National Geographic History - July 2019

HOMER,

TEACHER OF

THE GREEKS

AN EPIC TASK

Greek schoolchildren

were required to memorize

sections of the Iliad and the

Odyssey. These epic poems,

attributed to Homer,

were about 300 years

old by the fifth century B.C.

and well established as

literary classics of the day,

much like Shakespeare’s

plays would be today.

The keystone of Greek

education, Homeric epics

imparted not only literacy,

but also virtues of bravery,

loyalty, piety, perseverance,

and humanism. The

thinker Isocrates believed

Homer’s works stimulated

patriotism among the

youth during Athens’s

war against Persia. In his

Republic, Plato described

how Greeks regarded

Homer as “the teacher of

Greece... [who]

on questions of

human conduct

and culture

deserves to

be constantly

studied as

a guide by

whom to

regulate your

whole life.”

CULTIVATING THE MIND
This scene on an Attic cup from the
mid-fifth century B.C. shows the
poet Linos reading a papyrus while
his young pupil Mousaios stands in
front of him holding a wax writing
tablet. Louvre Museum, Paris

H. LEWANDOWSKI/RMN-GRAND PALAIS

A PAIDAGOGOS HOLDS

A BAG OF JACKS, SMALL

BONES USED FOR PLAYING

WITH. TERRACOTTA

FIGURINE. LOUVRE

MUSEUM, PARIS

HERVÉ LEWANDOWSKI/RMN-GRAND PALAIS