The pedagogue in antiquity

Abstract

In antiquity, when a child grew out of his nurse's care and was of an age to be sent to school, he was delivered to a pedagogue whose basic duty was, according to the literal meaning of the term', to conduct the child to school and supervise his conduct. Although the pedagogue's contribution to the education of the young man throughout the period of antiquity is unquestionable, modern students of the history of education have often placed little emphasis upon his educative role.2 It is not clear at what period children were first entrusted to the care of pedagogues. Phoenix3 and Cheiron, Achilles' tutors, were the first (mythical) pedagogues in ancient Greece. In historic times, the employment of the pedagogue was so popular that references to him abound in classical and post-classical literature. For instance, we read in Herodotus4 that Sicinnus was the tutor of Themistocles' sons; Euripides5 and Sophocles6 speak of the aged pedagogue ofAgamemnon. Plato7 refers to the pedagogue of two brothers, Lysis and Menexenus. Further, Plutarch8, Lucian9, Libanius'o and some outstanding figures of the fourth century A.D. make numerous allusions to the pedagogue and his functions.