is the greatest of all callings, there is none like it in all the land… Look, there is no profession without a boss, except for the scribe – he is the boss. ![]() In the Satire of the Trades, written by a father for his son and often copied by scribes at school, was the following glowing recommendation for this work: He who masters it is found fit to hold office … Fate and Fortune are to be found with you.Ĭertainly, scribe was the best of all professions in Ancient Egypt. The scribes would pray to him:Ĭome to me, Thoth, O noble ibis … Come to me and give me counsel to make me skilful in your calling. Thoth was often depicted with the head of an ibis, and so a scribe could be symbolised as an ibis. He was the author of The Book of Thoth, a most sacred text. (Hieroglyphics means ‘the Words of God’.) It was believed that Thoth had invented writing and hieroglyphs, along with reading (and many more aspects of knowledge). Thoth was the god of wisdom and knowledge, and of writing and hieroglyphs. The scribes were so essential in Egypt that they had their own deity. One scribe, Kenhirkhepshef, was a historian, visiting tombs and temples to research the past, and he made a chronological list of the New Kingdom pharaohs. They drew outlines on the walls of tombs and temples to be carved by sculptors, and we have evidence of love poetry written by scribes. One scribe, Horemheb, worked his way up from military scribe to pharaoh! Scribes of great talent and skill could find positions working for the royal household a lucky chap could even be promoted to the position of vizier, second to the pharaoh. They also worked for the military, recording campaigns (you can see them depicted standing back from a battle and noting down the events) and, afterwards, counting the enemy’s dead. Only a very small proportion of the population were literate, and so scribes were kept busy in villages recording accounts and legal matters. People believed that putting speech in writing made the words true. In Ancient Egyptian society, scribes were very well respected. They learned to do so by attending a school for scribes for up to five years, where they would laboriously copy the many characters and signs using a brush made from reeds. ![]() Most scribes were in fact the sons of scribes.Ī scribe’s job was essentially to read and write hieroglyphic and hieratic scripts (hieratic was a shorthand version of the hieroglyphic script). One could aspire to be a soldier, or a priest, or an administrator – but scribe was a role that suited those who sought knowledge, a peaceful work life and, importantly, wealth. 2500 BC, Louvre, Parisĭuring the New Kingdom, young Egyptian boys of a certain status in life were expected to choose their future profession.
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