Ancient Greek term for education or culture, in which music played an important part. Probably its first recorded use occurs in Aeschylus's Seven against Thebes (18; 467 bce), where it refers to rearing a child; but during the same period Pindar used the corresponding verb paideuō of education. The minimal elementary education of that time was supervised by the grammatistēs, who taught reading, writing, arithmetic and literature; the study of literature was based on memorization and recitation of passages from the poets, especially Homer, with the passages chosen for their moral character. These studies might be supplemented by gumnastikē, physical training (with aulos accompaniment for rhythm and timing, and often dance-like), taught by the paidotribēs; and mousikē, principally the learning of poetic texts together with their lyre accompaniments but also training in the expressive recitation of epic and gnomic poetry, taught by the kitharistēs. Education in specialized subjects had to be obtained on an individually arranged basis from an expert. These teachers, who came to be known as sophists, travelled from city to city providing instruction for a fee. A particularly famous sophist, Hippias of Elis, offered letures in arithmetic, geometry, music theory and astronomy, a combination of disciplines adopted by Plato (cf Hippias Minor, Hippias Major and the Republic) and eventually passed on to the Middle Ages by Boethius in the form of his Quadrivium. Most of the sophists, however, concentrated on literature and rhetoric.
During the 5th century bce paideia came to denote ‘culture’, the harmonious development of mind and body that produced a lasting attitude towards life. In the 4th century bce various schools were founded for higher learning, in particular by Isocrates (c392), Plato (the Academy, c385) and Aristotle (the Lyceum, 335). Isocrates and Aristotle were, on the whole, less interested in the musical aspects of paideia, while Plato continued to regard music as a subject of central importance. In the Hellenistic period, a system of secondary education evolved in the gumnasia, at least one of which was established in most important cities. The curriculum concentrated on literature, mathematical and natural sciences (including music), and philosophy. Elementary and secondary education together with the influences of home and society came to be regarded as engkuklios paideia, an ideal that lasted (to some extent) until the end of the ancient world.
See also Education, classical; and Ethos.
W. Jaegar: Paideia: die Formung des griechischen Menschen (Berlin, 1934, 4/1959; Eng. trans., 1954–61)
H.I. Marrou: Histoire de l'éducation dans l'antiquité (Paris, 1948, 6/1965; Eng. trans., 1956/R)
E. Koller: ‘Engkyklios paideia’ [General education], Glotta, xxxiv (1955), 174–89
E. Koller: ‘Musse und musische Paideia’, Museum helveticum, xiii (1956), 1–37, 94–124
W.D. Anderson: Ethos and Education in Greek Music (Cambridge, MA, 1966)
K. Ioannides: Rhuthmos kai harmonia: hē ousia tēs mousikēs kai tou chorou stēn platōnikē paideia [Rhythm and harmony: the essence of music and dance in Platonic education] (Leukosia, 1973)
C. Lord: Education and Culture in the Political Thought of Aristotle (Ithaca, NY, 1982)
THOMAS J. MATHIESEN