric teachings were ethical teachings. Here, he taught the idea of the dependence of opposites in the world; the dynamics behind the balance of opposites.

Along with the more famous achievements, Pythagoreans were taught various mathematical ideas. They were taught the following: Pythagorean theorem, irrational numbers, five specific regular polygons, and that the earth was a sphere in the centre of the universe. Many people believed that the mathematical ideas that Pythagoras brought to the table allowed reality to be understood. Whether reality was seen as ordered or if it just had a geometrical structure. Even though Pythagoras has many contributions to mathematics, his most known theory is that things themselves are numbers. [2] Pythagoras has a unique teaching style. He never appeared face to face to his students in the Exoteric courses. Pythagoras would set a current and face the other direction to address them. The students upon passing their education become initiated to be disciples. Pythagoras was much more intimate with the initiated and would speak to them in person. The specialty taught by Pythagoras was his theoretical teachings. In the society of Crotona, Pythagoras was known as the master of all science and brotherhood. [48]

Rules of the school

Unlike other education systems of the time, men and women were allowed to be Pythagorean. The Pythagorean students had rules to follow such as: abstaining from beans, not picking up items that have fallen, not touching white chickens, could not stir the fire with iron, and not looking in a mirror that was beside a light. [49]

Mathematics and music

Some of Pythagoras's applications of mathematics can be seen in his musical relationship to mathematics. The idea of proportions and ratios. Pythagoreans are known for formulating numerical concords and harmony. They put together sounds by the plucking of a string. The fact that the musician meant to pluck it at a mathematically expressible point. However, if the mathematical proportion between the points on the string were to be broken, the sound would become unsettled.

School's dictum

The Pythagorean school had a dictum that said All is number. This means that everything in the world had a number that described them. [4] For instance, number 6 is the number that relates to creation, number 5 is the number that relates to marriage, number 4 is the number that relates to justice, number 3 is the number that relates to harmony, number 2 is the number that relates to opinion, and number 1 is the number that relates to reason. [49]

Pythagorean Society was very secretive, the education society was based around the idea of living in peace and harmony, but secretly. Due to the education and society being so secretive, not much is known about the Pythagorean people.

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ Downey, "Ancient Education," The classical Journal52, no.8 (May 1957): 339.
  2. 1 2 "Pythagoras". www2.stetson.edu. Archived from the original on 2018-10-15. Retrieved 2017-11-07.
  3. ↑ Ed. Sienkewicz, "Daily Life and Customs," Ancient Greece (New Jersey: Salem Press, I)
  4. 1 2 Gower, Timothy (2008). Princeton Companion to Mathematics. Princeton University: Princeton University Press. pp. 200–208. ISBN   978-1-4008-3039-8.
  5. ↑ Lynch. Aristotle's School. p. 36.
  6. ↑ Sienkewicz, Joseph, ed. (2007). "Education and Training". Ancient Greece. New Jersey: Salem Press, Inc. p. 344.
  7. ↑ Plutarch (1927). "The Training of Children". Moralia. Loeb Classical Library. p. 7.
  8. ↑ Lynch, Tosca A.C.; Rocconi, Eleonora, eds. (2020). A Companion to Ancient Greek and Roman Music. Wiley. p. 1. doi:10.1002/9781119275510. ISBN   9781119275473. S2CID   242192206.
  9. ↑ Lynch, Tosca A.C. (2020-03-13). "'Tuning the Lyre, Tuning the Soul': Harmonia, Justice and the Kosmos of the Soul in Plato's Republic and Timaeus". Greek and Roman Musical Studies. 8 (1): 111–155. doi: 10.1163/22129758-12341365 . ISSN   2212-974X. S2CID   216176399.
  10. 1 2 Beck, Frederick A.G. (1964). Greek Education, 450–350 B.C. London: Methuen & CO LTD. pp. 201–202.
  11. 1 2 3 4 5 Lynch. Aristotle's School. p. 38.
  12. ↑ Lodge, R.C. (1970). Plato's Theory of Education. New York: Russell & Russell. p. 11.
  13. 1 2 Aristophanes, Lysistrata and Other Plays (London: Penguin Classics, 2002), 65.
  14. ↑ Plutarch The Training of Children, c. 110 CE (Ancient History Sourcebook), 5-6.
  15. ↑ Downey, "Ancient Education," The Classical Journal 52, no.8 (May 1980): 340.
  16. ↑ Lodge (1948). "Plato's Theory of Education". Nature. 161 (4089): 304. Bibcode:1948Natur.161Q.376.. doi: 10.1038/161376a0 . S2CID   4048356.
  17. ↑ Lynch. Aristotle's School. p. 33.
  18. ↑ Lynch. Aristotle's School. p. 39.
  19. ↑ O’pry, Kay (2012). "Social and Political Roles of Women in Athens and Sparta". Saber and Scroll. 1: 9.
  20. ↑ Bloomer, W. Martin (2016). A Companion to Ancient Education. Malden, MA: Willey-Blackwell. p. 305. ISBN   978-1-118-99741-3.
  21. ↑ Plutarch (1960). The Rise and Fall of Athens: Nine Greek Lives. London: Penguin Classics. pp. 168–9.
  22. ↑ Beck. Greek Education. p. 253.
  23. 1 2 Matsen, Patricia; Rollinson, Philip; Sousa, Marion (1990). Readings from Classical Rhetoric. Edwardsville: Southern Illinois University Press. p. 43.
  24. ↑ Beck. Greek Education. p. 255.
  25. ↑ Beck. Greek Education. p. 257.
  26. ↑ Beck. Greek Education. p. 293.
  27. 1 2 Beck. Greek Education. p. 227.
  28. ↑ Beck. Greek Education. p. 200.
  29. ↑ Beck. Greek Education. p. 240.
  30. ↑ Lodge (1948). "Plato's Theory of Education". Nature. 161 (4089): 303. Bibcode:1948Natur.161Q.376.. doi: 10.1038/161376a0 . S2CID   4048356.
  31. ↑ Plato (2013). Republic. Cambridge: Harvard University Press. p. 186.
  32. ↑ Plato. Republic. p. 188.
  33. 1 2 Anagnostopoulos, Georgios, ed. (2013). "First Athenian Period". A Companion to Aristotle. Wiley-Blackwell. p. 5.
  34. ↑ Anagnostopoulos (ed.). Companion to Aristotle. p. 8.
  35. ↑ Anagnostopoulos (ed.). Companion to Aristotle. p. 9.
  36. ↑ Lynch. Aristotle's School. p. 87.
  37. 1 2 3 4 5 Ed. Sienkewicz, "Education and Training," Ancient Greece (New Jersey: Salem Press, Inc. 2007), 344.
  38. 1 2 3 4 Adkins and Adkins, Handbook to Life in Ancient Greece (New York: Facts On File, Inc., 2005), 104.
  39. ↑ Adkins and Adkins, Handbook, 104-5
  40. ↑ Adkins and Adkins, Handbook, 104, 275
  41. 1 2 Adkins and Adkins, Handbook, 105
  42. ↑ Adkins and Adkins, Handbook, 275
  43. ↑ Pomeroy, Sarah B. Spartan Women. (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002), 27-29.
  44. ↑ Pomeroy, Spartan Women, 13-14.
  45. ↑ Pomeroy, Spartan Women, 24.
  46. ↑ Pomeroy, Spartan Women, 5-12.
  47. ↑ Pomeroy, Spartan Women, 4.
  48. 1 2 3 "Biography of Pythagoras - math word definition - Math Open Reference". www.mathopenref.com. Retrieved 2017-11-07.
  49. 1 2 "Pythagoras and the Pythagoreans". www.math.tamu.edu. Archived from the original on 2020-03-01. Retrieved 2017-11-08.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pythagoras</span> Greek philosopher (c. 570 – c. 495 BC)

Pythagoras of Samos was an ancient Ionian Greek philosopher, polymath and the eponymous founder of Pythagoreanism. His political and religious teachings were well known in Magna Graecia and influenced the philosophies of Plato, Aristotle, and, through them, the West in general. Knowledge of his life is clouded by legend; modern scholars disagree regarding Pythagoras's education and influences, but they do agree that, around 530 BC, he travelled to Croton in southern Italy, where he founded a school in which initiates were sworn to secrecy and lived a communal, ascetic lifestyle. This lifestyle entailed a number of dietary prohibitions, traditionally said to have included aspects of vegetarianism.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sparta</span> City-state in ancient Greece

Sparta was a prominent city-state in Laconia in ancient Greece. In antiquity, the city-state was known as Lacedaemon, while the name Sparta referred to its main settlement on the banks of the Eurotas River in the Eurotas valley of Laconia, in south-eastern Peloponnese. Around 650 BC, it rose to become the dominant military land-power in ancient Greece.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pericles</span> Athenian statesman, orator and general (c. 495 – 429 BC)

Pericles was a Greek politician and general during the Golden Age of Athens. He was prominent and influential in Ancient Athenian politics, particularly between the Greco-Persian Wars and the Peloponnesian War, and was acclaimed by Thucydides, a contemporary historian, as "the first citizen of Athens". Pericles turned the Delian League into an Athenian empire and led his countrymen during the first two years of the Peloponnesian War. The period during which he led Athens, roughly from 461 to 429 BC, is sometimes known as the "Age of Pericles", but the period thus denoted can include times as early as the Persian Wars or as late as the following century.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alcibiades</span> Athenian general and statesman (c. 450 – 404 BC)

Alcibiades was an Athenian statesman and general. The last of the Alcmaeonidae, he played a major role in the second half of the Peloponnesian War as a strategic advisor, military commander, and politician, but subsequently fell from prominence.

Ancient Greek philosophy arose in the 6th century BC. Philosophy was used to make sense of the world using reason. It dealt with a wide variety of subjects, including astronomy, epistemology, mathematics, political philosophy, ethics, metaphysics, ontology, logic, biology, rhetoric and aesthetics. Greek philosophy continued throughout the Hellenistic period and later evolved into Roman philosophy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Philolaus</span> Greek philosopher (c. 470 – c. 385 BC)

Philolaus was a Greek Pythagorean and pre-Socratic philosopher. He was born in a Greek colony in Italy and migrated to Greece. Philolaus has been called one of three most prominent figures in the Pythagorean tradition and the most outstanding figure in the Pythagorean school. Pythagoras developed a school of philosophy that was dominated by both mathematics and mysticism. Most of what is known today about the Pythagorean astronomical system is derived from Philolaus's views. He may have been the first to write about Pythagorean doctrine. According to August Böckh (1819), who cites Nicomachus, Philolaus was the successor of Pythagoras.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Archytas</span> 4th-century BC Greek philosopher, mathematician, astronomer and statesman

Archytas was an Ancient Greek mathematician, music theorist, statesman, and strategist from the ancient city of Taras (Tarentum) in Southern Italy. He was a scientist and philosopher affiliated with the Pythagorean school and famous for being the reputed founder of mathematical mechanics and a friend of Plato.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pythagoreanism</span> A Philosophical system based on the teachings of Pythagoras.

Pythagoreanism originated in the 6th century BC, based on and around the teachings and beliefs held by Pythagoras and his followers, the Pythagoreans. Pythagoras established the first Pythagorean community in the ancient Greek colony of Kroton, in modern Calabria (Italy). Early Pythagorean communities spread throughout Magna Graecia.

The Sacred Band of Thebes was a troop of select soldiers. According to some ancient Greek claims, 150 pairs of male lovers formed the elite force of the Theban army in the 4th century BC, ending Spartan domination. However, historian David D. Leitao did claim that the Sacred Band of Thebes might not have consisted of male lovers. Its predominance began with its crucial role in the Battle of Leuctra in 371 BC. It was annihilated by Philip II of Macedon in the Battle of Chaeronea in 338 BC.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Crypteia</span> Institution of ancient Sparta

The Crypteia, also referred to as Krypteia or Krupteia, was an ancient Spartan state institution involving young Spartan men. It was an exclusive element of Sparta's state-sponsored child-rearing system in which participation afforded its members, known as kryptai, the opportunity to test their skills further and to prove themselves worthy of the Spartan polity. As an organisation, the Crypteia's mandate and practices are still debated by historians.

Laconophilia is love or admiration of Sparta and of the Spartan culture or constitution. The term derives from Laconia, the part of the Peloponnesus where the Spartans lived.

The Laws is Plato's last and longest dialogue. The conversation depicted in the work's twelve books begins with the question of who is given the credit for establishing a civilization's laws. Its musings on the ethics of government and law have established it as a classic of political philosophy alongside Plato's more widely read Republic.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Platonic Academy</span> Ancient philosophical, research and educative center, founded by Plato

The Academy, variously known as Plato's Academy, the Platonic Academy, and the Academic School, was founded at Athens by Plato circa 387 BC. Aristotle studied there for twenty years before founding his own school, the Lyceum. The Academy persisted throughout the Hellenistic period as a skeptical school, until coming to an end after the death of Philo of Larissa in 83 BC. The Platonic Academy was destroyed by the Roman dictator Sulla in 86 BC.

Ancient Greek laws consist of the laws and legal institutions of ancient Greece.

This page is a list of topics in ancient philosophy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Outline of ancient Greece</span> Overview of and topical guide to ancient Greece

The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to ancient Greece:

Spartan women were famous in ancient Greece for seemingly having more freedom than women elsewhere in the Greek world. To contemporaries outside of Sparta, Spartan women had a reputation for promiscuity and controlling their husbands. Spartan women could legally own and inherit property, and they were usually better educated than their Athenian counterparts. The surviving written sources are limited and largely from a non-Spartan viewpoint. Anton Powell wrote that to say the written sources are "'not without problems'... as an understatement would be hard to beat".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Women in Greece</span> Overview of the status of women in Greece

The status and characteristics of ancient and modern-day women in Greece evolved from the events that occurred in the history of Greece. According to Michael Scott, in his article "The Rise of Women in Ancient Greece", "place of women" and their achievements in ancient Greece was best described by Thucidydes in this quotation: that "The greatest glory [for women] is to be least talked about among men, whether in praise or blame." However, the status of Greek women has undergone change and more advancement upon the onset of the twentieth century. In 1952, they received their right to vote, which led to their earning places and job positions in businesses and in the government of Greece; and they were able to maintain their right to inherit property, even after being married.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Italian school (philosophy)</span>

The Italian school of pre-Socratic philosophy refers to Ancient Greek philosophers in Italy or Magna Graecia in the 6th and 5th century BC. Contemporary scholarship disputes the Italian school as a historical school rather than simply a geographical one.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Modern influence of Ancient Greece</span>

Modern influence of ancient Greece refers to the influence of Ancient Greece on later periods of history, from Medieval times up to the current modern era. Greek culture and philosophy has a disproprtionate influence on modern society and its core culture, in comparison to other ancient societies of similar settings.

References

Primary sources (ancient Greek)

Secondary sources

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.