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You are here: Home / Firsts / When Did People Learn To Read?

When Did People Learn To Read?

July 5, 2020 by Karen Hill

All civilizations have had forms of writing and reading. People first used pictures as words. The Babylonians and ancient Egyptians passed beyond this stage and used hieroglyphics, which contained symbols along with pictures.

In 1200 B.C., the Phoenicians, with their alphabet, were the first people to read sounds from letter symbols rather than from pictures. All the letters were capitals, and no spaces were left between words in sentences. Because the letters were printed by hand, they sometimes changed shape and were difficult to read.

Greek and Roman children learned to read by sounding out each letter in their words. They learned letters in alphabetical order, backwards and forwards, and used songs to learn to spell.

INTHEWRITINGOFANCIENTGREECETHEREWERENOBREAKSBETWEENTHEWORDSINASENTENCEANDNOPUNCTUATI ONATTHEENDOFASENTENCE!

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Filed Under: Firsts

About Karen Hill

Karen Hill is a freelance writer, editor, and columnist. Born in New York, her work has appeared in the Examiner, Yahoo News, Buzzfeed, among others.

Previous Post: « Who Developed the Modern Alphabet?
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