Richard Carrier Science In The Early Roman Empire Summary

Andrew M. Baldino
Ms. McCallister
History 101
6 December 2017

Overview and Analysis of Science in the Early Roman Empire

The same era that revolutionized urban water availability through aqueducts only provided education to those that could afford the steep price. In order to purchase about ten volumes of a book collection, one would have to pay one hundred drachmas which is the equivalent of eight thousand dollars today (Carrier, 53). In Science in the Early Roman Empire Richard Carrier effectively consolidates information on education and ineffectively presents his derived applications for science education. This ineffective presentation is primarily due to his lack of awareness for audience, inappropriate diction, and poor organization.

Primarily only the rich were afforded the ability to receive education however, slaves and women were known to receive education for purposes of suitability in the eyes of a purchaser or husband (Carrier, Chapter 2). According to Carrier, the educational system could be broken into four levels, “...primary, secondary, higher, and advanced education…” (33). Carrier glosses over content content of lower education and instead focuses on the lack of support for educators of that particular level . As an alternative to the normal secondary education, students could learn the Enkyklios Paideia which focused on seven subjects and was comparable to modern liberal arts curriculum (Carrier, 59). The later portion of the Enkyklios Paideia chapter characterizes the citizen student as someone with morals and ethics primarily because of their education, and presents the belief that one must be well educated in all subjects. As for higher education, “Whether completing the enkyklios or not, the next stage of education was to attend the lectures of a professor” (Carrier, 87). Carrier discusses the methods

Providing quantified evidence and an awareness of audience are both what make up these few instances. The first example of an effective choice is on pages thirty and thirty-one. Here Carrier summarizes evidence from previous pages and deduces his personal claim, what his claim means, and quantifies his claim. The quantification and summarization effectively support the claim he made in the previous pages. In chapter four Carrier translates the cost of books in the early Roman Empire into a proportionally equivalent number in modern currency. This effectively relates the audience to expenses of education from centuries past. Unfortunately there aren’t many more instances that demonstrate effective choices of Richard