![]() ![]() ![]() Visicato presents as the object of his study the institution and Therefore be understood as a work by and for the Assyriologist. Unfortunately for the non-specialist, these sectionsĪre difficult to find in this extremely dense volume, which must What has evidently been a diligent examination of early cuneiform on the Not meant for a general public, although several sections, including "Although he is mentioned as an agrig only in aĭumu-dumu conscription text, he is in fact the ugula in charge of an The Power and the Writing: The Early Scribes of Mesopotamia. APA style: The Power and the Writing: The Early Scribes of Mesopotamia.The Power and the Writing: The Early Scribes of Mesopotamia." Retrieved from MLA style: "The Power and the Writing: The Early Scribes of Mesopotamia." The Free Library.Anytime you can do something that most people cannot, you have a good chance to be respected, powerful, and possibly very wealthy.Ĭheck out this site for some interesting information and activities dealing with writing and scribes in ancient Mesopotamia from the British Museum. Scribes were some of the most powerful people in Mesopotamia because they controlled information and knowledge. No, it was not easy, but the student that could make it through school and become a scribe earned the right for many rewards. Beatings were not uncommon for students that did not perform well or misbehaved. Much of scribe school consisted of memorizing and copying cuneiform texts from one tablet to another. ![]() Second, you had to attend school for many years to learn the written language ( cuneiform), the number system (based on the number 60), and the methods and conventions of a scribe. By the way, scribes were almost exclusively males. It is unlikely that you could get into scribe school if you were the son of a lowly farmer. First, you had to be a member of a wealthy family. The path of a scribe was not easy, however. Scribes could also go to work for the government (keeping track of taxes, building projects, floods, etc.) or for business owners (sales records, harvests, etc.) Priests needed to know how to read and write to keep the records of the ziggurat (a Mesopotamian temple) and to monitor the sun, moon, stars and planets. Learning to be a scribe was a possible pathway to the most powerful profession in ancient Mesopotamia - a priest. A scribe was (and is) basically a professional writer. These schools taught the skills of a scribe. The Sumerians, however, created the first known formal education system (schools). In other words, you learned the occupation of your mother or father. If you were a girl in ancient Mesopotamia, you learned the incredibly important skills of your mother - cooking, raising children, caring for the family, making clothes, possibly creating pottery, etc. You would then take over the family farm and pass that knowledge down to your children. If you were the son of a farmer in ancient Mesopotamia, you would learn the ways of a farmer. Throughout history, most children's education came from their parents. That's not to say that they were not educated in some way. By that I mean that most people did not know how to read and write, were not familiar with the workings of government or law, and could not do anything beyond the simplest math. You may have heard the saying, "knowledge is power." And how do we gain knowledge? Through education, of course.įor most of human history, a great majority of people were uneducated, at least in the traditional sense. ![]()
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