The Contents of School Texts from Ancient Iraq in Light of Published and Unpublished Cuneiform Texts

Abstract

School texts are texts that go back to the early Sumerian and Babylonian eras، and they come in second place in terms of the clay tablets discovered، and they include a group of texts that were prepared to teach beginners reading and writing and to introduce them to the Sumerian and Akkadian languages، and it includes lists of the cuneiform signs in the Akkadian and Sumerian languages. School texts do not include cuneiform disc-shaped texts only، but there are many forms of school texts، as they can be rectangular، square or circular، and some of them are organized and divided into several columns and others are randomly written، and they have different sizes as well، and the shape of the text may indicate its content There are school texts that are difficult for researchers to differentiate between them and other texts، as they are made with great care and attention، and are written in elegant and well-executed cuneiform script. As for the contents of the texts، they are multiple، they may contain repeated signs or words for the purpose of learning to write the cuneiform script only، and they may contain lexical texts that facilitate the student's translation of texts from Sumerian to Akkadian and vice versa، and these lists may represent more than just copying or memorization، as each stage One of the stages of lexical education serves an educational purpose. School texts may include literary letters and texts such as proverbs and hymns، artistic texts for singers، and legal texts such as learning to write commercial contracts، and they may contain legal texts such as mathematical and engineering exercises and others.