Passeurs de culture
La transmission de la culture grecque dans le monde romain des i er-iv e siècles après J.-C.
Abstract
If the word « culture » comes from the Latin word cultura, the concept itself, which means general knowledge acquired through schools, books and cultural institutions, is related, in the Roman world of the first centuries ad to Greek paideia. As for paideia, which was then restricted to social elite, it covered literary education formulated and conveyed by sophists and grammarians in the time of the Roman Empire, as well as other forms of Greek culture like music, philosophy and sports.
This book focuses on cultural mediators, first of all professors, who are examined from various points of view: social and cultural status, teaching practices or ambivalent representations. Nevertheless, transmission of knowledge exceeds the environment of school; it is performed through literary and intellectual productions, within specialized disciplines, and through reinterpretations which convey a singular world view.
The present collection of essays displays the circulation of culture between the Greek and Roman worlds, throughout an Empire whose epicentre is paideia.
