From book: "Education In Antiquity"
"The historian [H.I. Marrou] seeks to correct an error in perspective: as they appear in our own classical culture the Greeks were primarily poets, philosophers and mathematicians; and when we pay homage to their artistic genius we mean their architecture and sculpture. . . . Our scholars and teachers pay less attention to their music than to their ceramics! And yet they looked upon themselves first and foremost as musicians.
"Greek culture and education were artistic rather than scientific, and Greek art was musical before it became literary and plastic. It was 'the lyre and sprightly dancing and singing' that summed up civilized life for Theognis. As Plato says bluntly: 'Anyone who cannot take his place in a choir (i.e. as both singer and dancer) is not truly educated.'"
A HISTORY OF EDUCATION IN ANTIQUITY, book by H.I. Marrou, Translated by George Lamb - Ch. 4, The "Old" Athenian Education [475 B.C.].
References:
Theognis - I, 791.
Plato - Leg., II, 654ab.
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1 comment:
Thought these gems reflect the light of your post:
"A rock pile ceases to be a rock pile the moment a single man contemplates it, bearing within him the image of a cathedral."
-- Antoine De Saint-Exupery
"I am enough of an artist to draw freely upon my imagination. Imagination is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited. Imagination encircles the world."
-- Albert Einstein
"Everything has beauty, but not everyone sees it."
-- Confucius
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