From: SolomonW@citi.com   
      
   On Sun, 13 Sep 2020 13:13:02 +0100, The True Doctor wrote:   
      
   > On 12/09/2020 23:32, SolomonW wrote:   
   >> On Sat, 12 Sep 2020 13:55:24 +0100, The True Doctor wrote:   
   >>   
   >>> On 12/09/2020 09:43, SolomonW wrote:   
   >>>>> Almost   
   >>>>> everyone in the ancient world was literate,   
   >>>>   
   >>>> I doubt it as late as 1917, most Russians were illiterate   
   >>>>    . Plus also   
   >>>> there are degrees of literacy.   
   >>>>   
   >>>   
   >>> We are not talking about 20th century Russian peasants. We are talking   
   >>> about the civilized socialites of over 2000 years ago who built schools   
   >>> and synagogues to educate their children to read and write.   
   >>   
   >> Are you talking of the elite or everyone?   
   >>   
   >   
   > I am talking about all male citizens being taught by the state to read   
   > and write in exchange for 2 years of national service when they   
   > graduated. Read Plato and Xenophon.   
      
   This was Greece, not sure of other places. I have never heard of such a   
   thing in other countries.   
      
   > Every city state educated its   
   > citizens at its own expense irrespective of class.   
      
   Citizens only made up a small percentage.   
      
   > If women or   
   > foreigners wanted to be educated, for example Sappho, then their   
   > families would have to pay for it,   
      
   So presumably few of these were educated.   
      
   > but all men were educated at the   
   > state's expense, because those were the people that mattered since they   
   > were expected to defend it,   
      
   Probably male citizens.   
      
      
   > and a soldier has to be able to read and   
   > write in order to follow orders and be promoted through the ranks to   
   > make the best general. The more people who are educated, the better the   
   > leaders.   
      
      
   Many soldiers have no plans to become generals or leaders.   
      
      
      
      
   >   
   >>>   
   >>>>   
   >>>>   
   >>>>> and the only thing stopping   
   >>>>> people from learning to read and write was the lack of spectacles for   
   >>>>> people who might have needed them.   
   >>>>   
   >>>> Cost of books too?   
   >>>   
   >>> They used wax tablets to write on as the teacher deictated or wrote on a   
   >>> board. The remains of such tablets have been found a Hadrian's Wall   
   >>> bearing the drafts of letters the soldiers sent to their families.   
   >>   
   >> Limited access to books   
      
   No comment to this I notice. If literacy was common, why did Christians and   
   Jews have readers who read books to the public?   
      
      
   > and no newspapers andmuch of these letters here   
   >> were written by scribes.   
   >   
   > Rubbish. They were found at the Wall itself and you don't have scribes   
   > going around writing letters for other people on the front line. The   
   > letters were written by individual soldiers and were written in   
   > different hands.   
   >   
   > Just look at how the laws of Athens were written on boards on the front   
   > to the courthouse building so that everyone would know what they were,   
   > and people would not be unfairly prosecuted under laws which did not   
   > exist. See Andocides' On the Mysteries.   
      
   A small percentage could do all this.   
      
      
   In ancient Rome, why if literacy was so common were scribes considered so   
   important?   
      
   Check here please   
      
      
   https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/3huswa/how_liter   
   te_was_the_average_roman_citizen_did/   
      
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