5.4: Writing and Education
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The earliest traces of writing being used as an educational tool come from Middle Bronze Age Hazor, where a clay prism was found bearing cuneiform multiplication tables (Horowitz et al. 2006: 78–80, Hazor 9). Another specific form of text is represented by two clay liver models with cuneiform inscriptions instructing the student on how to ‘read’ and interpret this type of object (Horowitz et al. 2006: 66–68, Hazor 2–3; Figure 6 ). These models represent a unique learning tool in many ways, as they combine written instructions with a visual template, applying the text to physical three-dimensional space. The meaning is made clear by the positioning of the text over the appropriate feature of the liver, not by any description within the text itself. This distinctive approach can be linked to the purpose of the text, which is not an exercise in developing writing technique or learning vocabulary, but in the art of divination.
From the Late Bronze Age come a handful of lexical tablets. These include two prisms found at Aphek; these are made out of local clay and provide lists of terms in Sumerian, Akkadian, and a West Semitic language (Goren et al. 2006: 162–164; Horowitz et al. 2006: 29–32, Aphek 1 and 3). Similar lists are known from tablets at Ashkelon and Hazor (Horowitz et al. 2006: 42–43, Ashkelon 1, 73–74, Hazor 6). Analysis has shown that many of these tablets were made out of locally sourced clay, pointing to local scribal activity (Goren et al. 2004; 2006). This is supported by idiosyncratic usages of Akkadian that suggest scribes were trained regionally and independently of other writing traditions (Gianto 1999: 127).
What makes these objects physically suited to educational purposes? Both prisms and tablets were designed to offer multiple surfaces for writing, with the scribe manually turning the object over as each surface was complete. The experience would be similar for those reading the text, aided by the comparatively small size and lightweight character of the objects themselves. The small size and density of cuneiform signs meant that reading, in particular, had to allow for flexibility in handling — moving the object itself to take advantage of light and shadow, and differing personal focal lengths.