Education at Ancient Ur

SCHOOLS AT UR WHEN ABRAHAM WAS A BOY The archaeological expedition conducted by Sir Charles Leonard Woolley at Ur of the Chaldees, from 1922 to 1934, has proven that there were schools in the city of Abraham's youth. Clay tablets were uncovered that indicate some of the subjects taught in these schools. The pupils had writing lessons on tablets, and dictation lessons in vocabulary. In arithmetic, they had the multiplication and division tables, and more advanced scholars had square and cube roots, with lessons in practical geometry. Grammar lessons included paradigms of the conjugation of verbs.1 These revelations together with other discoveries at Ur, substantiate the view that Abraham came from a city of high civilization. No doubt he attended one of these schools. It is certain that Abraham and Sarah were familiar with the laws of Hammurabi, having been taught this Babylonian law code from their youth. The explanation for Sarah's action In giving her maid Hagar to Abraham as a secondary wife (Genesis 16) is that the law of Hammurabi allowed such to be done. Similar action was repeated in Jacob's family relations (Genesis 30). But after the law of Moses came into being, this custom disappeared in Israel. [Manners And Customs of Bible Lands]