Читать книгу The Home Life of the Ancient Greeks - Hugo Blumner - Страница 11

Fig. 76.

of ephebi on horseback formed one of the most conspicuous parts of the procession, and, indeed, they occupy the greater part of the relief on the Parthenon frieze. Fig. 76, taken from a vase painting, represents ephebi racing on horseback; on the left stands a column, no doubt marking the limit of the course. In fact, representations on vase paintings of ephebi on horseback are very common. Still we cannot assume that regular methodical instruction in riding was given in the older period, at any rate not as part of the instruction of youths, though even in the time of Plato there were riding-masters who seem to have understood how to deal with difficult horses. At a later period the president seems to have occupied himself with instruction in riding, but we know no details about this. The Greeks used neither horse-shoes nor stirrups, therefore, unless some stone for mounting happened to be at hand, they had to jump on to their horses, and this they usually did with the help of their lances; saddles were also unknown, but horse-cloths were generally used, and though on the Parthenon frieze and the vase pictures we see the ephebi riding without these, we must regard this as an artistic license, like the absence of the chiton on the same pictures. To ride thus in a procession, clad merely in the chlamys, without any under garment, on a horse without a saddle, would appear a very doubtful pleasure even to the most hardened Athenian youths.

As regards the other exercises not directly included in gymnastics, we may state that swimming was practised from earliest youth, and was regarded as indispensable for everyone, so that it was proverbially said of an absolutely uneducated person that he could neither swim nor say his alphabet. The most celebrated swimmers were the inhabitants of the island of Delos, but the Athenians were also distinguished. There were no special swimming masters; children learnt to swim by themselves or were instructed by their fathers.

Inscriptions also tell us that the Attic ephebi every year made expeditions by sea from the Peiraeus to the harbour of Munychia, and in later times also to Salamis, and these apparently partook of the nature of a regatta. Connected with these, even in the Hellenistic period, were naval contests, so that at that time the ephebi must have had some knowledge of the elements of seafaring, unless these sea-fights bore the character of naval games, and were conducted rather for amusement than for serious military purposes; and this is the more probable as at that period, when Athens had long ago lost its political importance, actual preparations for naval warfare had no special aim for young Athenians.

Finally there were, even in the earlier centuries, exercises in marching in the neighbouring country. These were partly connected with the military position of the ephebi as protectors of the frontier, and they partly aimed at extending their knowledge of localities as well as giving practice in marching and riding. As they sometimes had to march out in heavy armour, and generally bivouacked in hastily-pitched tents, sometimes even in the open air, these marches supplied an excellent opportunity for growing accustomed to the fatigues of military life. It is clear from all this that the instruction of the ephebi bore a half-gymnastic, half-military character, and thus chiefly aimed at physical development; yet, on the other hand, many opportunities were given the young men for further intellectual development. We cannot, of course, determine whether the majority of them took advantage of this, for undoubtedly it was optional, and not immediately connected with their necessary training. However, in the second century B.C. the custom prevailed of letting the presidents of the various gymnasia at Athens see that they were regularly attended.

As regards the subjects of this more advanced instruction, opportunity was certainly given for further study in arithmetic, geometry, and astronomy, as well as music and drawing. After the fourth century the various schools of philosophy which arose at that time, began to take a very important place in the intellectual development of these youths. As early as the fifth century the Sophists gave instruction to young and older men for payment; but after the time of Plato the higher instruction was regularly organised and also given free of charge, and from this time forward it was closely connected with the training of the ephebi, since the gymnasia destined for gymnastic teaching were also used for instruction in philosophy. Plato and his school taught, as is well known, in the Academy; Aristotle and the Peripatetics in the Lyceum; and Antisthenes and the Cynic school in the Cynosarges; the Stoics also originally taught at the Lyceum, but afterwards in the Stoa Poikile (the “painted portico”) near the old Agora; at Athens the Epicurean school only was not connected with any existing gymnasium. This connection, however, between these schools and the gymnasia was merely an external one, and really meant that the ground and gardens belonging to them were situated in the domain of these special gymnasia. However, the fact that the schools possessed a fixed place under the direction of the head for the time being did very much to establish their stability. We must not regard these philosophical schools as higher schools in the modern sense; though each school had a head who had the management in his own hands, and at his death appointed a successor, yet there was no question of an organised scheme of studies or of instruction regularly occupying certain hours of the day, or, indeed, of any of the conditions which could be compared with our modern universities, at any rate not before the period of the Roman Empire. In the fourth century and in the Hellenistic period the instruction merely consisted in a discourse given by the head, or a disputation with his scholars, by means of which the various branches of philosophy and ethics were treated. Practical instruction in rhetoric was also given, sometimes by philosophers, but oftener by celebrated rhetoricians, such as Isocrates, and this training lasted several years. Very often young men prepared themselves in this way for their future career as statesmen or lawyers; and in the Hellenistic period the study of philological grammar began to gain importance, especially in the schools of Alexandria, Pergamum, and Antioch, to which places celebrated teachers attracted numerous pupils. These studies were in no way connected with the regular training of ephebi.

Generally speaking, we may say that the main object of the education of the youths in the best period of Greek antiquity was to train a citizen, capable in body and mind, who should be able to serve his country as well in war as in peace, in a public as in a private capacity, while all special development of any branch of learning, except, of course, the gymnastic element, was excluded. This is the more comprehensible since Greek antiquity was unacquainted with the higher professions in our sense of the word.

There is far less to be said about the education of girls, since no regular instruction was given. The sphere to which women were confined in all the Greek states was the household, and their position, especially in the Ionic states, was so distinctly a subordinate one that it was not considered desirable to give them also regular teaching. In consequence there were no girls’ schools; girls belonging to the better classes were taught a little reading and writing by their mothers or nurses—the women of the lower classes did not learn even this—and, with the addition of some superficial knowledge of religion and mythology, such as could be acquired from stories or by reading the poets, this constituted all the intellectual development which fell to the lot of the girls. Sometimes a little musical instruction was also given, and even in the Ionic states there were some exceptions, since we hear of women of higher intellectual development. As a rule, it was only the hetaerae, whose freer intercourse with men enabled them to gain from them more extensive literary culture; and as a consequence we find that even men of high intellectual powers chose to associate with these persons, and that at Athens, at any rate, the men who desired the stimulus of intercourse with intellectual women, were bound to seek it from this class. The fault was, of course, their own, since the semi-Oriental system of shutting off women from the outer world and degrading them into mere managers of the household, necessarily lowered the average culture of women. Still, it sometimes happened that a man who had married a young open-minded girl contrived to raise her up intellectually to himself, and to develop her powers, as Xenophon has shown in his Oikonomikos.

On the other hand, Greek women appear to have been experienced in feminine arts—such as spinning and weaving, sewing and embroidery, accomplishments which they certainly learnt from their mothers and nurses. No regular instruction was given in them, or in cooking, an art with which Greek women were undoubtedly well acquainted. This system of educating girls did not, however, meet with general approval, for we find that Plato, in his “Laws,” prescribes regular school instruction for girls in the subjects required for women, and also musical and even gymnastic training. These principles were, however, never practically realised at Athens, though elsewhere the conditions may have been different, since an inscription from Teos of somewhat late date makes express mention of instruction given in common to boys and girls.

It was a natural consequence of the very different position occupied by women at Athens and Sparta, that the latter had a very different education from the Athenian women. Though the young Spartan maidens did not, like the boys, associate together in clubs, but remained with their families, yet the State took cognisance of these also, and especially prescribed for them gymnastic training, which was in essentials the same as that given to the boys, though with

Fig. 77.

corresponding modifications, in order to develop and strengthen their bodies. Of course, they had their own special schools for this purpose, distinct from those of the boys, where they were instructed in running, jumping, wrestling, throwing the spear and quoit, as well as in several exercises in running and springing, which were partly of a military character, partly allied with dancing. For this purpose they wore a special dress; Fig. 77 shows us a female racer from Elis. The statue which is in the Vatican is in the ancient style, and represents a robust girl clad in a short chiton, with a girdle descending only a little way below the hips, and leaving the right breast exposed. This special dress used for gymnastic exercises must not, however, be confused with that in which the Spartan ladies usually appeared, though this, too, as already stated (page 39), differed from the ordinary dress of Greek girls. In spite, however, of this dress, and of the fact that youths and maidens, who in the Ionic states scarcely ever met each other except at religious festivals, were brought into frequent contact at Sparta, especially at public contests, games, choruses, etc., the Spartan women bore an unstained reputation. The system of physical exercises produced healthy women, strongly built, with blooming complexions; and it also implanted and developed in them the manly and determined spirit for which the Laconian women and mothers were distinguished. Yet, even at Sparta, there was no question of intellectual training for the girls; and, indeed, as we have already seen, even in the case of the boys, it was regarded as far less important than physical education.