The
liberal arts (
Latin:
artes liberales) are those subjects or skills that in
classical antiquity were considered essential for a free person (
Latin:
liberalis, "worthy of a free person") to know in order to take an active part in civic life, something that (for
Ancient Greece) included participating in public debate, defending oneself in court, serving on juries, and most importantly, military service.
Grammar,
logic, and
rhetoric were the core liberal arts, while
arithmetic,
geometry, the theory of
music, and
astronomy also played a (somewhat lesser) part in education.