The School Of Rome: Latin Studies And The Origins Of Liberal Education

The School Of Rome: Latin Studies And The Origins Of Liberal Education
by W. Martin Bloomer / / / PDF


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Bloomer's study is cultural history at its best. He grasps the inner workings of Roman education together with its goal of creating a particular type of adult. The range of sources used is impressive, and familiar material takes on new significance when viewed, with Bloomer, from the perspective of the child at his tablet. This is an important book for classicists and for anyone interested in the history of education. Thomas Habinek, author of The Politics of Latin Literature: Writing, Identity, and Empire in Ancient Rome. In this authoritative book, Martin Bloomer studies Roman education not only as a process of cultural hegemony that worked through the repetition of exercises and practices, but also as a vehicle that allowed some male members of the elite to reach a remarkable ability and success. I particularly applaud his illuminating study of upper education as it projected an idealized social order. This training and display of stylized speech prepared the protagonists for the social system of patriarchy, patronage, and imperial administration. Education in ancient Rome could not have found a more perceptive and competent treatment. Raffaella Cribiore, author of Gymnastics of the Mind: Greek Education in Hellenistic and Roman Egypt

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