Meta Description: Join Dr. Jeff Winkle and Dr. David Noe in Ad Navseam Episode 137 as they explore Henri-Irénée Marrou’s history of ancient education. Discover the shift from Spartan warriors to Athenian scribes, the high costs of chariot racing, apotropaic chickens, and how to master the Latin language.
Introduction: The Bunker, the Crud, and the Crazy Chicken
Welcome back, classical gourmands, to Episode 137 of the Ad Navseam Podcast! Broadcasting from the familiar confines of the subterranean bunker—affectionately known as the vomitorium, where the boys take in the classics and desperately try to keep them down—your hosts, Dr. Jeff Winkle and Dr. David Noe, are battling through the seasonal crud. Jeff recently recovered from some debilitating stomach issues and is now fighting off sinus problems, while Dave is dealing with the exact same traveling illness. Boasting a highly raspy voice, Dave likens himself to a “podcaster in a resonance”.
Despite their physical ailments, the terrible puns remain entirely unaffected. Dave opens the show with a highly amusing anecdote from his recent commute. While driving near the intersection of 28th Street and 131, he drove past a location of the restaurant chain El Pollo Loco (Spanish for “the crazy chicken”). Looking closely at the logo over the door, he noticed something deeply disturbing: the cartoon chicken features not only standard wings, but also an additional set of massive, brawny, muscular human arms.
When Dave pointed out the aggressively jacked poultry to his children, they astutely replied, “I think it can take you, Dad”. Jeff admits he has zero desire to go “toe-to-toe” with an armed and winged chicken, deciding to avoid the establishment entirely. Bringing it back to the ancient world, the hosts cleverly compare the muscular chicken logo to an apotropaic symbol. Much like the ancient Greeks placed terrifying griffin heads on the rims of bronze cauldrons at Delphi to scare away evil spirits, El Pollo Loco apparently uses a terrifying, bicep-heavy chicken to aggressively scare away potential customers.
The Ultimate Polyglot: A Shout-Out to Steve Westfall
Before diving into the heavy historical texts, the hosts read a massive, highly impressive piece of listener mail from Steve Westfall. Steve requested they edit his long-winded message profusely, but the boys decide his academic journey is far too fascinating to cut down.
Steve’s educational background is a sprawling odyssey. He began his studies at Southern Methodist University (SMU) in Dallas before transferring to the University of Texas at Austin, eventually completing a Master of Theology (ThM) program at the Dallas Theological Seminary. Steve’s linguistic resume is staggering; throughout his career, he has studied Koine Greek, Biblical Hebrew, Aramaic, and the highly obscure Northwest Semitic language of Ugaritic. He later moved to a doctoral program at the University of Chicago, studying at the Oriental Institute and the Divinity School. There, he tackled Akkadian, reading historical texts like Sennacherib’s prism inscription, which boasts of shutting up King Hezekiah in Jerusalem “like a bird in a cage”.
Steve also audited French and took intensive reading courses. In a masterful display of academic synergy, Steve once found himself needing to read an important article written in Italian regarding a Punic inscription. By combining his knowledge of French with a foundational understanding of the Latin language, he successfully deciphered the Italian text and cited it in his paper. As a fun personal connection, Steve’s son David actually traveled to Greece as a student of Dr. Noe and Dr. Winkle back in 2011. Today, Steve serves as a ruling elder in the Evangelical Presbyterian Church in the Chicago area, continues to teach Greek to eager parishioners, and actively attends the Evangelical Theological Society meetings. The hosts express their deep gratitude for Steve’s generous patronage and lifelong dedication to learning.
Marrou Part 4: From Warriors to Scribes
The main agenda for Episode 137 is continuing the ongoing series covering Henri-Irénée Marrou’s landmark 1956 book, A History of Education in Antiquity. In Part 4 of this series, the hosts tackle Chapter 4, which Marrou titles “The Old Athenian Education” (using the Greek phrase He Archaia Paideia borrowed from the playwright Aristophanes). This era covers the first half of the fifth century BC, right before the massive educational shifts sparked by the Sophists and the execution of Socrates in 399 BC.
Marrou’s central thesis in this section is that Athens represents the decisive historical step away from a primitive “warrior culture” to a highly developed “scribe culture”. While Spartan education was a brutal, heavily regimented 13-year boot camp designed exclusively to produce hoplite soldiers, Athenian education looked vastly different. In fact, military training played such a minimal role in the early education of young Athenian citizens that historians seriously doubt it even existed in any formal capacity during this era. The famous Ephebia (a system of compulsory military training for 18-to-20-year-olds) did not fully develop until the time of the Peloponnesian War (431-404 BC).
Why did this demilitarization occur? Marrou points out that the democratic tactic of deploying heavy infantry in a massive, coordinated phalanx simply did not require the elaborate, individualized technical combat skills of the ancient Homeric heroes. The citizen-soldier was merely a cog in the martial machine, meaning 24/7 combat training was no longer culturally necessary. Furthermore, the historian Thucydides notes that the Athenians were the very first Greeks to abandon the archaic practice of walking the city streets fully armed, consciously adopting a more civilized, peaceful daily existence.
The Birth of the School and Formula One Chariots
As Athenian society shifted away from strict militarism, education became increasingly democratized. Because the new curriculum was intended for all free men, it required a collective, centralized character, which directly led to the creation and development of the formal “school”. Marrou argues this was a decisive step of paramount importance in the history of human civilization.
However, the old landed aristocracy deeply resented this democratization. Elite aristocratic poets like Theognis and Pindar viewed the development of common schools with profound scorn and suspicion. They clung to the archaic belief that true arete (virtue or excellence) was strictly a matter of noble bloodline and could never be taught to commoners.
To distinguish themselves from the common craftsmen and shopkeepers who were now receiving basic education, the aristocrats aggressively leaned into highly exclusive, wildly expensive pastimes. Chief among these was chariot racing. Dave accurately equates ancient chariot racing to modern Formula One auto racing. The sheer cost of acquiring horses, maintaining the chariots, and outfitting a racing team required millions of dollars of equivalent wealth, completely barring the average citizen from participation.
The cultural tension surrounding this elite hobby is brilliantly captured in Aristophanes’ comedic play, The Clouds. The play features an old, thrifty country farmer whose aristocratic wife forces him to name their son Pheidippides (a high-class name containing the root word hippos, meaning horse). True to his name, the young man grows his hair long, dreams endlessly of chariot racing, and completely bankrupts his father with equestrian debts, perfectly symbolizing the dissolute, wasteful life of the Athenian upper class.
Solon’s Shield and the Fleeting Ideal of Kalokagathia
The curriculum of this old Athenian education was strictly two-sided: gymnastics for the body and music for the soul. Wealthy families hired private professional coaches (paidotribes) to prepare their children for elite athletic contests like the javelin, discus, wrestling, and long jump. In terms of literary education, the Greeks relied heavily on the poet and statesman Solon. Acting as a national spokesman and educational authority, Solon used his elegiac couplets to bridge the widening gap between the wealthy elites and the democratic commoners, famously writing that he defended both groups with a “strong shield” to prevent unjust bullying.
The ultimate guiding ethical ideal of this era was encapsulated in a single word: kalokagathia (being a man who is both physically beautiful and morally good). However, Marrou is quick to explode the modern, romanticized myth that the Greeks sustained this harmonious synthesis of bodily perfection and elevated thought for very long. If this ideal was ever truly achieved, it existed only in a fleeting moment of unstable equilibrium. Ultimately, Greek education shifted to become overwhelmingly intellectual, heavily influenced by brilliant but physically unremarkable men like the famously ugly Socrates and the chronically ill Epicurus.
Sponsors: Fueling the Classical Renaissance
Before the hosts succumb entirely to their sinus infections, they extend a hearty thanks to the sponsors keeping the bunker illuminated.
- Ratio Coffee: Stop settling for cheap machines that ruin your morning with a harsh “brackish tang”. Upgrade your countertop with the beautiful Ratio 8 or Ratio 6. Featuring a stainless steel or hand-blown borosilicate carafe, these machines utilize an advanced bloom method to perfectly off-gas CO2, keeping your coffee piping hot and perfectly brewed for hours. Visit ratiocoffee.com and use the coupon code ANCO5R for 15% off your order.
- Hackett Publishing: For 53 years, Hackett has been the absolute gold standard for providing affordable, highly attractive, and incredibly accurate translations of the classics. Whether you need Stanley Lombardo’s Homer or obscure texts from East Asian studies, Hackett has you covered. Go to hackettpublishing.com and use the code AN2023 for 20% off your entire order and free shipping.
- The Moss Method & Latin Per Diem: Ready to read the texts without relying on a translation? Dave’s Moss Method will take your ancient Greek from “neophyte to erudite,” complete with interactive weekly office hours. Alternatively, sign up to master the Latin language using Hans Ørberg’s Lingua Latina Per Se Illustrata at latinperdiem.com/llpsi. Use the code 10PLUS for a 10% discount.
The Gustatory Parting Shot
To close out Episode 137, Jeff delivers an excellent Gustatory Parting Shot pulled from the pages of John Steinbeck’s classic novel, Tortilla Flat.
“Beans are a warm cloak against economic cold.”
While Dave struggles to conceptualize wearing a literal garment made of legumes, Jeff wisely points out that the ancient Pythagoreans (who held a strict religious taboo against eating beans) would undoubtedly despise this quote.Drink your coffee, study your conjugations, and keep taking in the classics. Valete!
