Education.
There were five periods in the life of the Persian. The first ended at the fifth year, or, as some claim, at the seventh year; the second period ended with the fifteenth year; the third ended at twenty-five; the fourth ended at fifty, and the fifth period was the time after fifty years of age.
During the first period the child was under the care of the mother and the other women of the family. "'Up to the fifth year,' Herodotus tells us, 'they are not allowed to come into the sight of their father, but pass their lives with the women. This is done that if the child die young, the father would not be afflicted with the loss.'"[140] The child was not supposed to be capable of distinguishing between right and wrong, and so he was taught simply to obey the directions given him. A child was not to be whipped before his seventh year, and he was to receive only kind treatment.
At the close of this first period, at the end of the fifth year, the boy left his mother and went into the care of the state. This second period was a time of physical training. The boy was given exercises in running, stone slinging, bow shooting, and javelin throwing. He was taught to ride, and, later, to hunt. He was trained to endure heat and cold and hunger and fatigue. Through the national traditions, the boys learned of the doings of the heroes and the meaning of noble deeds. They were taught to speak the truth and learned to be just and pure and courageous and to gain self-control. They were instructed in the myths of the gods and other religious matters, and about the fifteenth year the boys were invested with the holy girdle.
At fifteen the boy entered the youth period. During this period military training was the great exercise. The youth received careful training in the use of military implements, in the knowledge of military terms and usages, and given the strict discipline of military life. "The Magi required a higher education. This must have consisted in the study and explanation of the sacred writings, and may have included a limited training in philosophy, astrology, medicine, law, and finance, so that they were able to become advisers to the Great King and his satraps."[141]
At twenty-five the youth was considered a man and he took his place as a citizen of the state and he continued in service till his fiftieth year.
Girls received no education other than that of domestic training, such as was needed in the care of the home, the rearing of the little children, and the other duties that would come to the women. Women held a higher place in the family than was granted to them, for the most part, in other oriental countries.
There was no educational system in Persia. There was no real method of instruction. Perhaps no other nation gave more care to the moral and physical training of the young than did ancient Persia, yet this was to the almost entire neglect of intellectual training. The moral training came through the mingling of the young with their elders and the military training through imitation of the men at the various courts. "We know, however, from Strabo and the general evidence of antiquity that the boys of the higher classes were brought up together under men of gravity and reputation at the court of the great king, and also at the lesser courts of the great nobles and provincial governors."[142]
Persian life and education tended toward individuality. Caste with its repressive influence did not exist in ancient Persia. The national feeling was intense. The government was despotic. The ethical aim was high and the individual was encouraged to high standards of courage, truthfulness, and purity. But in spite of this,(the education was faulty in that the individual was trained so strongly in warfare as to overshadow the ethical side.) As long as Persia was struggling the ethical standards were maintained alongside the standards of war so that the individual and the nation could keep right. But when conquests came, bringing wealth and power and the lower ethical standards of other nations, the Persians were unable to bear the strain and so degeneration went forward fast and the nation found itself unable to withstand the more vigorous peoples that came against it under Alexander and so the empire fell, leaving but little impress on civilization.