Babylonian students appealed to gods with homework

Around 2,500 years ago in ancient Babylonia, now Iraq, a student named Šamaš-riḫtu-uṣur offered his completed schoolwork as a dedication to Nabû, the Babylonian god of writing.

He collected special clay from a sacred area and inscribed his exercises on it, hoping to receive good health, a long life, and prosperity for his family. Recent research by Shana Zaia of Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam shows this practice wasn’t unusual.

Zaia analyzed surviving clay tablets to discover that religion was woven into Babylonian education. Students didn’t have separate religion classes, but learning to write involved understanding and honoring the gods. They often inscribed prayers and blessings on one side of their clay tablets alongside their exercises, then offered the finished work at temples. The temple of Nabû in Babylon holds thousands of fragments from these student offerings.

These devotional exercises weren’t everyday assignments, and only elite boys and young men from wealthy families received formal scribal training. Babylonian curricula included lists of gods, one beginner’s list contained over 200 names, and texts that taught moral lessons and the importance of religious allegiance. By copying these texts, students learned about their city, political authority, and a specific worldview.

This study builds on previous archaeological work at Nippur and shows how schooling prepared future leaders for a society where religion and government were closely linked.