Today, children spend a large part of their day at school. Learning is divided into levels and separated by age and ability. But it wasn’t always this way. Education was not always necessary, and in fact many children did their parents’ jobs instead of learning to read and write. What one learns and how it is learned depends on one’s place in society.

In ancient times, as today, education was highly valued. Topics can range from reading and writing to philosophy and ethics. There are only a few pieces of evidence to help us understand how ancient people taught their children. But we know what they were taught and who in society had access to these teachings. This is what education looked like in these five ancient societies.

1. Mesopotamia

Records of learning in ancient societies are sparse, depending on which society you are referring to. But researchers have uncovered evidence. Tablets Ancient Mesopotamia show that children wrote on ancient clay tablets in the same way that one might write on a blackboard today.

The children learned cuneiform, an ancient writing system, by transcribing what the teacher had written, then erasing what was written and starting again. Researchers found around 600 tablets with imperfect and childish forms of language written on them.

2. Ancient Egypt

When it comes to ancient Egypt, there’s a lot we don’t know because we don’t have any records of it, says Aidan DodsonEgyptologist and historian at the University of Bristol. We know that only a tiny portion of the population was educated to read or write, and that these were probably the sons and perhaps daughters of those who already knew how to read and write.

“There is no record of how they learned,” Dodson says. But much of what survives are copies of other works made by schoolchildren, indicating that children learned by dictation, with the student copying what a teacher said or wrote. Beyond that, a large portion of the population would have learned a trade, learning to do what their father or mother did as a profession.

3. Ancient Rome

According to the former educator Quintilianwho lived in the first century CE, going to school was better than home schooling because children benefited from the social interaction of studying with other students.

School would have started around age 7, and although the students were mostly male, some girls would attend, although they would not have gotten that far in their studies as most would marry early in their adolescence. Students would have sat on the floor rather than at a desk, and they would not have been separated by grade and skill level, as is the case today.

4. Zhou Dynasty

During the Zhou Dynasty In China, from 1046 to 256 BC. By 3000 BC, much schooling probably took place in village and district schools where young students learned to read and write using bamboo books. Education was secular and emphasized ethics.

Education was seen as an individual quest marked by moral excellence and only those students who achieved the best academic results would be able to access higher education. Jixia Academywhich was established in 360 BC, was made up of 100 schools which offered regular lectures on an assortment of subjects aimed at men.

5. The Incas

THE Inca Empirewhich existed from 1200 to 1533 AD, learned through oral tradition. Most of the population would have learned a trade rather than academics.

The exception was the nobles who had a more organized education system, divided into four years. In the first year, students would have learned the Quechua languagewhich was widely spoken by elites. Then they would have learned quipu, the ancient art of knotting, and would have spent a lot of time studying religion. And the final year would have been spent studying subjects like history, astronomy, geography and science.

Amautasprofessional teachers of the Inca Empire, taught students. These elite students would have had to take an exam at the end of their studies to gain access to their studies.

Learn more: 7 revolutionary ancient civilizations that influence us today

Article Sources

Our writers at Discovermagazine.com use peer-reviewed studies and high-quality sources for our articles, and our editors review them for scientific accuracy and editorial standards. See the sources used below for this article:

Sara Novak is a science journalist based in South Carolina. In addition to writing for Discover, his work appears in Scientific American, Popular Science, New Scientist, Sierra Magazine, Astronomy Magazine, and many others. She earned a bachelor’s degree in journalism from the University of Georgia’s Grady School of Journalism. She is also a candidate for a master’s degree in science writing from Johns Hopkins University (expected graduation in 2023).