side to the cities, where they found more teachers and more
social mobility based on education.
Egyptian education in this period was similar to educa-
tion in Greece. Younger students learned reading, writing,
arithmetic, music, gymnastics, and athletics. Th ey memo-
rized poetry, especially that of Homer. Older students might
engage in specialized study of composition, philosophy, rhet-
oric, astronomy, history, medicine, or mathematics. In addi-
tion to classes, students were expected to compete publicly in
tests of academic achievement.
Some students went to schools where they studied with
groups of children of about the same age. Others studied at
home with private tutors. Parents had to pay for their chil-
dren’s education, which meant that the poorest people could
not send their children to school. Tutors were usually slaves
purchased by parents to teach their children. Teachers of all
sorts were held in fairly low esteem; elementary teachers re-
ceived the least respect, while secondary-level teachers were
somewhat more highly regarded. During this period girls
studied too, though education was still less common for girls
than it was for boys.
Egypt became a center of learning during the Classical
Period (480–323 b.c.e.). Alexander the Great founded the
city of Alexandria in 332 b.c.e., modeling it on Athens and
recruiting citizens from all over the ancient world. Among
the new citizens were many scholars, and Alexandria became
an important destination for those seeking advanced study.
One famous Alexandrian scholar was the mathematician Eu-
clid (ca. 325–ca. 265 b.c.e.), who greatly advanced and also
systematized the study of geometry. Many educated Jewish
settlers came to Alexandria and taught their religion there;
the Septuagint, a Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible, was
written by Jewish scholars in Alexandria.
Alexandria was especially famous for its library, which
was the largest collection of writing ever assembled at
the time. Th e library had an excellent collection of texts
by Homer as well as works by other famous authors and
scholars. Scholars came from everywhere to read and study
in the library. In ancient times it could be diffi cult for a
student to fi nd the works he needed to read, and texts of-
ten existed in various versions in diff erent places, so the
Alexandria library’s collections were invaluable to serious
students. Th e library functioned as an early university, its
resources attracting scholars who in turn learned from one
another.THE MIDDLE EAST
BY AMY HACKNEY BLACKWELL
Ancient Mesopotamians were among the fi rst people in the
world to create schools. Archaeologists have found lists of vo-
cabulary words dating to about 3000 b.c.e. at the Sumerian
city of Uruk; this is the earliest evidence of formal schooling
in the region. By 2000 b.c.e. Mesopotamians had a well-regu-
lated school system, with scribal schools created by royal edictGranite statue of Senmut holding Princess Neferure, the temple of
Amun, Karnak, Th ebes, Egypt, Eighteenth Dynasty, around 1470 b.c.e.;
Senmut was Neferure’s tutor. (© Th e Trustees of the British Museum)
378 education: The Middle East