English & Literature
Who is Quintilian from Historical and Philosophical Foundations of Education: A Biographical Introduction and what is their importance?
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Quintilian was a Roman orator who developed his public speaking skills to serve the emperor. Quintilian lived from 35-95 C.E. (Common Era) and developed his rhetorical education with Greek ideas about oratory, or public speaking in service to the Roman Empire. Quintilian was born in the Roman town Callagurris on the Ebro River and raised by his rhetorician father, who passed on the family business to his son. He became a lawyer and apprentice to a distinguished rhetorician and lawyer in Rome until 58 C.E. when this mentor died. Quintilian started his own school ten years later in Rome and wrote a book that detailed the education of an orator. He recommended an orator to be a good man with an excellent power of speech and moral virtues, rational and governed by reason. His idea of rhetorical education anticipated later education by identifying and proposing development stages with age-appropriate learning for childhood education. He emphasized the importance of early childhood to form habits and predispositions. Quintilian considered liberal arts essential and proposed integrating Roman past with Greek culture. He emphasized oratory in public policy to include public service.