Julian, Paideia and Education
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The Culture and Political World of the Fourth Century AD: Julian, paideia and Education Victoria Elizabeth Hughes Submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy School of History, Classics and Archaeology April 2018 Abstract This thesis examines the role of education and paideia in the political and cultural landscape of the mid-fourth century, focusing on the Greek East and the reign of Julian, particularly his educational measures. Julian’s edict and rescript on education are often understood (not least in light of the invectives of Gregory of Nazianzus) as marking an attempt on his part to ban Christians from teaching and, by extension, from engaging in elite public life. They have been used by some scholars as evidence to support the hypothesis that Julian, a committed pagan, implemented an anti-Christian persecution. This thesis reconsiders that hypothesis: it re-evaluates the reign of Julian and his educational measures, and considers the political role of paideia as the culmination and public expression of rhetorical education. Chapter one introduces the topic and provides a brief ‘literature review’ of the key items for a study of Julian and education in the fourth century. Chapter two addresses rhetorical education in the fourth century: it offers a survey of its methods and content, and explores the idea of a ‘typical’ student in contrast with ‘culture heroes’. Chapter three investigates the long-standing Christian debate on the compatibility of a traditional Greek education with Christian belief, and considers the role of Julian in this connection. Chapter four discusses the enhanced status of Latin and of law studies in light of the enlarged imperial administration in the fourth century, and considers the extent to which this development worked to the detriment of rhetorical studies. On the basis of the preceding chapters’ discussions, chapters five and six closely discuss two key topics. Chapter five closely examines Julian’s edict and rescript: their details and specific contexts; the relationship between them and the broader debate on morality in education; how they relate to Julian’s religious ideology and Hellenism. Chapter six offers a discussion of paideia, considering its potential range of lexical and cultural meanings, and assessing its influence on Julian’s thought and action. The chapter argues for the importance of paideia in political relationships in the fourth century and re-evaluates the invectives of Gregory in this context. A brief concluding chapter closes the thesis. i ii Acknowledgements Of all the people who have helped me throughout the course of this PhD, I’d firstly like to thank Dr Rowland Smith for his stimulating discussion, thoughtful comments and guidance throughout. Thank you also to Dr Federico Santangelo, whose thorough feedback, advice and assistance I benefited enormously from. Thank you to the late Prof John Moles for his help with this project in its early stages. Grateful thanks are owed to Drs Susanna Phillippo, Janet Watson and David Creese for their patient Greek tuition. Thank you to the AHRC for their belief in the project and financial support. It’s much appreciated. I’d also like to the take the opportunity to thank Mr Lombard, of St Stephen’s Primary School, who fed an interest in ancient history at age eight. Thank you to my family and friends for their much-needed support, humour and distraction: these past four years would’ve been much more lonely and boring without them. I owe you all drinks. Finally, I’d like to thank my Dad, for his unfailing and untiring encouragement, patience and help. Without him, none of this would’ve been possible, truly. iii iv Table of Contents Chapter one: Introduction ............................................................................................................. 1 1.1 The life of Julian and the fourth century context .................................................................... 1 1.2 An overview of this thesis ...................................................................................................... 7 1.3 Literature review .................................................................................................................... 8 Chapter two: Education in the fourth century AD ................................................................... 20 2.1 Introduction .......................................................................................................................... 20 2.2 The classroom ....................................................................................................................... 21 2.2.1 Corporal punishment ..................................................................................................... 23 2.2.2 Pedagogues .................................................................................................................... 26 2.3 Memorisation in the classroom ............................................................................................ 28 2.3.1 Progymnasmata ............................................................................................................. 29 2.3.2 Florilegia ....................................................................................................................... 31 2.4 The curriculum before the fourth century............................................................................. 33 2.4.1 The curriculum in the fourth century ............................................................................. 38 2.5 The education of ‘culture heroes’ ......................................................................................... 50 2.5.1 Julian’s education .......................................................................................................... 54 2.5.2 A ‘typical’ education ..................................................................................................... 59 2.6 The costs of education .......................................................................................................... 63 2.7 Educational centres and their specialisations ....................................................................... 65 2.8 Conclusion ............................................................................................................................ 70 Chapter three: The Christian debate on pagan literature ........................................................ 72 3.1 Introduction .......................................................................................................................... 72 3.2 The debate in the second and third centuries: Tertullian ...................................................... 74 3.2.1 After Tertullian .............................................................................................................. 77 3.3 The fourth century: Basil’s advice ....................................................................................... 80 3.3.1 Gregory of Nazianzus .................................................................................................... 83 3.3.2 Jerome’s dream .............................................................................................................. 86 3.4 After the fourth century: Augustine ..................................................................................... 89 3.5 East and West ....................................................................................................................... 92 3.6 Julian and the debate ............................................................................................................ 93 3.7 Conclusion ............................................................................................................................ 97 Chapter four: The challenge to rhetoric..................................................................................... 98 4.1 Introduction .......................................................................................................................... 98 4.2 The ‘decline’ of rhetorical studies ........................................................................................ 99 v 4.2.1 Latin in the Greek East ................................................................................................ 104 4.2.2 Law studies in the Greek East ..................................................................................... 107 4.3 Bureaucratic developments ................................................................................................ 113 4.3.1 Opportunities for advancement ................................................................................... 115 4.4 Decurions and the city councils ......................................................................................... 118 4.4.1 Attempts to revive the councils ................................................................................... 120 4.4.2 The undesirability of the councils ............................................................................... 124 4.5 Conclusion ......................................................................................................................... 127 Chapter five: Julian and education .......................................................................................... 128 5.1 Introduction ........................................................................................................................ 128 5.1.1 Imperial