PhD Thesis Abstract “Learning and Power: A Cultural History of Education in Late Antique Gaul” Alison John, Edinburgh 2018 alison.john@ugent.be / alisonnjohn@gmail.com Examiners: Rogers Rees and Zubin Mistry Supervisors: Gavin Kelly and Lucy Grig This thesis examines the shifting practices and attitudes toward classical education in late antique Gaul, with a focus on the fourth to early sixth centuries. Throughout this period GalloRomans witnessed political, economic, and cultural upheavals, and the eventual disappearance of Roman political power in Gaul. In my analysis I explore the role traditional literary schools of grammar and rhetoric played in the politics and society of late antique Gaul, and the changing value of such educational pursuits among Gallo-Roman aristocrats throughout this period. Since literary education had long been a central part of elite Roman identity, examining the ways that Gallo-Roman aristocrats participated in and patronized education amid the shifting political, cultural, and religious contexts of the period can help us to understand the overall transformations of the late antique west. In this diachronic study the theme of each chapter is discussed by examining the evidence from across out period, with a central focus on the transformations of the fifth century. Chapter 1 provides the historical context of late antique Gaul and establishes the place of classical education in Roman identity and culture. In Chapter 2, after a prosopographical survey of the known teachers and students of grammar and rhetoric from the fourth to early sixth centuries, I consider the changing nature of our sources for education throughout the period and discuss what this can tell us about the shifting role and value of classical education. Chapter 3 focuses on the practical aspects of education, such as the funding and organization of schools and teachers of grammar and rhetoric, and how political and economic changes in the late antique west affected the potential prosperity of the schools. Chapter 4 examines the ideological aspects of classical education, considering the changed public and personal value of training in grammar and rhetoric and how this is reflected in our sources from the fourth to sixth centuries. Chapter 5 is a case study that focuses on the place and function of Greek in the education and literary culture of late antique Gaul. In Chapter 6 I consider the development of ecclesiastical schools and how they are related to the fate of classical schools of grammar and rhetoric. This thesis offers a fresh interpretation of the history of the classical schools of grammar and rhetoric in Gaul. My analysis shows how the eventual decline of classical schools in Gaul is linked indirectly to changes in political structures and the fall of the Western Roman Empire in the fifth century. I argue that without the superstructure of the Roman empire, classical education could not survive indefinitely. Throughout late antiquity and in post-imperial Gaul, although neither the barbarian kingdoms nor the Church directly caused the decline of classical schools, these new structures of power that replaced the unified empire did not encourage or support a cultural and political climate in which grammatical and rhetorical training was valued. Such political changes transformed the perceptions of the value and role of classical education and resulted in the eventual end of the schools of grammar and rhetoric in Gaul.