Education, Greco-Roman

As a title, “Greco-Roman education” implicates both subject-matter and chronological boundaries. The phrase has traditionally referred to systems or patterns of elite education in the Mediterranean world which were initiated by Greeks after a long period of development in the Archaic and classical periods and whose principal elements were subsequently adopted, and adapted as necessary, by the Romans. These systems and patterns evolved during the Hellenistic period and are the ones that Romans encountered when they were first making sustained, substantial diplomatic, military, and social contacts with Greeks in the 3rd century bce and later. The structure of this education permitted considerable variation, but at its core it relied on literacy and the development of verbal dexterity. In its most developed form it expressed itself through the display of rhetoric, though some students pursued the study of philosophy instead of or in addition to rhetoric (Cicero is the most celebrated example of someone who studied both subjects at a high level). Much of this bibliography is dedicated to a consideration of the many elements of “literate education” in the Greco-Roman world, including female participation in it, but it takes account of other forms of training as well. Civic education, especially mandatory military service, is covered, as is apprenticeship and the education and training of slaves. The evidence and source-materials that are the focus of the scholarship discussed here extend to the end of Antiquity, and in some cases beyond.