LA PAIDEIA A TRAVÉS DE LA LITERATURA GRIEGA: DEL TRIUNFO INDIVIDUAL AL BIENESTAR SOCIAL

Abstract

This work proposes a reflection on the integral formation of the human being, a problem in force to this day, in Greek civilization, since in it literature had to fulfill a privileged place. The success of a good education translates into personal and social achievement and recognition. The tragic contests, whose spectators did not have any economic impediment that prevented them from attending thanks to the theorikón (public money destined to the payment of tickets to the theater), are proof of the presence of the dramatic genre in the representation of characters whose events had precipitated them to misfortune in the tragic genre but also success in comedy. The famous passage from Aristophanes Frogs 1053-6 places the teacher of children on a level of equality with the poet for adults. Lyric poetry is also a teaching tool for Theognis who advises his young lover Cyrnus how to adapt his behavior in order to achieve success in his life. Solon, a politician, anguished by the dangers that could loom over Athens, exhorts his fellow citizens to live according to criteria based on justice. Xenophon recreates an  image of Cyrus as the ideal sovereign who has managed to forge a vast empire, thanks to his personal qualities, lineage and education. Ischomachus, main character of the story in the mouth of Socrates in the Oeconomicus also by Xenophon, owes much of his prosperity to the teachings that he has transmitted to his young wife. Ultimately, Herodas's Mime III "The Teacher" offers a real painting of education in antiquity in which blows were part of it.