A Greek or Roman school was a group of students gathering around one teacher. There were no complex educational institutions such as schools and universities as we know them. The prosopographical study undertaken here aims at collecting all the teachers known by name who taught in Greek in the Eastern Mediterranean within the first three centuries of the Byzantine Empire. The resulting three hundred and six teachers in almost as many years form a poor statistical sample, but it is all that we have. An analysis of their floruit, geographical distribution, teaching subjects and the religion of these teachers is compiled here for the first time, confirming many of the conclusions drawn previously. The statistical analysis highlights the sharp drop in the number of teachers in the Greek world from as early as the late fifth century A. D. and the decreasing proportion of those teaching at an advanced level. The changing ratio of Christians to pagans in the profession is substantiated and the different rates of progress in this process of Christianizing are analysed in relation to the particular type of subject taught, whether grammar, rhetoric or philosophy. There is sufficient homogeneity in the period and area documented here to make the changes occurring within it material for a study of the decline of education within a culturally developed civilization.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:363072 |
| Date | January 1972 |
| Creators | Moffatt, Marjorie Ann |
| Publisher | Birkbeck (University of London) |
| Source Sets | Ethos UK |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
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