A Report on Education and Literacy in Ancient Rome

Introduction

There are two widely held views of literacy in Ancient Rome. Some such as Longfeld believe that literacy was widespread due to graffiti being written by the common man, to quote H. H. Tanzer, “everybody could read and almost everybody could, and apparently did, write”. This however doesn’t appear to have been the truth as it has been estimated that less than 15 per cent of the Roman population was actually literate, and even fewer were literate in the way the word is used in the modern sense. Semi-literacy was more common, with basic understanding of reading and the ability to write in capitals being a skill that was boasted of by those in the lower classes. Who could read however, largely depended on class as the quality of education a Roman citizen could receive was decided by the tutors they could hire, or their family being educated already.

Who could read and write in Ancient Rome and how did they learn?

The emphasis on being literate, and therefore education, was not huge in the late republic. This was in the time where the oral tradition still reigned, those who were scribae were not a class of workers but rather referred to only poets and clerks. Artisans did sometimes sign their work with their name and who the object was for, there was a degree of understanding of reading and writing among the tradesmen. For the large part however, literacy was confined to the upper-class patricians and those who wanted to move up the social order. This shows the connection between literacy and influence, this is further corroborated by the difference in literacy levels in urban areas versus rural. As the urban population grew, literacy was required for the increasing complexity of commercial and political dealings. The work of clerks was often done by slaves or freedman. The lack of profit in these work fields didn’t provide enough initiative for many to learn how to read and write. The rural population on the other hand was largely illiterate due to the more casual business dealings and lack of a need for records.

The lack of widespread literacy among the common man was largely due to the costs of equipment. Papyrus was expensive in Rome itself and only became more rare and costly as you went further north in the territories. Writing was not used in everyday transactions as they were on a small scale and public announcements often included instructions that they were to be read aloud in the forum (Harris 161), clearly for the benefit of those who were not literate. This was most likely done by those in political positions as by the 4th century BC, council members were required to be able to read to properly convey new laws or upcoming changes in the political sphere.

As has been previously stated, whether a person could read or write was largely dependent on their positioning in the class system. The running of an upper class household required at least some slaves to be literate in order to interpret the instructions given by the master (Harris 197). The overseer of slaves was literate and on a more elite level as a result. This is not to say that slaves were routinely taught to read and write by their masters, literacy was varying depending on the family they worked for. Slaves often taught the children of the house to read and write, many were fluent in multiple languages, but it was Greek and Latin that were taught. Greek prisoners were often targeted specifically to be forced to tutor the children of higher Roman families. The freedman who were previously teachers or tutors often continued on with the same job, many of the higher up jobs in the education sector were held by freedman.

Plebians had the lowest literacy. The rich had easy access to education and there was no profit in the expansion of education and therefore no need to educate the masses. This is not to say that semi-literacy was not a skill among the common people. When written ballots came into use, around 130BC, the initials of the vote were needed. Some ballots included the answers and one merely needed to be crossed off while others had to be filled in by the voter completely. The existence of this meant that either the majority of the common Roman people were literate, or the elite were using the lack of literacy to limit the say of the people, we know that it is the latter.

There is evidence of working people being able to write, during the building of the Tarentum aqueduct a man recorded the names of his co-workers present on specific days. Letter writing was also used by those in the lower class, especially as the empire began to expand. Legionaries wrote letters to their families while they were away on duty, though it is not truly known if they were written by the soldiers themselves or dictated. Literacy was recognized as a way to rise up in the social sense, “Habet hacc res parem” translating to This thing has bread in it was referencing the fact that there was money to be made by those who could read and write (Harris 202). It is clear that few used writing heavily in their day to day lives, there was a basis of understanding to do with reading but cost and standardised education remained a barrier to anything further.

The army functioned largely without written instructions but still often incorporated it in various ways. Night guards in urban areas were required to memorise a written password but this is not evidence for literacy among the basic soldiers, the officers and centurions who came from wealthy families were often the ones who used writing. Literacy in the army corresponded to military rank almost exclusively (Harris 255). In both urban areas and army stations literacy was more used than in most areas due to the mix of classes and the rich serving as something to aspire to. Specifically in the army there was a need for a communication network that stretched over miles, oral orders were still given but plans were conveyed in writing.

Tradesmen and skilled workers used writing to a varying degree. The everyday shopkeepers had no need to keep records of the goods sold. Trade carried out over long distances commonly had the sending and receiving of letters involved (Harris 202). It was recommended for architects to be literate to convey designs and put in orders for building materials. 153 wax tablets were recovered from the house of a financial agent name L. Caecilius Iucundes. They were preserved by the 79AD eruption in Pompeii and record large transactions. There is also evidence of him writing receipts for some of his clients. Graffiti written on wood has also been recovered from Pompeii, which would’ve been lost otherwise. There was a social function of writing employed by the rich, or at least those who influenced the popular culture of the time. Advertisements for chariot races and other entertainments were often employed, so there an emphasis on appealing to the people through the written word, another way to exercise influence.

The rich were expected to be literate. A patrician man without the ability to read and write would’ve been considered almost barbaric. It was not an actual necessity to be literate as a wealthy person but rather a social necessity, they had slaves to do any writing they needed but them being literate was a display of their wealth and background. The guardians of families had to be literate, even if others in the family were literate if they themselves were not they could not legally be the head of the family. In was within the family that the children of the rich were taught, whether by slaves or tutors or their parents. Both boys and girls were educated, an educated woman was a sign of a good background and therefore more appealing. However they also married early, often in their early teens and this combined with the lack of standardised education meant semi-literacy was again more common. Literacy was a prestige and this attitude prevented it being encouraged to spread, in schools for the wealthy the different patrician classes (sons of equestrians and senators for example) were educated together.

It wasn’t a guarantee that everyone with wealth was educated, the more newly wealth probably weren’t educated to the same degree as those from older families.

Books were written by the elite due to their extreme cost and also the way in which they were workshopped. Books often drew on Greek sources and were for small social circles, not the wider public.

The way in which a Roman was taught was entirely dependent on class position. Within the elites there was a range of options, private tutors, taught by parents or sent to private schools. Cato taught his son himself, not wanting his son to answer to a slave. This was rare however as fathers were often serving their military service at the time where the children would be taught, multiple children also called for a larger number of tutors. If the father had died then the mother was in charge of the education of the children, Cornelia daughter of Scipio Africanus personally hired the tutors for her children but also took part in teaching them. This shows her own level of education (Bonner 15). The tutors themselves were sometimes scholarly poets, employing their own texts into their curriculum but this was the exception rather than the rule, many tutors simply interpreted the works of others rather than creating their own.

The standard education in primary schools was more rigid, catering to the children of the working population the Latin and Greek taught was very basic. There was a concentration on recognizing letters this was done both visually and audibly, mixing sound and shape but not written (Bonner 166). This repetition as a form of teaching also related to passages from texts such as law texts like the 12 tables, the group attitude of this form of teaching encouraged competition among the students. Syllables in poetry passages were marked out to aid with pronunciation and speaking.

As for writing, students were started off by being given a wooden tablet, without wax, on which to trace the letters already carved on it (Bonner 167). The shapes were to be recreated and spoken aloud, this was done many times and then the students moved on to writing the letters themselves on wax tablets. Once the form of capitals was known, they students were moved onto cursive, there was a record of a lower citizen boasting about knowing his capitals, showing that even though this education seems basic it was something of rarity. Important abbreviations to do with political figures were also taught, likely to aid with voting.

Both girls and boys were taught to read and write Greek and Latin but were not taught grammar to do with either language, after primary school students would have to enter a grammarian school to continue their education (Bonner 178). However, many children from working families would end their education here, only the more well-off sons of tradesmen would continue (the girls likely being prepared for marriage or already married by this time).

Conclusion

In conclusion, though literacy was largely confined to the elites of Roman society it was not absent completely among the common man. It was only as the Roman empire expanded that the need for written correspondence was necessary for keeping control and even then, it was the elite who needed literacy to employ it. And yet despite the education being for and controlled by the rich it was the slaves who shaped the education system in Rome, employed as tutors. It seems that despite the overestimation of literacy among the people of Ancient Rome and its clear majority in the rich, literacy was not confined to the elite. Romans in all classes have left evidence of their literary achievements, from the literature of the elite, to the epigraphs of the prosperous, to the graffiti of the common.

Bibliography

• Bonner, S. F. Education in Ancient Rome. London, 1977.
• Harris, W. V. Ancient Literacy. Massachusetts, 1989.
• Woolf, G. 'Monumental writing and the expansion of Roman society in the Early Empire.' The Journal of Roman Studies 86 (2005).