whether the influence of the family might not have been a more important factor in
deciding which of various candidates would get a job.RELIVING A GOLDEN PAST – THE OLD
BABYLONIAN PERIODSumerian in a post-Sumerian ageIf Ur III Sumerian identity was increasingly distant from reality, Old Babylonian
Sumerian identity seems to be fiction. This is not to say that scribes did not cultivate
their identity, and take great pride in their Sumerian heritage. Many took Sumerian
names. Sumerian was the dominant written language, especially in education. A little
like Mediaeval Latin in England, Sumerian continued in use in learned and religious
contexts long after mothers stopped talking to their babies in it. Old Babylonian
Sumerian is somewhat different from classical Sumerian.
The trainee scribe at this time was taught through a radical, new system. A set of
new lists of signs and words had been created, similar in style to the traditional ones,
but far more wide-ranging and longer. They contained words more closely related to
contemporary documents, although old and rare words were not excluded. The lists
first compiled during this period would provide one of the keys for modern scholars
to unlock the secrets of third millennium Sumerian. The old lists were still copied too
- and apparently still understood – but less commonly and only later in the education
process (Taylor 2008 ; Veldhuis 2010 ). Practice documents were also still used, although
again this seems to have taken place later in the scribe’s education. First came signs
and words, then math and metrology, practice contracts and letters, then finally more
literary works. In fact, it is largely through the work of young trainee scribes during this
period that we know most Sumerian literature. The corpus is remarkably wide and
varied, ranging from proverbs through royal hymns, myths and epics, literary letters,
fictional debates arguing the benefits of bird versus fish or summer versus winter, and
much more besides. The proverbs include many related to scribal ethos: “If a scribe
knows only a single line, but his handwriting is good, he is indeed a scribe!”; “A scribe
whose hand can follow dictation is indeed a scribe!”; “What kind of a scribe is a scribe
who does not know Sumerian?” (Taylor 2002 : 2. 38 , 2. 40 , 2. 47 ). There were also several
texts relating to school life. They concern the routine of daily life at school, tell of fierce
competition between students, and offer accounts of the relationship between a master
and student. It is difficult to tell to what extent these texts reflect the scribal ethos of
the time, since some at least appear to be humorous. In any case, the picture they paint
does not match the reality of education as we see it in the archaeology of the period,
where teachers trained their son and maybe one or two other pupils at home. They
probably do not reveal the reality of life in Ur III schools either. Some of the Old
Babylonian Sumerian literary texts are possibly products of the Old Babylonian period
itself. Others clearly derive from the Ur III period, although in most cases we have yet
to find those manuscripts. Old Babylonian education seems also to have included
music lessons (closely related to the study of literature) and practical training, such as
how to solve disputes.
Old Babylonian education is characterized by several features. One is a great breadth
of learning about the cuneiform writing system. Another is an emphasis on Sumerian,
and a complex relationship with Akkadian. The lists were still mostly presented in
–– Jon Taylor ––