The history of the education of women from antiquity until the nineteenth century can be epitomized in a few pages, since only a limited and questionable information comes from the Archaic and Classic period. The Hellenistic and Roman era offer more information and reliable sources, mainly inscriptions and papyri, still general conclusions cannot be drawn, because the public educational system has not existed before modern times.
The sources dating from late antiquity and the Middle Ages simply refer to the Christianization of Classic education and the role of monasticism as an alternative solution for the pious ladies. As for the nineteenth century, it signals the establishment of the girl’s school as an institution and the transformation of teaching into a “female” profession.
