Education in Ancient Rome
Education in Ancient Rome, since the last centuries of the Roman Republic, was a mechanism linked to the patricians who provided their children with an education in the Greek way. The paedagogus (Greek word from which the current "pedagogue" derives) was the slave who led the child to the schola ("school").
In the first education, the nutritor or Ptropheus was responsible for teaching the child to read and for his education until puberty. He was to address his father calling him domine (sir).
The schola (school) was governed by the religious calendar; the classes were given in the mornings and it was mixed until the age of twelve. The grammaticus was responsible for teaching adolescents classical authors, mythology, geography and history; while girls, considered adults at fourteen (domina in Latin, kyria in Greek), could have a private tutor who taught them the classics.
The next stage of education took place in the gymnasium or palaestra. In the East, the main subjects were the Greek language, the works of Homer, rhetoric, philosophy, music and sport. On the other hand, in the West, Latin was also taught, to the detriment of music and sports. At sixteen or seventeen, there was a fork in the path of young people, who had to decide between the army or studies.
Writing
While public epigraphy was carved in stone or affixed to monuments with bronze letters, or was traced through incisions in lead plates; The writing of all kinds of documents was generally done with ink on papyrus (later on parchment) in the final wording that was desired to be preserved (in some cases, with incisions on ivory). The daily notes and communications and the learning were carried out with incisions on ceramic fragments (what the Greeks called ostrakon ) or wax tablets using a stilus (awl).
Roman cursive script could be understood as the upper and lower case of our everyday language, although they shift a bit from the ancient language to its current state(s).
Scrolls were the usual way of collecting texts and keeping them in libraries; the "book" format, with pages, was not imposed until the beginning of the Middle Ages.
Infants
Breastfeeding and the first care, were dedicated to a foster mother, milk nurse or wet nurse is a woman who breastfeeds an infant who is not her child, considered by the child as a second mother. The first toys were (crepitacula) rattles.
School
The schola ("school") was governed by the religious calendar, classes were given in the morning and it was coeducational until the age of twelve. A grammaticus was responsible for teaching boys classical authors and mythology, while girls, considered adults at fourteen (domina, kyria), could have one to teach you the classics. Education took place in the gymnasium or in the palaestra. In the East, the main subjects were Greek, Homer, Rhetoric, Philosophy, Music and Sport. On the other hand, in the western half, Latin was also taught, to the detriment of music and sports. At sixteen or seventeen, there was a fork in the path of young people, who had to decide between the army, or studies.
Age
The age of majority was achieved by wearing the manly toga, a decision that depended on the guardian or father. For the son to form a family (paterfamilias) was only possible after the death of his father, being sentenced to death by the father if they failed to comply with this rule. Meanwhile, his children received a small salary (peculium) and had to respond to his authority (patria potestas).
Historical evolution in ancient Rome
Parents were the ones who educated their children in early Rome. The customs, the beliefs and the legends were passing like this familiarly from one generation to another. Generally, it was the mother (if she knew how) who taught to read, write and do math. Her father tried to teach her the laws and customs of every good Roman citizen.
With the expansion of Rome, especially when it conquered Greece, it became necessary to open new paths in the world of education. Thus, families that had means were able to have the following study plan for their children:
Three grade education system (Ludus litterarius)
The ludus litterarius made up an educational system with three levels of education:
- Schools in charge of a ludi magisterist ("master"), which taught elementary education (Ludus Principalis).
- Schools in charge of a ludi grammaticus ("grammatic"), which corresponded to what was currently called secondary education (Ludus Grammaticus).
- Schools in charge of a ludi rhetor ("realistic"), higher education establishments that began with rhetoric and followed the teaching of law and philosophy, a kind of university (Ludus Rhetoricae).
As children they could have a teacher at home (magister), who was generally a Greek slave or freedman, or they could go to a school led by a slave (pædagogus) who later also reviewed the lessons at home.
In the first educational stage, the child learned to read, write and do calculations with a teacher (magister ludi, litterator and calculator). Discipline was severe, but the children played with wooden or ivory letters and learned to read and write with them. That is why this school is called «game» (ludus) and the teacher was magister ludi. The school was located in a small room (tavern, pergula), in a cabin or in the garden (depending on the weather and possibilities). The teacher had a chair (cathedra) or a stool (sella). Children sat on benches (subsellia).
The working instruments were waxed boards (tabulæ, ceræ) on which they scratched with awls (stilus) that were pointed on the one hand and ended in a sharp end on the other. a spatula with which the wax was smoothed so that it was ready to be written on again (stilum vertere).
The second stage could be private or public. The teacher was the grammaticus who taught to understand and comment on literary texts. Commenting on the classic texts, the children learned about everything: geography, history, physics, religion, etc. Over time, grammatica would also become a study of the language they spoke and this innovation would end up eliminating the primitive concept of grammatica.
The third stage prepared the future Roman politician with eloquence. The teacher was the rhetor (oratory teacher). Quintilian, for example, wrote many pedagogical notes on how to train the orator. Among the frequent exercises was the performance of fictitious trials in which some students accused and others defended.
The teachers
Roman schools were located in the porticoes of the Roman Forum, and their teachers were poorly paid by the parents of the students. This illustrates one of the central differences between the Greeks and Romans and their views on education: For the Greeks, education was an end in itself. The Romans, for their part, were more practical about what they taught their children. To them, an area of study was good only if it served a higher purpose or issue.