Editing Trivium (section)

{{Short description|First three liberal arts of traditional education}}
{{about|the educational syllabus}}
{{distinguish|trivia}}
[[File:Perugia - Fontana Maggiore - 2 - Arti liberali - 1-2 - Grammatica e Dialettica - Foto G. Dall'Orto 5 ago.jpg|thumb|right|Allegory of Grammar and Logic/Dialectic. Perugia, Fontana Maggiore.]]
[[File:Priscianus della Robbia OPA Florence.jpg|thumb|Allegory of Grammar. [[Priscian]] on the left teaches Latin grammar to his students on the right. Relief by [[Luca della Robbia]]. Florence, Museo dell'Opera del Duomo.]]

The '''trivium''' is the lower division of the [[seven liberal arts]] and comprises [[grammar]], [[logic]], and [[rhetoric]].<ref name="english-ety">{{cite book |title=The Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology |editor=Onions, C. T. |year=1991 |page=944}}</ref>

The trivium is implicit in {{lang|la|De nuptiis Philologiae et Mercurii}} ("[[On the Marriage of Philology and Mercury]]") by [[Martianus Capella]], but the term was not used until the [[Carolingian Renaissance]], when it was coined in imitation of the earlier [[quadrivium]].<ref>Marrou, Henri-Irénée (1969). "Les arts libéraux dans l'Antiquité classique". pp. 6–27 in ''Arts libéraux et philosophie au Moyen Âge''. Paris: Vrin; Montréal: Institut d'études médiévales). pp. 18–19.</ref> Grammar, logic, and rhetoric were essential to a classical education, as explained in [[Plato]]'s dialogues. The three subjects together were denoted by the word ''trivium'' during the [[Middle Ages]], but the tradition of first learning those three subjects was established in [[Education in ancient Greece|ancient Greece]], by rhetoricians such as [[Isocrates]].<ref>{{cite book | author=Stahl, W. H. | date=6 November 1978 | title=[[Roman Science: Origins, Development, and Influence to the Later Middle Ages]] | publisher=Praeger |  isbn=978-0-313-20473-9}}</ref>{{rp|12–23}} Contemporary iterations have taken various forms, including those found in certain British and American universities (some being part of the [[Classical education movement]]) and at the independent [[Oundle School]] in the [[United Kingdom]].<ref>See Martin Robinson, [http://www.martinrobinson.net/writing.html ''Trivium 21st century'']. Each of these iterations was discussed in a conference at King's College London on the future of the liberal arts at schools and universities; see {{Cite web | url=http://www.kcl.ac.uk/artshums/depts/liberal/conference.aspx | title=The Future of Liberal Arts | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160525204125/http://www.kcl.ac.uk/artshums/depts/liberal/conference.aspx| archive-date=2016-05-25}} and [http://www.boarding.org.uk/media/news/article/2352/Oundle-School-Improving-Intellectual-Challenge Boarding Schools ''Oundle School – improving intellectual challenge''] ({{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200815195502/http://www.boarding.org.uk/media/news/article/2352/Oundle-School-Improving-Intellectual-Challenge|date=2020-08-15}}).</ref>