tablets

A Babylonian pupil could learn the names of hundreds of gods without ever attending a religion class. In a new study published in Iraq, Shana Zaia shows how divine names, sacred places and proper conduct were threaded through the exercises that trained first-millennium BC scribes. Some advanced lists ran to nearly 2,000 names, although copying a name was not the same as worshipping its owner. The find offers an unusually close look at what future specialists were expected to know. God Lists Were Writing Lessons, Too Formal Babylonian education largely served boys from families able to pursue scribal or specialist careers, adds an Archaeology News Online Magazine report. Pupils practiced cuneiform writing by copying signs, vocabulary and eventually more demanding