What was a paedagogus in ancient Greece?
In ancient Greece, a paidagogos was a slave assigned to supervise boys starting at the age of seven.
Short answers, pulled from the story.
In ancient Greece, a paidagogos was a slave assigned to supervise boys starting at the age of seven.
In the Roman Republic, a paedagogus was a slave or a freedman who taught the sons of Roman citizens the Greek language. Because the early Republic had no public schools, boys often learned to read and write from a paedagogus of Greek origin or from their own parents.
The paedagogium was the institution that the paedagogus came to direct during the Roman Empire. A graffito on the walls of the paedagogium of the Palatine depicts a paedagogus and reflects his social and cultural background as a slave.
A second century inscription dedicated to the Roman emperor Caracalla lists twenty-four paedagogi. In some cases the title of paedagogus was connected to private elite families.
In the imperial institution, paedagogus could mean a child's attendant or tutor rather than a teacher. A related sense of the title covered disciplina, academic and moral instruction, custodia, acting as companion and protector, and decorum, directing public behavior, while a third title, found in three inscriptions, meant the director of the paedagogium, called the praeceptor.
Being a paedagogus meant obeying conduct and duty laws that came with the role.