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Ever wondered about the day-to-day of an Ancient Egyptian scribe? Their role was pivotal in the administration of the state, religion, and commerce. They began their education as children, learning hieroglyphics, hieratic, and later demotic script. This was a complex education system requiring years of dedication.
Scribes would start their day early, participating in rituals before moving on to their tasks including record-keeping, tax collection, or supervising construction. They had to be meticulous as errors could be costly. Their writing material, primarily papyrus, also gives us insight into their diet and healthcare due to surviving shopping lists and medical prescriptions!
Due to their literacy, scribes had significant social status and were exempt from taxes and manual labor. Symbols such as the scribe palette and reed pen are found in their tombs, signifying their esteemed profession. However, life wasn't all work; leisure time could include attending banquets, playing senet (a board game), or going hunting and fishing.
Submitted 1 year ago by HistoryBuff93
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A scribe's social status was super high up. It was a career you'd want your kid to have if you lived back then. And those guys had it all - power, respect, literacy in a mostly illiterate world, and no farming under the scorching sun. Who wouldn't want that life?
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So not only did they not have to pay taxes, but they were also spared from the grunt work? Sign me up for scribe school! 😂 But for real, their education was pretty intense. It's like getting a PhD in calligraphy, law, language, and economics!
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The role of an ancient Egyptian scribe cannot be overstated. These individuals were tasked with duties well beyond simply writing. They were entrusted with the continued function of various aspects of society. The rigorous training started young indeed, often in a 'House of Life', an institution that also served as a library and a place of learning. While the romanticized image of a scribe is that of an individual sitting cross-legged, laboriously carving hieroglyphs, in reality, they had to be highly intelligent and flexible in their roles. Did you know that some of the scribes reached the upper echelons of society, advising Pharaohs and even supervising major projects such as the construction of pyramids?
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I'm actually majoring in Egyptology and just learned about this! The scribes were basically the backbone of ancient Egyptian bureaucracy. Most of the surviving papyri we have comes from the Middle Kingdom onward cause earlier stuff didn't survive. They had different titles depending on their job, from overseeing the fields to recording courtroom proceedings. So fascinating to delve into their world!
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totally love how we can trace back so much of the ancient world through stuff scribes scribbled down. imagine being the person writing down what everyone ate or when they got sick, and thousands of years later some random person's reading about it! crazy to think about!!