Most People In The Ancient World Were Illiterate

[Viktor]

Could Women in Ancient Rome Read?

That's why many important events were not written down until years later.

 

[Moonglow]

Yes, there was no system of free mass education like today.

 

[fncceo]

There was one culture in which education has been a right of all children for thousands of years... Jewish Culture.

Making sure your children were literate in the Torah has been a religious obligation going back for three thousands years or more.

 

[White 6]

Yes, there was no system of free mass education like today.

Now most can read, but the seem to prefer somebody else do their thinking and evaluation for them, simple telling them who they should be mad at and accepting according to their cohort group.

 

[lg325]

Was 'The Odyssey' Written By A Woman? It's Not As Far-Fetched As You May Think

If there's one thing we know about the Victorians, it's that they loved to be scandalized. The dominant moral values of British society during the 19th century were fairly vanilla, you see. Hetero-normative gender norms were rigidly enforced.…

www.bustle.com

This may add to the discussion. It caused quite a stir in my Greek /Roman mythology class in high school.

 

[themirrorthief]

Could Women in Ancient Rome Read?

That's why many important events were not written down until years later.

guess what most people today either cannot read or simply dont

 

[fncceo]

Could Women in Ancient Rome Read?

That's why many important events were not written down until years later.

Their are portraits of Roman women holding a stylus, which signified she was literate.

It was probably a rarity relegated to the higher levels of Roman society if it was important enough to immortalize in a portrait.

 

[JGalt]

It wasn't until the invention of Gutenberg's printing press and the easy availability of the Bible, did common people become literate. Many people learned to read and write because of the Bible.

Johannes Gutenberg | Printing Press, Inventions, Facts, Accomplishments, & Biography

 

[Admiral Rockwell Tory]

Could Women in Ancient Rome Read?

That's why many important events were not written down until years later.

In other news, water is wet! DUH!

 

[Admiral Rockwell Tory]

guess what most people today either cannot read or simply dont

There is sufficient evidence that almost every liberal on this forum and extreme right wingers cannot read the English language for comprehension.

 

[HereWeGoAgain]

It wasn't until the invention of Gutenberg's printing press and the easy availability of the Bible, did common people become literate. Many people learned to read and write because of the Bible.

Johannes Gutenberg | Printing Press, Inventions, Facts, Accomplishments, & Biography

The slaves weren't allowed to learn to read. They didnt want them reading the bible.

 

[JGalt]

The slaves weren't allowed to learn to read. They didnt want them reading the bible.

They weren't allowed, you're right. At one time, only the Church had access to a Bible. Give everyone a Bible, and they quit coming to church. That's less money for the church, which was very powerful then.

 

[The Sage of Main Street]

Was 'The Odyssey' Written By A Woman? It's Not As Far-Fetched As You May Think

If there's one thing we know about the Victorians, it's that they loved to be scandalized. The dominant moral values of British society during the 19th century were fairly vanilla, you see. Hetero-normative gender norms were rigidly enforced.…

www.bustle.com

This may add to the discussion. It caused quite a stir in my Greek /Roman mythology class in high school.

Penis-Envy Piranhas

More Femininny fantasizing. They keep pushing their self-centered nonsense and weak emasculated males keep taking it seriously.

Speaking of great masculine literature, if Freud had been truly insightful he would have thought of the healthy Telemachus Complex. Any youngster worth his salt wants to be accepted as an equal fighting side-by-side with his father to protect his mother, as Telemachus did at the end of the Odyssey.

 

[HenryBHough]

Rome built the empire as great as it was because their "education" system did not work to stamp out common sense as does America's these days.

 

[Unkotare]

There is sufficient evidence that almost every liberal on this forum and extreme right wingers cannot read the English language for comprehension.

YOU are in no position to talk about English or any other language.

 

[DGS49]

In our culture, females seem to do better at the education thing. Perhaps it is a willingness to do the tedious work that is required (reading, studying, analyzing) that males are often too impatient and distracted to do. Males are better at action-tasks...(designing and) making stuff, breaking stuff, building stuff, transporting stuff, etc.

It is logical to conclude that the world would be much richer in literature had wimmin been made literate in earlier times. Pity.

 

[skye]

Interesting topic, thanks for posting OP.

Even before the Romans ...don't forget the Egyptians had their amazing alphabet.... yes, there were scribes.....some knew how to write some didn't, but there was a very strong oral tradition also.....and that's how history was told to people over the millennia ....many of it was put in writing, for the future , for us to know.


The Ancient World was wiser and more knowledgeable than ours....sometimes I think.

 

[surada]

There was one culture in which education has been a right of all children for thousands of years... Jewish Culture.

Making sure your children were literate in the Torah has been a religious obligation going back for three thousands years or more.

Were they literate? Public reading seems to have been the norm.

 

[surada]

Rome built the empire as great as it was because their "education" system did not work to stamp out common sense as does America's these days.

What was the Roman education system?

 

[Indeependent]

Were they literate? Public reading seems to have been the norm.

The Torah contains the mandate for every Jew to have their own copy of a Torah.