Haven't signed into your Scholastic account before?
Teachers, not yet a subscriber?
Subscribers receive access to the website and print magazine.
You are being redirecting to Scholastic's authentication page...
Announcements & Tutorials
Renew Now, Pay Later
Sharing Google Activities
2 min.
Setting Up Student View
Exploring Your Issue
Using Text to Speech
Join Our Facebook Group!
1 min.
Subscriber Only Resources
Access this article and hundreds more like it with a subscription to Science World magazine.
Article Options
Presentation View
Ancient Homework
COURTESY ©THE BRITISH LIBRARY BOARD/ADD.34186, NO.1
Homework is nothing new. Nearly 2,000 years ago, an Egyptian student was tasked with writing lines in Greek on a wax tablet.
The tablet was made out of blackened beeswax that had been poured into a wooden frame, says Peter Toth, a curator at the British Library in London, England. The beeswax turns a lighter color when scratched. The library will display the tablet this month for an exhibition on writing through the ages.
Although wax usually breaks down in humid air, Egypt’s dry climate preserved the tablet for millennia. The phrases the student wrote: “Accept advice from someone wise. It is not right to believe every friend of yours.”
RELATED CONTENT