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September 2, 2006

Literacy at Lachish

I continue to struggle with the primary evidence for scribal training in ancient Israel. Much of it is frankly confusing as to whether or not it addresses the issue with which I am struggling. So as I was reading Lemaire's little book on schools and the formation of the Bible, I was glad to be reminded of Lachish letter 3.

After discussing various texts that he believes are evidence for some kind of a school at Lachish, Lemaire,14, says (my translation from Lemaire's French),

These various types of exercises allow us to assume (supposer) that Lachish, second city of the kingdom of Judah during the royal epoch, had a school that, at least in 8th century, was located either nearby or in the palace-fortress, the royal administrative center. As Lachish was principally a garrison city, this school could have been formed from the junior corps of the army and one may (probablement) find an allusion to the training given at this school in lines 9-13 of Lachish ostracon 3.

At this point Lemaire gives a translation of the referenced lines in Lachish 3 which I translate starting with line 8 rather than line 9,

8) And why did my lord say, "You do not know how
9) to read a letter!" As YHWH lives, no one has ever tried
10) to read a letter to me! And truly,
11) any letter which comes to me,
12) I can read and later recall (give back)
13) any part of (it). . .

And then Lemaire returns to his account,

This statement indicates that the sender of the message, Hôsha'jahu, not only knows how to read the message which was sent him, but also is able to repeat it by heart. There is probably (probablement) an allusion to a classical exercise of military or administrative training, an exercise which is already known in Egypt, and it is rather likely that as leader of a garrison post, Hôsh'yahu had received this training, on which he depended, in school at Lachish.

There are a few too many "probablements" for my taste in what Lemaire has to say. However, it is clear that Hôsha'jahu was very proud of his ability to read and took considerable offense at the suggestion that he was illiterate. Not having the letter to which Hôsha'jahu is responding, it is equally likely, in my view, that his correspondent assumed he could not read because being able to read was either an unusual skill in general or a skill not normally seen at Hôsha'jahu's rank or function. On the other hand, I agree (for now) with Lemaire that some type of literacy training likely went on at Lachish. He cites for example the abecedary Lachish 23 and the possible partial abecedary Lachish 24 (but this may simply be the personal name Abigad). I would add Lachish 22 that is a list of 10 or so personal names each beginning with l, "belonging to." This is reminiscent of lists of names that one sees in school texts elsewhere. But even here, a large amount of caution is in order. Lines 6 and 7, the only lines in which the last sign is readable, end with symbols for homer, and seah, (dry measurements). If numbers preceded these signs in the lacunae at or near the end of each line, it is possible that we are dealing with a rather mundane administrative text. In addition, to be certain that even the abecedaries were part of a training program, I would like to see other abecedaries with multiple copies of the alphabet and perhaps one line in the hand of the master. I am even less impressed with the possibility that the partial abecedary, "incised rather lovingly in the limestone of the step [my translation of Lemaore, 12]" of a public building at Lachish, is a student exercise in writing. While there are several other signs and a drawing of a lion (plus some other figure) on this step, the whole of it may rather be a finished product written for some non-educational reason that now eludes us (votive, dedicative, . . . ?). While Lemaire, 13-14, raises concern over the figures and the other symbols and likens them to the drawings and texts on the pithio at Kuntillet ‛Ajrud, he maintains that they are all likely part of a school exercise. Why would a step in a public building be used to teach or practice the ABCs? I don't have an answer to this question but I'd sure like to hear one. Of course, the building may have been out of use at the time of the inscriptions on the step and the limestone provided good practice media.

In addition to Lachish 3, there is another reference from the Lachish letters to a literate person corresponding with his "lord," Lachish 6. Here the author (Hôsha'jahu again?) references reading various official correspondence in line 5 and then in lines 12-15 he writes, "As YHWH your god lives, ev[er si]nce your servant read the letter[s] nothing else has been (thought of) by your servant." Special note: This letter might become a foil for a future post on a couple current events that also interest me. In lines 5-7 we read, "The words of the officials are not good. (They serve) to reduce your strength (hand) and to weaken the strength (hands) of the pe[ople]." But as I said, that is for another post.

Unless it is based solely on the partial abecedary in the limestone step, I'm not sure how Lemaire came to the conclusion that a school at Lachish existed in the eighth century BCE. As for as I know, all the Lachish ostraca are from the very early sixth century BCE. If the step inscription was executed when the building was no longer in use, then its hard to see how Lemaire can maintain his eight century date.

The truth is I haven't made up my mind for sure about the nature (or existence) of a formal school at Lachish in either the eighth or even the early sixth century. It is clear that there were literate people associated with Lachish in the early sixth century and some or all of those literate people were not professional scribes. But the dates are part of the problem. Even if we take Lemaire's possible eighth century school, the eighth century is 100 to 200 years after Jerusalem first became a Judean capital and a lot can happen in 100 to 200 years. By the way, 200 years seems like the right number to me but I am open to a shorter time period if the evidence can be better developed and presented. The question I set out some time ago to answer had to do with the possibility of there being a scribal school in Jerusalem near the beginning of the dynastic period. The point I want to make here is that, in the end, this issue will need to be addressed indirectly using judgment and inference from evidence that, with very rare exceptions, is removed from the target of the inquiry by both time and distance.

References:

The references above are all to,

Two other works, among several he has written on the subject, should be consulted in evaluating Lemaire's position. However, neither of these works contributes substantially to his understanding of the situation a Lachish beyond the above-cited book.

Posted by Duane Smith at September 2, 2006 2:32 PM | Read more on Scribal Schools |

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