Chapter 254
Diónia's classroom was a cube with a height of 3.5 meters. It had a colonnaded structure. Other than the brick wall in the north, which was paved with cement and plaster to keep the wall smooth and painted black, the other three sides were transparent. The roof was supported by numerous stone pillars to ensure sufficient light, so it was an open building.
Before Patroclus entered the classroom, he saw that there were already many children sitting inside. If Patroclus didn't want to sit outside the stone pillars and be exposed to the sun for a long time, he could only sit in the back row. He wasn't very willing. When he saw that all the students were boys (although the Senate had agreed to the proposal that "girls could also study in the school," years of tradition still made it so that boys and girls couldn't be in the same classroom), his usual mischievous temperament began to show.
He carried the folding wooden chair, squeezed straight forward, and shouted, "Move back! Make way for me! "
Most of the boys in the classroom were only seven or eight years old, so the 13-year-old Patroclus seemed tall and strong. Everyone was afraid and had no choice but to move back, but a child stood up and accused Patroclus.
The two refused to give in to each other, and because of the conflict of words, they developed into a fight. When the teacher arrived, he saw that Patroclus had thrown the boy to the ground.
He hurried forward to stop them, and after asking about the cause of the fight, he immediately asked the culprit to stand outside the classroom.
Patroclus refused to accept it.
The teacher said sternly, "If you don't want to accept the punishment, then you don't have to come to school anymore!"
Although Patroclus was mischievous, he knew the severity of the situation, so he obediently walked out of the classroom. Who knew that the boy who was being beaten would take the opportunity to kick his butt, and the teacher was so angry that he shouted, "You also get out and stand outside!"
After dealing with the fight, the teacher placed a large hourglass on the wooden table, then sat on the wooden chair, took out the student roster, and said to the children sitting around him, "From today onwards, I will be the teacher in this classroom number one who will teach you how to read Greek. My name is Onatas …"
… …
"Hey, big guy, I'm Amyntas' adopted son, Stefos. What's your name?" The grudges between the boys came and went quickly. Standing outside the classroom, the helpless boy couldn't help but ask his opponent.
"Patroclus, son of Palliandorus," he replied casually. Then he thought of something and asked, "Your father is Amyntas! Which Amyntas?! "
"Of course it's the brave Amyntas of the First Legion!" Stefos said proudly.
"My father, Palliandorus, was a soldier under your father, Amyntas," Patroclus said in surprise.
Because of this, the two boys became close …
… …
In the past two years, one of the consequences of Dionysius's military operations to unify the southeastern part of Sicily was that many people in the southeastern city-states of Sicily were forced to flee their homes. Most of them were attracted by the Diónia Immigration Act and chose to come to Turií, which was not too far from Sicily.
As the first place that the Greeks colonized in the western Mediterranean, Sicily was not only developed in agriculture and commerce, but also had a closer cultural exchange with the Greek mainland. Its cultural heritage was deeper than that of the city-states of the Italian peninsula. Therefore, some Sicilians successfully passed the test organized by Ancitanos and became teachers of the Diónia Union. Onatas was one of them.
He chose to become a teacher of the newly established Diónia school. Although the salary was not as high as that of a private teacher, he could immediately become a citizen of Diónia and be given land.
The school did not have a unified teaching material. The content and progress of the teaching were decided by the teachers themselves. However, the school required that after three years, students in primary education must be able to recognize and write at least a thousand Greek words, read letters with accurate pronunciation, and write short and clear articles in fluent language so that the students could successfully pass the test and enter the secondary education. Every year, every teacher's teaching performance would be assessed. A teacher with poor performance for three consecutive years would be disqualified, which meant that he would be deprived of all the rights granted to teachers by the Diónia Union.
Therefore, Onatas felt a sense of urgency. As a highly educated and cultured person, he could not allow himself to lose to other teachers. However, when he first learned his knowledge, his parents hired a teacher to teach him one-on-one. Now, he had to face more than 30 students in school. How could he ensure the effectiveness of his teaching?
Onatas had thought about it carefully beforehand. As soon as he came in, he first punished the two children who were fighting. After taking roll call, he sternly emphasized the need to abide by the classroom's discipline. Students who violated the rules would be criticized and punished. In serious cases, they might even be expelled from school.
As a result, the noisy classroom became quiet.
Onatas was very satisfied with the result. He stood up and picked up a white pen from the wooden table. It was said that it was made by boiling limestone, mixing some animal fat and other substances, and then drying it in the sun. Onatas had tested it beforehand. The writing on the black wall was very clear. Even those standing at the back of the classroom could see it clearly.
Facing more than 30 pairs of curious eyes, Onatas could not help but sigh in his heart. A new city-state alliance actually placed so much importance on the education of its citizens. Not only did they establish a teaching system that was unprecedented in the Greek city-states, but they also used various favorable conditions to attract high-quality foreigners to be teachers. Even the teaching supplies were carefully researched and produced. The children living in this alliance were so lucky!
At this moment, he, who was already a citizen of Diónia, felt a sense of pride. He placed his left hand on the flat wall, and with his right hand, he wrote a string of letters on the wall. "Before I teach you the Greek alphabet, I want you to recognize the word 'Diónia'! It doesn't matter if you're a Greek or a Lucanian, you live in Diónia, grew up in Diónia, and will be a citizen of Diónia in the future. So, read it out loud with me, 'Diónia' … "
"Diónia!! … "
… …
For most of the children of citizens of the city-state, under the guidance of their parents, they began to learn to read at the age of six or seven. Therefore, compared to his classmates who eagerly answered the questions, Patroclus's learning progress was much more difficult.
However, when it came to arithmetic class, he showed a strong sensitivity to numbers. Even the teachers from the Institute of Mathematics paid attention to his performance.
At noon, the class ended.
Originally, the Greeks ate two meals a day in the morning and in the morning. Influenced by the Devers and military training, the citizens of Diónia had begun to get used to having three meals a day. Children living in Turií could go home for meals. Those who lived far away, like Patroclus, had been informed by the school in advance and prepared some dry food for lunch at noon. Some children had their lunch bought by domestic slaves in the city …
In the afternoon, it was mainly outdoor classes. Girls were taught dance and music, which was taught by the priests of the Temple of Hera. Boys were taught sports training, such as running, long jump, and some of the simplest military exercises, such as queuing, formation formation, marching as a whole, and so on. They were taught by disabled veterans, so that the children could cultivate a martial spirit from an early age. From an early age, they began to gradually understand and familiarize themselves with the formation changes and some basic tactics of the light and heavy infantry of Diónia. They also knew how to unite and cooperate. When they reached adulthood, they could easily integrate into the legion once they were recruited. In this regard, the Devers and the Senate learned some of the practices of Sparta.
After the military training, the children's favorite was a ball game invented by the Archon Devers — football, because it was not as intense and easy to get hurt as rugby.
The children chased after each other and used their feet to control a near-circular ball that was sewn from cowhide and stuffed with inflatable tripe. They passed the ball to each other and passed it until the ball was kicked into the goal …
… …
"The trees were too close to the road in our original design. After a long time, the roots would easily drill out of the road and damage the roadbed. This has happened many times on the Turií – Amendola Avenue … Now, pedestrians, carts, and carriages are all on the avenue. During the day, when it is busy, the avenue is crowded with people and livestock. Not only is it easy to cause long -term traffic jams, but there have also been many accidents …
My suggestion is to cut down the trees on both sides of the avenue and build a road for pedestrians outside the drainage ditch. This way, people and livestock can go their own way without interfering with each other, and the avenue will become smoother … "
The Devers read the "Avenue Reconstruction Plan" written by Heraclide Jr., while listening to his explanation. When he heard this, he could not help but be shocked.
He had to admit that when he first built the avenue, there were some flaws in his design, such as the problem of the trees on the street, and he did not expect the rapid development of Diónia. After just over a year, the avenue that was four horses wide was not enough …
But he did not expect Heraclide Jr. to think of paving the sidewalk so quickly. Of course, he knew that sidewalks were not a new thing that only appeared in the era of technology. In the middle and later period of the Republic of Rome, there was already a complete road system with avenues, sidewalks, drainage ditches, and other complete roads.
He exhaled lightly and asked with a gentle expression, "Is there anything else that needs to be improved?"
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