The aim of this paper is to bring new light to the figure of the paedagogus, so marginal in the studies of education in Roman times, by demonstrating his active involvement in elementary education. The paedagogus, unlike other figures connected with teaching at the canonical three different levels (litterator/ludi magister, grammaticus, rhetor), has been relegated to the margins of education in the ancient world, downgraded to a mere guide from home to the ludus and vice versa. The only role recognized to him, in the albeit extensive bibliography on the subject, is one of responsibility and moral supervision to protect the safety of the puer, without admitting any specific didactic function. Various literary sources seem to lay against this traditional interpretation, confirmed by an inscription from Rome (CIL, VI 2210), placed by a woman to her teacher, defined as paedagogus and with Greek expression καθηγητής.
Il paedagogus, una figura marginale nell'istruzione del puer? Osservazioni sulla documentazione epigrafica e letteraria a Roma tra Repubblica e Principato / Turrisi, Sergio. - (2024), pp. 3-9.
Il paedagogus, una figura marginale nell'istruzione del puer? Osservazioni sulla documentazione epigrafica e letteraria a Roma tra Repubblica e Principato.
Sergio Turrisi
2024
Abstract
The aim of this paper is to bring new light to the figure of the paedagogus, so marginal in the studies of education in Roman times, by demonstrating his active involvement in elementary education. The paedagogus, unlike other figures connected with teaching at the canonical three different levels (litterator/ludi magister, grammaticus, rhetor), has been relegated to the margins of education in the ancient world, downgraded to a mere guide from home to the ludus and vice versa. The only role recognized to him, in the albeit extensive bibliography on the subject, is one of responsibility and moral supervision to protect the safety of the puer, without admitting any specific didactic function. Various literary sources seem to lay against this traditional interpretation, confirmed by an inscription from Rome (CIL, VI 2210), placed by a woman to her teacher, defined as paedagogus and with Greek expression καθηγητής.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.