Education in ancient Greece aimed to produce good citizens. Boys were taught at home until age 6 then attended school to learn reading, writing, music, poetry, debate, science, and math. They also attended military school. Except for Sparta, Greek girls were taught at home. In Sparta, the purpose of education was to produce a powerful army. Boys entered military school at age 6 and endured a harsh curriculum focused on combat. Spartan girls also learned combat skills. The Pythagorean school originated teachings of Pythagoras emphasizing mathematics and philosophy. Plato founded the Academy in Athens while Aristotle founded the Lyceum. The Great Library of Alexandria housed tens of thousands of scrolls and was part of the larger Mouseion

2. In all the Greek city-states, except for Sparta, the purpose of
education was to produce good citizens. Children were
trained in music, art, literature, science, math, and politics.
In Athens, for example, boys were taught at home until they
were about six years old. Then boys went to school, where
they learned to read and write. They learned to play a
musical instrument, usually the flute or the lyre. They
learned the poetry of Homer. They learned how to debate
and how to give a persuasive speech. They studied science
and math. After high school, they attended military school,
where they learned to be good warriors. Boys did not
graduate from all the schooling they were required to take
until they were about 20 years old. Except for the city-state of Sparta, Greek girls did not
go to school. They were taught at home by their
mothers. If their mother could read and write, they
taught their girls how to do the same, as well as
teaching them how to cook and sew and run a
household.
different s between education in Athens vs Sparta
Athen
s

4. Education
in Sparta
• Education in Sparta was completely different. The purpose of
education in Sparta was to produce and maintain a powerful
army. Sparta boys entered military school when they were
about six years old. They learned how to read and write, but
those skills were not considered very important except for
messages. Military school was tough, on purpose. The boys
were often hungry. They were often beaten. They slept away
from home, in the barracks, with the men. If they cried, they
were beaten, sometimes by their own parents. They were taught
how to steal and lie and get away with it. These skills could save
their life someday. Nearly everything in the Spartan educational
system was about war and battle.
• Spartan girls went to school to learn to be warriors. Their
school was not as brutal, but all girls in ancient Sparta could
wrestle and fist fight and handle a weapon. They were taught
how to kill. The Spartans believed that strong women produced
strong babies. Besides, the women might have to defend the
city if the men were away at war. No great works of art came
out of Sparta. But most of the other Greek city-states wanted
Sparta on their side. The Spartans were great friends to have in
times of war.

6. Pythagoreanism
• Pythagoreanism originated in the 6th century BC, based
on the teachings and beliefs held by Pythagoras and his
followers, the Pythagoreans. Pythagoras established the
first Pythagorean community in Crotone, Italy. Early
Pythagorean communities spread throughout Magna
Graecia.
• Pythagoras’ death and disputes about his teachings led
to the development of two philosophical traditions within
Pythagoreanism. The akousmatikoi were superseded in
the 4th century BC as a significant mendicant school of
philosophy by the Cynics. The mathēmatikoi philosophers
were absorbed into the Platonic school in the 4th century
BC.

7. Platonic Academy
This article is about the academy founded by Plato. For the 15th-
century school in Florence, see Platonic Academy (Florence). For
the Raphael painting, see The School of Athens.
Coordinates
The Academy was founded by Plato in c. 387 BC
in Athens. Aristotle studied there for twenty years (367–347 BC)
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
Plato from Raphael's Th
e School of
Athens (1509–1511)

8. Aristotle's
Lyceum
• The Lyceum was a temple dedicated to Apollo Lyceus ("Apollo the
wolf-god").
• It was best known for the Peripatetic school of philosophy founded
there by Aristotle in 334 BC. Aristotle fled Athens in 323 BC, but the
school continued to function under a series of leaders until the Roman
general Sulla destroyed it during his assault on Athens in 86 BC.
• The remains of the Lyceum were discovered in modern Athens in
1996 in a park behind the Hellenic Parliament.

9. the Museaum in Alexandria and the Library
of Alexandria
Alexandria is my city in
Egypt
The Great Library of Alexandria in Alexandria, Egypt, was
one of the largest and most significant libraries of the ancient
world. The Library was part of a larger research institution
called the Mouseion, which was dedicated to the Muses, the
nine goddesses of the arts. The idea of a universal library in
Alexandria may have been proposed by Demetrius of
Phalerum, an exiled Athenian statesman living in Alexandria,
to Ptolemy I Soter, who may have established plans for the
Library, but the Library itself was probably not built until the
reign of his son Ptolemy II Philadelphus. The Library quickly
acquired many papyrus scrolls, due largely to the Ptolemaic
kings' aggressive and well-funded policies for procuring
texts. It is unknown precisely how many such scrolls were
housed at any given time, but estimates range from 40,000
to 400,000 at its height.

10. Education in
ancient Rome.
• Education in ancient Rome progressed from an informal, familial system of
education in the early Republic to a tuition-based system during the late Republic
and the Empire. The Roman education system was based on the Greek system – and
many of the private tutors in the Roman system were Greek slaves or freedmen. The
educational methodology and curriculum used in Rome was copied in its provinces,
and provided a basis for education systems throughout later Western civilization.
Organized education remained relatively rare, and there are few primary sources or
accounts of the Roman educational process until the 2nd century AD. Due to the
extensive power wielded by the paterfamilias over Roman families, the level and
quality of education provided to Roman children varied drastically from family to
family; nevertheless, Roman popular morality came eventually to expect fathers to
have their children educated to some extent, and a complete advanced education
was expected of any Roman who wished to enter politics.