My new book is now available for pre-order! Science Education in the Early Roman Empire will hit the presses in October. But you can already order the print edition in advance on Amazon. Electronic editions will be available (probably before the end of the year). And an audio edition is contracted (I just don’t know yet when it will be completed).
The gorgeous cover art is thanks to Alex Gabriel.
This represents the first of two books that will be generated from my Columbia University dissertation in 2008. The official description says it all:
How much science were ancient Romans taught? What about math? What kind of math or science, and at which levels of education? How were scientists themselves educated? And what other avenues were there for the public, even the illiterate public, to learn scientific knowledge? How much science entered pop culture? Cities had public speeches and lectures, libraries, and teachers and professors in the sciences and the humanities, some even subsidized by the state. There even existed something equivalent to universities, and medical and engineering schools. What were they like? What did they teach? Who got to attend them? In the first treatment of this subject ever published, Dr. Richard Carrier answers all these questions and more, describing the entire education system of the early Roman Empire, with a unique emphasis on the quality and quantity of its science content. He also compares pagan attitudes toward their system of education with the very different attitudes of ancient Jews and Christians, finding stark contrasts between them that would set the stage for the coming dark ages.
My next book of this pair with be on The Scientist in the Early Roman Empire, and it will defer to this book on all questions regarding the education of scientists and the public dissemination of scientific knowledge. So the two will go together.
This one is relatively short, affordable, and interesting on many levels. It has relevance to combating Christian apologetics; to understanding ancient culture and civilization; to the history of science (as it compares medieval and modern periods on the same question); and the whole notion of education and what we think it’s for and whether and how we support it. I also discuss the roles of classism, sexism, and slavery in the equation. And more.
Wonderful news!
I really enjoyed your talk at the Chabot Science Center on Ancient Science & Technology.
This sounds like a great followup to that.
P.S. Sad to hear you’re leaving the Bay Area, but I can understand, given how expensive it is here. Hopefully groups here will still have you out to speak on occasion. =)
I am fascinated by ancient science and the ludicrous Christian claim that christianity launched modern science. What period does your book cover–that is, what do you mean by “early Roman Empire”? the pre-Christian Roman Empire?
100 BC to 313 AD. So a little of both. Generally it’s about the cultural status quo within that whole period, which remained little changed—and even the changes that occurred in the first and last centuries of that span are discussed in the book.
Lol these books actually sound super interesting, but you just had to add:
“He also compares pagan attitudes toward their system of education with the very different attitudes of ancient Jews and Christians, finding stark contrasts between them that would set the stage for the coming dark ages.”
*sigh*
Try reading my chapter on The Dark Ages in Christianity Is Not Great. Which cites and quotes mainstream scholarship on the fact. Likewise the last section of my chapter on the Christian apologetics on this in The Christian Delusion. Which summarizes some of the points I’m referring to in that last comment, and why they are relevant (the book is about the Christian apologetic claiming the reverse).
That is great news, I am really looking forward to this! Will this book be peer reviewed like OHJ? Will it also be published by a prestigious university press? Will you consider making a special autographed, gilded, and imitation leather bound edition of this new book? Pre-ordering now, I can’t wait to read it!
You’re a liar I presume.
But in the context of the mocking fiction you’ve created:
It’s from my Columbia University dissertation, which is more peer reviewed than any academic monograph ever is.
I had it pass peer review at several academic presses as well, but none offered me a tolerable contract. So I’m not going to bother with those anymore. As an independent scholar, I need real publishers who actually pay their authors fairly. Sort of just like Bart Ehrman does.
I look forward to reading this when it comes out.
Why do you never offer online courses on this material? After all, it’s what you spent ten years studying!
I’ve been waiting for my main book to be released. Because there is otherwise no adequate, affordable textbook on the subject (there is adequate, and there is affordable, but nothing both). But rest assured, a course on the subject is planned!
Looking forward to it. Would you ever consider doing a book that sets the record straight on the history of Christianity during the Roman Empire, before and after Constantine? I imagine it would build on the work you have already done and discussed in your talk at Skepticon 5, “Miracles and Historical Method” (Which was excellent and informative) That presentation makes me wonder how many other lies did Christians tell about themselves and their Pagan opponents? Were millions of Christians really being thrown to the lions? (I have had Christian friends tell me this) I think this subject would make an excellent book. What are your thoughts?
That has already been done. See Fox, MacMullen, and Moss.