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Document Details : Title: Class and Society in the Cities of the Greek East Subtitle: Education during the Ephebeia Author(s): HIN, Saskia Journal: Ancient Society Volume: 37 Date: 2007 Pages: 141-166 DOI: 10.2143/AS.37.0.2024036 Abstract : This article focuses on the character and objectives of the ephebeia during the Hellenistic and Roman periods. Communis opinio holds that the post-classical ephebeia was an institution that aimed at preparing the sons of the elite for their future leading roles in the cities of the Greek East. Scholars have found confirmation of its elitist character in the downward slide of the age of admission into the ephebeia as compared to classical Athens. Its brief duration would moreover testify to the need to have their preparation completed as soon as possible. The inclusion of horse-riding on the program and the required level of intellectual education were thought to have put up barriers that excluded adolescents of lower rank. However, as I hope to show in the following, the epigraphic record does not support this sketch of the character of the post-classical ephebeia. Rather, it indicates that members were a more mixed group; that they were not particularly young and that duration of membership was flexible. Focus was on sports and moral rather than intellectual skills, with rewards given for ‘discipline’ and ‘diligence’ and ties with civic life closely knit. The purpose of creating a leading class was achieved not by exclusivity in membership, but by the establishment of an internal hierarchy amongst a wider group of participants that replicated the prevailing social structure of the cities. The ephebeia prepared both elite sons and non-aristocratic adolescents for civic life. |
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