Similar education of girls.

Two types of

upon the coarsest of fare. (When he became thirty, he was considered a man and forced to marry at once, but even then he could visit his wife only clandestinely and was still obliged to live in common with the boys and assist in their training.

The education of women was very like that of the men. While the girls were allowed to live at home, they were given a similar physical training in the hope that they would become the mothers of sturdy sons. (Thus the Spartan education was shaped entirely with reference to the welfare of the state. Their educational system served well its purpose of creating strong warriors and devoted citizens, but it failed to make for the highest manhood. Sparta developed practically no art, literature, or philosophy, and produced little that tended to promote civilization. She has left to the world little but examples of heroism and foolhardiness alike.

Old Athenian Education: Its Aim and Early Training. For many centuries the Athenian education was not unlike the Spartan in promoting the welfare of the state without much consideration of individual interests. But even in early days Athens felt that the state was best served when the individual secured the most complete personal development. (Hence, the Athenian boys schools: (1) the began to receive at seven years of age two kinds of trainnishing physi. ing,— (1) the pentathlum and other physical exercises in the palaestra (Fig. 3) or exercising ground, and (2) singing (2) the didascaleum, furnih- and playing upon the flute or lyre, and reading and writing music, reading, ad ing at the didascaleum (Fig. 4.) or music school. After the waiting boy had learned his letters by tracing them in the sand, he was taught to copy verses and selections from wellknown authors, at first upon wax-tablets with a stylus,

palaestra, fur

cal training;

(Reproduced from illustrations taken from old vases by Freeman in his Schools of Hellas.)

and later upon parchment with pen and ink. It was, moreover, necessary for the pupils in singing to be taught the rhythm and melody, and to understand the poem so as to bring out its meaning. Hence the explanations and interpretations given by the teachers brought in all the learning of the times, and the moral and intellectual value of the studies must have been much greater than would be suggested by the meagerness of the course. Some moral training and discipline were also given the boy by a slave called the paedagogus, who conducted him The paedato school and carried his lyre and other appurtenances. This functionary was often advanced in years or incapacitated for other duties by physical disability.

gogus.

nasia, and

in military

Training for the Youth. At fifteen the Athenian boy might take physical training of a more advanced Advanced physical traincharacter at one of the exercising grounds just outside ing in gymAthens, which were known as gymnasia. (He was now ephebic course permitted to go wherever he wished and become ac- duties. quainted with public life through first-hand contact When eighteen the youth took the oath of loyalty to Athens, and for two years as an ephebus or cadet con tinued his education with a course in military duties. The first year he spent in the neighborhood of Athens and formed part of the city garrison, but in the second year he was transferred to some fortress on the frontier. At twenty the young man became a citizen, but even then his training continued through the drama, architecture, sculpture, and art that were all about him.

Effect of the Old Athenian Education.Little attention was, however, given by the Athenians to the educa- Women given little training tion of woman. It was felt that her duties demanded no knowledge beyond ordinary skill in household affairs.

Resemblance of old

Athenian edu

cation to Spartan.

With this exception, the Athenian education was superior to the Spartan in allowing greater opportunity for individual development and in furnishing a more rounded training. Nevertheless, until about the middle of the fifth century B. C., while differing considerably in degree from Sparta, Athens may be grouped with that country as adhering to the 'old' education, where the individual was subordinated to the good of the social whole.

Causes and Character of the New Athenian Education. This characterization is, of course, in contrast to Greek education in the 'new' period, which is represented by Athens alone. This later type of education was probably somewhat the result of the gradual rise of democratic ideals in Athens, but a more immediate set of factors grew out of the Persian wars (492-479 B. C.). This extended conflict with a powerful Oriental people, possessing a well-organized but widely different body of traditions tended to broaden the views of the Athenians greatly, and the ensuing political and commercial intercourse with a variety of dependent states and nations in the Delian League, together with social contact with the foreigners from every land that were thronging the dividualism in streets of Athens, led even more directly to a reconstruc

Extreme in

new Athenian

education.

tion of practices and beliefs. A rapid transition in the old traditions took place and society seems for a time to have been sadly disorganized. The old was shattered, and while new ideals were being constructed, a groping ensued. Although the latitude given the individual was destined, as always, to produce progress in the long run, and was of great ultimate service to the world, more immediately a low ebb in morals at Athens resulted. Individualism ran riot. Education reflected the condi