The Scientist in the Early Roman Empire

“Rigorous depth of research is Carrier’s trademark, employed here to great effect. He presents a wealth of evidence and a spectacular look into the surprising variety and richness of science and technology in Roman times. Achievements as varied as astronomical computers like the Antikythera Device, the beginnings of surgical anesthetics and antiseptics, robotic theater performances and cuckoo clocks, hand crossbows and automatic weapons, and so much more. Carrier illuminates a world on the edge of scientific revolution, but ultimately denied by fate. He shows the triumph of Christianity brought with it open hostility to the scientific values necessary for progress to continue, leading us into a dark millennium, ending only when Western civilization could weaken Church power enough to defy it, and return to the values of the pagans of yore.” David Fitzgerald, author, The Mormons and Jesus: Mything in Action

Richard Carrier, PhD, is a philosopher and historian of antiquity, specializing in contemporary philosophy of naturalism and Greco-Roman philosophy, science, and religion, including the origins of Christianity. He blogs regularly and lectures for community groups worldwide. He is the author of numerous books, including Sense and Goodness without God: A Defense of Metaphysical Naturalism and On the Historicity of Jesus. For more about Dr. Carrier and his work see