I meant that the “secrets” were doled out in achievements or the ability to comprehend.

I think the English language is great but complicated cultures are ill served by translation.

Biblical Hebrew commonly has 3 verbs in a sentence to semantically express a thought. The cultural ideas and concepts are hard to express in English.

Any translator needs to understand that aspect. Without that understanding important subtleties could be lost.

All of that is to say the word secret in English has connotations that may not exist in the original idea.

I’m not saying there weren’t societies that held information closely, I’m saying the motivations and details are likely lost.