Greek and Roman Education: A Sourcebook

by Mark Joyal, Iain Mcdougall, J.C Yardley

Modern western education finds its origins in the practices, systems and schools of the ancient Greeks and Romans. It is in the field of education, in fact, that classical antiquity has exerted one of its clearest influences on the modern world. Yet the story of Greek and Roman education, extending from the eighth century B.C. into the Middle Ages, is familiar in its details only to relatively few specialists. Containing nearly 300 translated texts and documents, Greek and Roman A Sourcebook is the first book to provide readers with a large, diverse and representative sample of the primary evidence for ancient Greek and Roman education. A special feature of this Sourcebook is the inclusion not only of the fundamental texts for the study of the subject, but also unfamiliar sources that are of great interest but are not easily accessible, including inscriptions on stone and Greek papyri from Egypt. Introductions to each chapter and to each selection provide the guidance which readers need to set the historical periods, themes and topics into meaningful contexts. Fully illustrated and including extensive suggestions for further reading, together with an index of passages explored, students will have no further need for any other sourcebook on Greek and Roman education.

Genres: Education

300 pages, Hardcover

First published October 16, 2008

Reviews

[Paige McLoughlin]

A sourcebook on educational writings in the ancient Mediterranean world. A big focus on grammar and rhetoric the arts of the golden tongue. The liberal arts were split between the three majors of Grammar, Logic, and Rhetoric and less attention to Arithmetic, Geometry, Astronomy, Music. The three arts of the polis (grammar, logic, rhetoric) and the four arts of the cosmos (Arithmetic or number, Geometry of space, Music of time, and the fusion of the three Astronomy). I mean it is good and the categories and boundaries are different for modern people. Also, some social characteristics like now intellectual work had few remunerations except possible for superstars and courtiers and the sexual dynamics are interesting and often mimicked by moderns. I mean old reflections that sometimes sound a little modern.

[Isabella Roh]

This collection of primary source snippets is a little confusing to read by itself, but in conversation with a more narrative historic text (such as Marrou's History of Education in Antiquity), it is a great way to interact with the artifacts of ancient education.