Many children in Athens did not go to school because they were too poor. Therefore, they were probably never taught how to write. The girls were taught all the things they needed to know at home, from their mother, such as reading, writing poetry, spinning, weaving, and running the household. The boys, on the other hand, went to school to get an education.

Wealthy Greek boys started to go to school at the age of seven. To see that the boys behaved properly at school, a slave would escort them. The class would have around eight or nine pupils, sitting around the teacher. Boys were taught reading, writing, music, dancing, poetry, and arithmetic. They learned to count using an abacus. These academic classes were only held in the morning. In the afternoon, the boys practiced their athletic skills.

At school the boys had to learn and memorize the famous literary works of Homer. In Greece a knowledge of literature was a sign of an educated man. The boys also had to play sports to keep in shape for the battles they will have to face as an adult. This shows a Athenian boy at school.

To learn how to write the students had to have pencil and paper. The writing tool the students used was a pen called a stylus, which was made out of bone or metal. They wrote on wax covered tablets, made out of wood. If the student made a mistake, all he had to do was rub it out with the other end of the stylus on the tablet.