Sumerians

Sumerians

The Sumerian Civilization (c. 4500 - 1900 BC) saw the earliest form of writing around 3200 BC. Cuneiform, first as pictographs, initially used for accounting and recording trade transactions, evolved to include more complex documents, such as laws, administrative records, and literary works. The standardization of cuneiform script made it the lingua franca of trade, diplomacy, and literature in the region. The Babylonian Empire (c. 1894 - 539 BC) adopted and adapted Sumerian cuneiform. They continued use and development of cuneiform for various purposes, including astronomical texts, which became highly sophisticated.

Sumerian Nabu

Nabu, the Sumerian God of writing, highly revered as the son of Marduk, the chief god, appeared in the Mesopotamian pantheon during the 2nd millennium BC. He rose to prominence during the Assyrian and Babylonian empires, becoming a major God by the 1st millennium BC, closely associated with the spread and importance of writing and literacy. 

He was usually depicted as a young man wearing a horned cap, symbolizing divinity, and holding a stylus and a clay tablet, representing his association with writing. Over time, Nabu's worship spread, and he became known as a god of wisdom and learning, with temples dedicated to him throughout the region. Writing therefore had a sacred relevance, a God-given status. Scribes had a role beyond mere transcribers.

Evidence for schools

Education in these early civilizations was limited to a small scribal class, mainly the sons of wealthy or noble families. The ‘edubba’, or tablet house, was the Sumerian term for a school. The curriculum was rigorous and students could spend many years in training. Teachers held a respected position in society due to their role in maintaining and passing on important skills and knowledge, which were critical to the administration and culture of these ancient civilizations.

Large numbers of tablets have been found in Mesopotamia.  Shuruppak, Uruk, and Urare are all cities where tablets which contain 'school exercises' have been found in specific rooms where teaching was clearly practiced. Copied proverbs, letters, and administrative documents were used to teach and learn writing. Nippur in the Baylonian period shows clear sites for scribal education and in Sippar a house shows signs of having been a school teaching writing and mathematics.

There is clear archaeological evidence of organised education systems in ancient Sumer and Babylon. It is not clear that they were specifically seen as ‘schools’ but certainly spaces within Temples and other structures that were used for teaching and learning. Cuneiform tablets, which survive well, especially when baked in catastrophic fires, are direct evidence of such teaching and learning, with dictionaries, lexical lists and multiplication tables. copying, practice and corrections. They provide evidence of the curriculum, covering writing, law, mathematics and literature, as well as methods of teaching. Precise details of teaching and learning come from student practice exercises with clear signs of copying, practice and corrections. Discipline was a significant aspect of education. Teachers used strict methods to instill not only knowledge but also discipline and moral behaviour. Correspondences between teachers, students, and parents have also been discovered, revealing aspects of the educational system, including the curriculum and expectations of students.

Shuruppak

A specific text, which is one of the oldest references to teaching and learning is The Instructions of Shuruppak, where a father gives advice to his son on life, which includes guidance on education and wisdom.

In ancient Sumeria, Babylonia, and Mesopotamia, teachers must have played a role integral to the functioning of their literate societies. These teachers were often scribes or priests who were responsible for training new generations of scribes—individuals who could read, write, and interpret cuneiform script, which was essential for administration, trade, and religious activities. Teachers in this context were responsible for transmitting knowledge, which included writing, mathematics, literature, law, theology, and astronomy. They provided professional training that allowed students to take on roles in administration, the economy, and the temple.

The Library of Nippur, an ancient Sumerian city in modern-day Iraq, contained a collection of clay tablets from the late third millennium BC. Discovered in the late 19th and early 20th centuries the library contained thousands of clay tablets inscribed in cuneiform. A wide range of texts such as religious hymns, mythological narratives, literary works, lexical lists, and administrative documents were uncovered.

The much later Library of Nineveh is associated with the literate and cultured King Ashurbanipal of Assyria. He ruled from 668 to about 627 BC and is known for his interest in scholarship and collecting. It is one of the most famous ancient libraries discovered in the mid-19th century by Austen Henry Layard in the ruins of Nineveh. The library contained 30-40,000 clay tablets and fragments inscribed in the Akkadian language, in cuneiform, on a wide range of subjects, including mythology, religion, astrology, medicine, literature, and statecraft. Among its most famous contents is the Epic of Gilgamesh, one of the earliest known works of literature.

A tiny number of people were literate in antiquity and only boys from favoured families. They were beaten by their teachers and there is even a cartoon caricature of a stern teacher’s face impressed in clay on a Babylonian tablet, taking us right back into the classroom.

Simple balls of clay were flattened in the palm. The teacher used his reed stylus to create cuneiform symbols, usually a Proverb, and the learner would copy it on the other blank side. This had the advantage of forcing the fledgling scribe, not just to write the proverb, but also remember and recall it from memory.

Writing was largely administrative, recording quantities of commodities such as grain and oil but also contractual. They were also used as communication in the form of letters, dialogue at a distance, again largely contractual. Long lists of Kings and Queens have been found along with origin myths such as Gilgamesh. Divination was also written, with a sheep’s liver preserved in clay with cuneiform interpretations of the natural holes found in the liver, used to predict the future.