Paste your essay in here…University of California Riverside
Growing up in Ancient Rome
Education from birth to adult life
Taimaru Provensal
HIST 10: Prehistory to 1500’s
Professor Stefan Chrissanthos
TA David Shanta
Friday, December 12, 2016
Before the advent of an educational system in ancient Rome, boys would learn solely from their father the things that they needed to survive in the roman republic, basic agricultural skills and their duties as citizens. Girls on the other hand had an even less formal education as they were seen as inferior in most cultures at the time. This small divide between the education of girls and that of boys slowly dissolved as more and more children went to school. It wasn’t until after the Punic wars, the annexation of Sicily, and the capture of Tarentum that the roman education system would be more refined by the new influence of the greeks. Despite its derivations from the greek system, the roman system still had its differences and it would grow into it’s own. At its height, the roman educational system would find its place in the roman empire and formal schools would be established. Ancient Rome went from having a primitive schooling system to being the basis for many western civilisation’s education system thanks to the its’ rise as a world power. From the day they are born, children are put under a close eye by their parents to ensure that good citizens as well as prepared individuals are being raised.
Being born into a Roman family didn’t suffice. Women primarily gave birth at home and were usually accompanied by a physician, a midwife, and of course their husband. Patria potestas is the legal roman practice in which the father, as the head of the household has absolute right over his household, namely his children. Fathers had the right to accept the child into their family or to let them be victim of the elements without nutrition. Once born, “the newborn was deposited at the feet of the pater, who, in case and sign of acceptance raised it in his arms”. The symbolic raising of the baby meant that the father was taking on the responsibility of raising this child. In contrast, the mother takes primary “charge of the children and of the estate” for the first few years of its life. We see an example in Plutarch’s, The Parallel Lives, after the death of their father, Tiberius and Caius, are both raised by their mother Cornelia. This was unlike in greece, where they had slaves to take care of the children at a young age. Such was the example with Cornelia and her “twelve children” along with other Roman women. On the 8th and 9th day for girls and boys respectively, came the first important day in their lives, dies lustricus, which signified the day of naming. On that day, “the baby underwent purification rites and was born ‘socially’”. In other terms, this was when the baby was named and recognized by the state as being a child of the couple. This day was followed by a few ceremonies dedicated to the deities, namely the ones of marriage, Pilumnus and Pucmnus to pray for a successful upbringing of the child.
From their naming day up until the age of two or three, when the babies speak “their first words”, there are some transitional phases that children today still encounter such as teething and throwing tantrums. However, once the child begins to speak, that is when their education begins. Roman “educational model tended to be based on imitation or repetition”. In contrast to modern society, there was no such thing as baby talk to children. Roman’s believed that “baby talk was synonymous with the language of fools”, and therefore parents only spoke to their children how they would speak to each other. As Quintilian points out, children shouldn’t be saying “words which we should not tolerate from even the lips of an Alexandrian”. Thus, children’s, first words were words essential to their well being such as water, food, bathroom, and sleep. Children weren’t expected to do anything laborious until at least the age of five when the stage of “their development [was][…] most important”. According to Plato, this was also deemed the “period […] when the strongest growth occurs”.
As Quintilian states, memory should be “strengthened, like all our other faculties, by exercise”. Other important educators at the time also believed in this mental exercise. The age of 7 until 16 marked the true beginning of instruction and therefore strengthening for a young child. At that age, most children began to be followed by a “pedagogus, […] one who teaches children how to behave in public”. A pedagogus would sometimes be a captured greek slave and could sometimes have several students. The young Cato was an exception to this trend in ancient Rome. As most children, Cato the younger was instructed by a slave. However his father, Cato the Elder didn’t appreciate that his son “would be scolded by a slave and have his ears tweaked”. Thus Cato the Elder took it upon himself to educate his child himself. He became the child’s “reading-teacher, […] his tutor in law and his athletic trainer”. This was common practice in aristocratic families who had well educated parents who could teach the children themselves instead of having a slave that already knew such things. Similarly, in Horace’s Satires, he speaks about how his father “refused to pack [him] off to Flavius’ schoolhouse [and] went with [him] to each and every class”. This was because his father didn’t want him to be subject to the street dwellers and get influenced by them. He wanted his child to have a pure education. Furthermore, it was while following his father to various public activities and festivals that the young Horace slowly got initiated to public life in Rome. Although these two cases were proven to be “education[s] par excellence”, meaning more of an exception, the father’s role in their children's upbringing and their education was paramount. As Bonner says in Education in Ancient Rome, “every father was his son’s instructor”, because they played such an important role. In some cases, such as the case with Cornelia, according to Plutarch, she took over the father's role in the children's education and took it upon herself to ensure that they were properly instructed. In some cases, patria potestas, was passed onto the grandfather when the father himself died. Both were seen in Roman history before, however the more common place was for the grandfather to take over.
Schooling from age 7-16 was broken down into mainly three parts. However, graduating from one school to another was “based on ability, and not age”. The first of that being Ludus, which was an equivalent of elementary school. This was when children would either be followed by a pedagogus or they would be sent to a school. It was the pedagogus’ role to monitor the child’s “manners and [inculcate] the traditional properties of behaviour in the home and out of the doors”. In other words, they were taught about everyday life, and how to contain themselves in public. Bonner states that there “were […] scenes [where] the attendant scolded the child severely”. This was because children were not tested and examined on their knowledge like they are today, however when using their wrong judgment in a situation, their pedagogus would not hesitate to scold them to ensure they knew which was the proper behavior. Such instruction consisted of learning to read and write basic texts but also lead to more detailed and advanced texts later on.
Grammaticus was the next level of instruction in the Roman Empire. This was the school of grammar and literature. Later in the Roman Empire, attending this school was common practice for all ways of life. However, in the earlier parts this was when most poorer raised children would start their manual labor and thus enter into Roman civilization. In some schools, it has been seen that “educators tended to combine [ludus] and [grammaticus]”. Therefore for some, when reading ancient texts it was hard to see the distinction between the two schools. Children who did attend this school however would learn “both Latin and Greek”. Most of theses schools taught children more about “rhetoric […] in Latin, to follow the main teaching on grammar and literature” from ludus. The main goal of this school was to raise a well rounded citizen who knew about poetry and other forms of literary art. Students would learn how to interpret it, enjoy reading it and also be able to write some poetry of their own. According to Laes, children would have to read, write and sometimes learn some of Diomedes’ texts. These texts were quite simple in their writing and understanding but had everything that the children needed to know about grammar. They consisted of the same sentences written in different tenses and various cases so that the child could learn by practice and repetition.
The third school, Rhetor, was the school and learning of the “art of rhetoric”. Similarly to the school of grammaticus, only a select few would attain such instruction. As Plutarch explains in Plutarch’s lives, when he is speaking of Tiberius Gracchus and Caius Gracchus, this schooling was mainly for the rich who could afford to hire a private tutor. Most children didn’t attend this school because of financial issues but also for practical purposes; children wouldn’t need such a high level of instruction unless they wanted to be public speakers in the senate, a consul or a tribune for example. For those that did hire a tutor, like Cornelia did for her two sons. Unlike the two other schools, there is no overwhelming evidence that these were actually schools due to their limited availability throughout Roman history. The main focus of this school was public speaking and to teach children more about how the political system and the senate. Therefore tutors had to be versed and have had “experience of the Roman political debates or of advocacy in the Roman courts”. Their sole purpose was indeed to teach students about their experiences so that they may learn from them. It could also be seen similarly to today as shadowing a political figure or a having a mentor in your chosen profession. Bonner, quotes Cicero’s De Oratore, in which he classifies the different types of speakers. He says that there are three different tiers: “The genuinely gifted person, […] the mediocre student, […and…] he who bawls beyond all decent proprietary and beyond his own power”. Therefore, according to Cicero, your keenness and understanding of arguments was not only dependant of your instructor, but also based on the capabilities of the student. Not everyone was cut for political and public speaking life in Rome and some were better off pursuing “other professions”. In contrast to the Greeks, who valued musical and artistic education at this stage, the Romans discredited this type of education and went as far as removing it from their system. As Cicero wrote in De Oratore where he speaks about his take on the Roman education, “moral philosophers […] do not venture to claim that either geometry or the pursuit of music belongs to the moral philosopher”.
Education takes a big place in the lives of children all around the world today, just like it did in Ancient Rome. Children are taught from a very young age various things, such as grammar, rhetoric, poetry, art and practical working knowledge for example. This learning contributes to the general culture and provides society with individuals that are cultured and learned in diverse topics as well as capable citizens. As we saw with Horace, and with Cato, some children got a better education than others, but in the long run most were taught enough to be able to lead their life and get a job. Some were taught in the higher schools of education such as rhetor, and grammaticus about public speaking and the art of persuasion, however everyone knew enough to be able contribute to everyday life in Ancient Rome. Roman education was thought to be successful and thorough. Although not creative in its repetition, this was a building block for modern education and was still being used in “grammar books [in] the 1950’s and 1960’s”. Many European schooling systems would base their education models of that of the Romans. Not only would Roman education play a role in other societies but it also greatly influenced Christianity and it’s teachings.
Bibliography
Bonner, Stanley F. Education in Ancient Rome: From the Elder Cato to the Younger Pliny. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1977.
Cicero. On the Orator: Books 1-2. Translated by E. W. Sutton, and H. Rackham. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1942.
Horace. Satires. Translated by David Mankin and John Svarlien. Indianapolis: Hackett Publishing Company, 2012.
Laes, Christian. Children in the Roman Empire: Outsiders Within. New York: Cambridge, 2011.
Plutarch. Plutarch’s Lives. Translated by Bernadotte Perrin. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1923.
Tuori, Kaius, Ando, Clifford, and Du Plessis, Paul. The Oxford Handbook of Roman Law and Society. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2016.
Wheelock, Frederick M. Quintilian As Educator. New York: Twayne Publishers, 1974.
Quintilianus, Marcus Fabius. Institutes of Oratory. Translated by Rev. John Selby Watson. London: Bohn, 1856.