In ancient times, books, as sources of knowledge, and all kinds of documentation in certain circles were very popular. But until the printing press was invented, they had to be created by hand, copying each time anew. And for this there were specially trained people. A scribe is a clerk, that person who professionally engaged in the correspondence of texts.
Role in the development of human civilization
This profession was previously widespread in one form or another in almost all world cultures that had a written language. In the prepress era, scribes (or clerks) conducted the affairs of sovereigns and the big nobility, carried out chronicles at temples or cities, and copied sacred books and texts about magic. Historians tend to believe that the scribe’s full-time job is a prototype of professions such as journalist or documentary writer. The profession gave impetus to the development of accounting and jurisprudence, other important areas related to the fixation of linguistic and symbolic material on various media.
Meaning of the word “scribe”
Representatives of this profession played a special role in Ancient Egypt. There, the scribe is the person who specially studied writing with hieroglyphs, and then arithmetic. The life of society in this state was completely controlled with the help of chancelleries. "Pulling" for such strings, rulers and priests administered justice, controlled the economy, collected taxes and so on and so forth. And for the whole complex process to work non-stop and clearly, everything was properly recorded in reports, protocols, summaries, complaints, decisions. Texts were recorded on papyrus and sent to numerous archives.
In this process, the scribe is the indispensable screw with which more complex state mechanisms worked. After all, there were no mention of printing presses, and each document was created manually. In general, this official of the state apparatus was quite powerful, as evidenced by his rights. One of them is the ability to beat negligent defaulters.
In theory, a person of any origin could become a scribe in Egypt. But more often than not, this important position for that time was passed from father to descendants - by inheritance. As soon as they graduated from an educational institution, the children of government officials could begin their careers. Further, everything depended on personal talents and the influence of ties.
Attribute
To fulfill the duties on time and correctly, the clerks in Egypt (and in other countries, of course) needed the appropriate tools. We used a set that should always be at hand. It consisted of special writing sticks (with pointed tips), brushes, an ink board, a mortar for dry paints, a turtle shell for mixing, a polishing bar, a water vessel, papyrus, and some other components.
Training
For the entourage, statuettes depicting a baboon (the symbol of Thoth, the god of writing and the patron of the profession of a scribe) were used. The importance attached to this work in ancient Egypt can be understood by the way the boys were taught this craft. It was pretty harsh. And the kids went to school as soon as they started wearing clothes - that is, from a very young age. As a rule, training took place at the temple. Since the papyrus itself, as a material, had a rather high price, at first they trained on limestone plates, smooth and cut into cells. One of the teachers, Amenmos, said: “The ears of the student are his back, and he hears when they beat him!”
The future employee should have a fairly broad outlook, which includes both religious canons and the secular sphere: financial management, the army, construction, and justice. That is, in fact, the ability to cope with any kind of texts. The meaning of the word "scribe" in ancient Egypt was associated with a certain hierarchy (the ability to climb the career ladder) and prestige. The scribes were at the court of the pharaoh; they were exempted from taxes and from military service.
In Mesopotamia
Here the scribe is also a major profession. The earliest examples of writing are cuneiform lists on clay tablets. They were produced by specially trained people when there was a need for documentation and description of historical events. The scribes knew literacy and arithmetic, and later astronomy and other sciences. Literature also appeared in Mesopotamia, for example, the well-known Epic of Gilgamesh. By the way, representatives of the profession did not only use clay, but also papyrus.
Middle Ages
This profession flourished rapidly in the Middle Ages. With the development of activities such as usury, trade, as well as with the spread of Islam and Christian ideology, the demand for writing services also grew. It is characteristic that the scribes in medieval Europe were mainly monks (the first appeared in the sixth century in Italy). Then the scriptoriums were approved everywhere: in Spain and in France, in Ireland and in England. But with the invention of the mechanical printing of books, the need for the profession of a scribe gradually came to naught.