EDUCATION AND CHILDHOOD IN ANCIENT THOUGHT

The course of Education and Childhood in Ancient Thought aims to provide the student, on the one hand, with a broad and in-depth overview of the Greek origins of the history of education and, on the other, a discussion on historical, archaeological and literary sources on the opinion that the ancient Greeks (poets, philosophers, doctors) had of infancy. Studying thoroughly the original phases of the history of education, the student will understand that modern pedagogy has ancient roots, as evidenced by the vocabulary used by it, which refers to terms of the ancient Greek vocabulary, beginning with paideia (from which pedagogy, pedagogue).

The course is divided into two interconnected parts, the first of which concerns the history of education in its Greek origins, the second relates to the history of childhood and the consideration of ancient thinkers (poets, philosophers, scientists, doctors) about it.

The first part of the course will be addressed through the study of a dated but classic text, the History of education of Henri-Irenée Marrou, primary and indispensable source for every modern and contemporary study on the subject. The second part will see the deepening of a particular theme: the phenomenon of exposure or abandonment of children in ancient times.

Contents of the first part of the course: the concept of paideia. Chivalric morality. The "Hellenic Middle Ages". Homer, educator of Greece. Education in Sparta in the classical age. Education in Athens in the classical age. Pederastic education. Gymnastics and music, at the base of Greek education. The philosophical schools. The sophists, the first professors of our history. Plato's educational project. Philosophy and rhetoric compared. The birth of the school in the Hellenistic age: structure, educational agents and educational contents.

Contents of the second part of the course: the phenomenon of abandonment or exposure of children and girls in the Greek world; motivations and purposes.

1. H.I. Marrou, Storia dell’educazione nell’antichità, ed. Studium, Roma 2008 (pp. 11-304)

2. B.C. Delgado, Storia dell'infanzia, Bari, Dedalo 2002 (pp. 41-58)

3. G. Crocetti, Bambini esposti: l'infanzia nel ventre della cultura occidentale. Implicazioni dinamiche ed etiche, Roma, Armando 1998.