ABSTRACT
To Greeks of the Hellenistic period the gymnasium was therefore a symbol of civilized life, even an island, as they saw it, in a sea of barbarism. In the Hellenistic period there was also increased standardization of the educational curriculum. The widespread use of this specific-sounding term by modern writers has had the effect of implying that it designates a precise Hellenistic curriculum. After Alexander the Great founded the Egyptian city of Alexandria in 331 bc, it became one of the intellectual centres of the Mediterranean world, home to the famous Mouseion and Library, and rivalled as a place of learning during the Hellenistic period only by Pergamon and possibly Athens. The persecutions marked the beginning of the decline of Alexandria’s Library. We notice the highly regulated character of Hellenistic schools, but more important here are the suggestions, at least, of a system of universal public education.
