Charles Freeman (historian)


Charles P. Freeman is an English historian specialising in the history of ancient Greece and Rome. He is the author of numerous books on the ancient world including The Closing of the Western Mind: The Rise of Faith and the Fall of Reason. He has taught courses on ancient history in Cambridge's Adult Education program and is Historical Consultant to the Blue Guides. He also leads cultural study tours to Italy, Greece, and Turkey. In 2003, he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts.

Early life and education

From an early age Freeman was passionate about history and spent his school holidays helping on archeological digs run by Ipswich Museum. He studied law at Trinity College, Cambridge, and after graduation spent a year teaching in Sudan.
He also holds a master's degree in African history and politics from the School of Oriental and African Studies at the University of London and an additional master's degree in applied research in education from the University of East Anglia.
In 1978 he was appointed head of history at St. Clare's, Oxford, an international sixth form college and spent ten years there. He spent thirty years in total as a teacher and examiner/senior examiner with the International Baccalaureate. From 1988 he has worked full-time as a professional freelance historian.

Personal life

Charles Freeman lives in Suffolk near Framlingham, England, with his second wife Lydia; between them they have seven children.

Publications