Science Education in the Early Roman Empire is a 2016 study by Richard Carrier that describes the Roman imperial education system with emphasis on the quantity and quality of science instruction, and compares pagan valuations of study with those of ancient Jews and Christians, published by Pitchstone Publishing.
Carrier maps access to instruction by wealth, gender, and status, reconstructs lower schooling in literacy and numeracy, the enkyklios paideia alongside grammar, higher education in rhetoric, and advanced training in philosophy and scientific specialties, and surveys public support including libraries, endowed chairs, and institutions comparable to universities. [1]
Primary authors and topics referenced include Quintilian on rhetorical curricula, Pliny the Elder on natural history, Galen on medical pedagogy, Vitruvius on architecture and mechanics, Strabo on geography, and discussions of mathematics, astronomy, anatomy, botany, zoology, and mechanics within school commentary and philosophical instruction, together with modern scholarship cited throughout such as Marrou, Cribiore, Cuomo, Nutton, and Harris. The books covers who and how Romans were educated across all levels, as well as religious education. [1]
Reception
Russell Lawson reviewed the book in Isis 108.4 in 2017. He said it appeared "hurried, a bit off-the-cuff, and perhaps rushed through publication to set the stage for his intended magnum opus, The Scientist in the Early Roman Empire. Overall, Science Education in the Early Roman Empire is worth reading, though the final product could, in the long run, have been much better."[2] Michiel Meeusen reviewed it in History of Education in 2018, noting the summary of access patterns by wealth and gender, the reconstruction of curricular stages and the discussion of limited state support, and he questioned elements of framing including the handling of ancient science and the presence of whiggish readings. [3][4]
Science Education in the Early Roman Empire was followed by The Scientist in the Early Roman Empire in 2017. The study analyzes the identity, social status, work practices, and patronage of natural philosophers in Roman imperial society, presents a thesis for ongoing scientific activity and progress under Roman rule, and contrasts pagan and Christian valuations of scientific inquiry. It defines the category of the ancient scientist within literary, epigraphic, and technical sources, surveys institutional settings and funding regimes for research, and advances a model in which Roman era investigators pursued empirical programs that some Christian authors and institutions later devalued.[5]
Cristian Tolsa reviewed The Scientist in the Early Roman Empire in Isis 110.3 in 2019 and found it useful in several respects, noting in particular the discussion of scientific development in the Roman period.[6] Tolsa also criticized elements of the conceptual framing and raised methodological concerns.[6][7][8]
1 2 Tolsa, Cristian (2019). "Richard Carrier. The Scientist in the Early Roman Empire". Isis. 110 (3): 585–586. doi:10.1086/704630.
↑ Meeusen, Michiel (2017). "Science education in the early Roman empire, by Richard Carrier". History of Education. 46 (6): 846–848. doi:10.1080/0046760X.2017.1382579. The volume at hand is introduced as a prequel to Carrier's The Scientist in the Early Roman Empire (Durham, NC, 2017).
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