The Survival and Use of Cicero in Roman Education from the Fifth to the Sixth Centuries A.D.

Abstract

The fifth and sixth centuries A.D. are a neglected period in scholarship on the reception of
Cicero. Cicero’s role in Roman education from the early Empire to the fourth century has been
well established in scholarship, which has shown that many of his speeches were used within
a school syllabus. Cicero’s position within the educational curriculum in the later Middle Ages
has also been well documented, by the study of surviving manuscripts. What has been less
well explored is Cicero’s place in education in the fifth and sixth centuries A.D., a period often
associated with the decline and fall of the Roman Empire in the West. This thesis will examine
four authors from this period as case studies. The writings of these authors will be examined
to provide answers to questions including the following: how was Cicero used in Roman
educational practices in the fifth and sixth centuries? Which Ciceronian works were read, and
which ones were not? Are the works that were read the same as those read in previous
centuries? Was there a ‘typical’ way to use Ciceronian works in educational practices? And
finally, to what extent did the role of Roman education determine how these authors selected
from and engaged with Ciceronian texts?

Date of Award	1 Oct 2024
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	University of Bristol
Supervisor	Isabella Sandwell (Supervisor) & Ad Putter (Supervisor)