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Education for Girls in Ancient Rome

The upbringing and education of girls in ancient Rome are rarely addressed in ancient sources. A young Roman girl from an affluent family married very young, often in her mid-teens, and girls, according to tradition, were brought up solely for marriage and to bear children. A Roman girl's formal education, mainly dictated by the prospect of early betrothal, was short-lived.

"Sappho" fresco, Pompeii

Carole Raddato (CC BY-SA)

Although education was seen as crucial to self-advancement, the Roman education system was directed towards a young boy's 'career' in politics or in the Roman law courts. It prepared the boy for his entrance into public life and was key to him obtaining a prominent position in Roman government and society.

The Roman Education System

Formal education for children began at about the age of seven years; girls from affluent and elite levels of society would have received an elementary education at home from a private tutor, as would the boys. However, if a father did not employ private tutors, children may have been enrolled in schools outside of the home. This early education for both sexes would have included reading, writing, maths, and Greek and Latin literature. Plutarch (c.45-50 to c.120-125 CE) writes of nine-year-old Pompeia, daughter of Pompey, proudly reciting verses to her father from Homer's Illiad (Quaest. Conv. 9.1.3).

On completion of this elementary level, boys aged around 12, progressed onto classes at the school of the grammaticus, where they would develop and refine their writing and speaking skills as well as study philosophy, astronomy, and natural science; it is here that boys also began their preparation for oratorical studies. Girls did not attend the schools of the grammaticus. At the age of 15 or so, having possibly assumed the adult toga as part of a Roman boy's rite of passage, boys then moved on to the rhetor where they would learn to become skilful orators, study law, politics, astronomy, geography, Roman and Greek literature, philosophy and mythology. The wealthy young males might then further their education by joining fellow Roman students in Athens and other intellectual centres in the Far East. Roman girls by the age of 15, could already be married, could already be mothers, and if not, they were being prepared to be such.

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Education in Roman Spain

There was no compulsory state education for children in any of the western provinces of the Roman Empire. The primary sources are sparse when it comes to the education in Roman Spain, and while some scholars argue for a network of schools, others suggest that in the remoter areas of Spain sourcing Latin and Greek speaking teachers may have been difficult, and Roman education had geographical limitations.

Teachers in Roman Spain

In 197 BCE, the Roman Republic divided the peninsula into Hispania Citerior (near) and Hispania Ulterior (far). In 27 BCE, Marcus Agrippa further divided the Ulterior region into Baetica (the modern-day Andalusia area) and Lusitania (the area of western Spain & part of modern-day Portugal).

Our sources indicate that Roman educational influence in these provinces was expanding sufficiently to require the services of teachers. The homogeneity in the style and content of education in the whole of the Roman Empire was striking; the same methods were used, and the same texts were worked on everywhere. Teaching was seen as a humble position; the average teacher was a man of lower social status who worked independently and had to maintain himself in a schooling system without any support from the Roman government. He worked for a low income, with which he had to also provide a teaching space, whether it was outdoors or beneath shelters or in hired rooms.

Inscriptions provide us with the evidence of the presence of the three principal categories of Roman educators:

The magister or litterator provided an elementary Roman education for girls and boys aged 7-11 years old, which included reading, writing, mathematics, and languages.

The grammaticus worked with boys aged 11-15 years old (in accordance with the role of women in the Roman world, girls generally finished their formal education at this age), teaching subjects such as Greek and Roman literature and philosophy and developing their writing, speech, and language skills.

The rhetor trained students in subjects including public speaking, Roman law and politics; education at this level was only affordable for the upper classes, and it prepared a young boy for his future career and position in the higher echelons of Roman society.

Inscriptions confirm that in Baetica and Tarraconensis and other areas in the eastern and southern coasts of Hispania, children were learning with a grammaticus (CIL II. 5079). Roman studies for boys sometimes also continued with the rhetor.

⇒ Education in Roman Spain

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Roman Education

Roman education had its first 'primary schools' in the 3rd century BCE, but they were not compulsory and depended entirely on tuition fees. There were no official schools in Rome, nor were there buildings used specifically for the purpose. Wealthy families employed private tutors to teach their children at home, while less well-off children were taught in groups.

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Homeschooling with a tutor, about 200 AD in the Roman Empire. Homeschooling was a popular option in the ancient world, especially for girls. #homeschooling #tutor #girlseducation #notbacktoschool #ancientrome #romaneducation

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