Abstract:

The paper makes an overview of the education in ancient Greek and Roman civilizations, and provides examples to emphasize the contributions of Greeks and Romans to the medical education and terminology formation since most medical terms derive from ancient Greek and Latin. The educational history of ancient Greek and Rome reveal the origins of culture and education. The Greeks define the role of education in forming good citizens and understand the importance of interrelating enculturation as an immersion and participation in the city-state’s total culture through formal education. However, there were gender differences – male education versus female education because the male-dominated society allowed only a minority of exceptional women to receive any formal education. The poetess Sappho founded a school for women in Mytilene, on the island of Lesbos, and played an important role in the education of women for their own personal self-development focusing on the cult rituals and decorative arts and skills. As for Rome, only a minority of Romans was formally educated in private schools which were attended only by males who could afford to pay tuition. Greeks and Romans had different approaches for education: the former debated philosophical issues, while the latter focused on educating agile politicians and skilled administrators and their educational ideal was oratory. The paper concludes that, over the centuries, the Greek and Latin medical education acted as a hallmark for the western culture of well-being and education and, above all, it enhanced vocational training.

Keywords:

Education, Greek influence, Roman influence, medical terminology, vocational training.