![]() Make flow the good oil in his.-vessel like water, "Pour out for him … like good wine, bring him a stand, You have clarified for him all the more recondite details of the." You have shown him all the more obvious details of the tablet-craft, of counting and accounting, Show him all the fine points of the scribal art. "You 'open the hand' of my young one, you make of him an expert, Whatever he had learned of the scribal art, The schoolboy took the …, sat down before him Having entered the house, he was seated in the seat of honor. To that which the schoolboy said, his father gave heed. Let him put aside counting and accounting "Give me his gift, let him direct the way to you, ![]() of the art of being a big brother, let no one. of words, the art of being a young scribe, I neglected the scribal art, the scribal art, My teacher (said) "Your hand is not good," caned me. Who was in charge of the Sumerian (said) "You spoke.," caned me. (said) "Why when I was not here did you take the.?" caned me. Who was in charge of the gate (said) "Why when I was not here did you go out?" caned me. Who was in charge of drawing (said) "Why when I was not here did you stand up?" caned me. (said) "Why when I was not here did you not keep your head high?" (said) "Why when I was not here did you talk?" caned me. What was in charge of the courtyard said "Write,". Looked into house and street in order to pounce upon some one, (said) "Your. The teacher in supervising the school duties, I entered before my teacher, took (my) place. In the tablet-house, the monitor said to me: "Why are you late?" I was My mother gave me two "rolls," I went to school. My mother gave me two "rolls," I left her Said to her: "Give me my lunch, I want to go to school." I must not be late, (or) my teacher will cane me." Wash my feet, set up the bed, I want to go to sleep Read the tablet to him, (and) my father was pleased ![]() I spoke to my father of my hand copies, then Upon the school's dismissal, I went home,Įntered the house, (there) was my father sitting. (and in) the afternoon, my hand copies were prepared for me. Prepared my tablet, wrote it, finished it then "Schoolboy, where did you go from earliest days?" ![]() Noah Kramer, the scholar whose translation appears here, described it as "the first recorded case of 'apple-polishing' in the history of man." The strategy apparently worked because by the end of the dinner, the headmaster praises the young man to Nidaba, the Sumerian goddess of writing, and predicts that he will become the foremost student in the school. The boy then asks his parents to invite the headmaster to their house and to provide him with wine, food, and gifts. The young scribe-in-training described here is repeatedly caned by his teachers for failing to memorize his lessons and for disciplinary problems. The largest fragment (shown here) came from the Sumerian sacred city of Nippur, in present-day Iraq. The composition translated here, about a day in the life of a budding scribe, was evidently widely known, because scholars pieced together its full text over a period of 40 years (from 1909 to 1949) using 21 tablets and fragments excavated at various places from ancient Mesopotamian sites. Students learned by copying lessons on clay tablets, memorizing the lessons, and then reciting them for the school's headmaster (the "school father") or other teachers, monitors, and proctors of the school. This tablet, from ancient Sumeria (as early as 2000 B.C.E.), details a day in the life of a school boy. ![]()
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