Reading was taught by first learning the letters, then syllables, and finally words. [12] Plaques of baked earth, on which the alphabet was written, like the more modern horn-book (see Figure 130), were frequently used. [13] The ease with which modern children learn to read was unknown in Greece. Reading was very difficult to learn, as accentuation, punctuation, spacing between words, and small letters had not as yet been introduced. As a result the study required much time, [14] and much personal ingenuity had to be exercised in determining the meaning of a sentence. The inscription shown in Figure 6 will illustrate the difficulties quite well. The Athenian accent, too, was hard to acquire. [Illustration: FIG. 7. GREEK WRITING-MATERIALS] The pupil learned to write by first tracing, with the stylus, letters cut in wax tablets, and later by copying exercises set for him by his teacher, using the wax tablet and writing on his knee. Still later the pupil learned to write with ink on papyrus or parchment, though, due to the cost of parchment in ancient times, this was not greatly used. Slates and paper were of course unknown in Greece. There was little need for arithmetic, and but little was taught. Arithmetic such as we teach would have been impossible with their cumbrous system of notation. [15] Only the elements of counting were taught, the Greek using his fingers or a counting-board, such as is shown in Figure 8, to do his simple reckoning. [Illustration: FIG. 8 A GREEK COUNTING-BOARD Pebbles of different size or color were used for thousands, hundreds, tens, and units. Their position on the board gave them their values. The board now shows the total 15,379.] GREAT IMPORTANCE OF READING AND LITERATURE. After the pupil had learned to read, much attention was given to accentuation and articulation, in order to secure beautiful reading. Still more, in reading or reciting, the parts were acted out. The Greeks were a nation of actors, and the recitations in the schools and the acting in the theaters gave plenty of opportunity for expression. There were no schoolbooks, as we know them. The master dictated and the pupils wrote down, or, not uncommonly, learned by heart what the master dictated. Ink and parchment were now used, the boy making his own schoolbooks. Homer was the first and the great reading book of the Greeks, the _Iliad_ and the _Odyssey_ being the Bible of the Greek people. Then followed Hesiod, Theognis, the Greek poets, and the fables of Aesop. [16] Reading, declamation, and music were closely interrelated. To appeal to the emotions and to stir the will along moral and civic lines was a fundamental purpose of the instruction (R. 5). A modern writer well characterizes the ancient instruction in literature in the following words: