Roman schools

The school day would start very early in the morning, break at midday, and then go on until the middle of the afternoon. The children didn't sit at desks, but on wooden benches. They rested wax tablets on their knees - blocks of wood with a layer of wax on one side. They would write in the wax using a sharp, pointed tool about the size of a pen called a stylus. They would also have to learn long passages from books and recite them from memory. Lessons were long and difficult, and children who didn't do well would get beaten!