The Role Of Slaves In Athenian Education

The civilization of ancient Greece was so glorious that attracted worldwideattention. Western scholar Edith Hamilton once claimed: What was then produced ofart and of thought has never been surpassed and very rarely equaled, and the stamp ofit is upon all the art and all the thought of the western world.μ Greece created a uniquecultural tradition and produced numerous civilizations. It was supreme in the eyes ofWesterners. In addition to political and economic reasons, the brilliant achievement ofAncient Greece also owed to its education system. As we all know, education reflectsnational characteristics, and it is ties of the heritage of civilization. From the ClassicalAge on, the education in Greek states began to come to prosperity step by step,especially in Athens. After the Persian Wars, the development in politics, economicsand culture promoted its advancement in education system, before long, it stood out innumerous Greek city-states, and was superior to any other education systems inslavery society. The special status and role of slaves in Athens, especially those whomastered knowledge, contributed a lot to the development of education in Athens. Asfor the prosperity of education in Athens, the majority of scholars attribute it to theeconomical development of commerce and industry and the emergence of democracy,as well as the activities of Sophists. However, few of them pay enough attention to therole of slaves in the development of education. In light of this, I intend to takeeducation in Athens as my research object. On the basis of ancient Greek literature,referring to modern theses and monographs, and through the discussion on slaves living condition and the development situation of education in Classical Age, I willlook into what the slaves function was in Athens education, in order to get a morecomprehensive understanding of the education system and ancient slavery in Athens.This study is divided into three parts: The first part describes the basic situationof slaves in ancient Greek, including the facts related to the resources, the number,their social status and their participation in labor, and then analyzes the educationallevel and literacy of slaves. The second part introduces the development level ofeducation in ancient Athens, family education, school education and social educationincluded. I will focus on the historical facts about the identity of teachers andpedagogue involving in education. The third part discusses the role that slaves actedin the development of education. Acting as teachers, tutors or Pedagogue, and the participation in literary activities, these facts shows that slaves used to perform theirduty in ancient Greek society, especially promoted the development of education inAthens. As for different sources of slaves have different cultural qualities We have toadmit that the slaves had certain limitation in knowledge, and this could lead to somenegative effects when involving educational activities. But in general, their positiveimpact is overwhelming.