Other Middle Eastern Education

Civilization spread from Sumer and Egypt to the eastern shores of the Mediterranean Sea.** Certain tribes in this region each spoke one of the closely related Semitic languages. Between about 1500 ВС and 1000 ВС, these tribes developed the world's first alphabet and so gave education another valuable tool. Alphabetic systems make writing easier than picture systems because they require far fewer symbols.

Certain Hebrew*** Semitic tribes developed a remarkably democratic educational system. Other educational systems had been designed mainly for the sons of upper-class families. But the Hebrews required boys of every social class to attend school. The Hebrew schools were religious -schools conducted by priests called scribes. They taught boys to read the sacred writings of the Hebrew people, which were collected in a volume called the Tarah. Hebrew girls did not attend school but were taught at home by their mothers.

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* awkward – неудобный, затруднительный

** the MediterraneanSea – Средиземное море

*** Hebrew – иудей; (древне)еврейский