The position could be handed down from father to son, but not only that in fact, sources also speak of scribes who accepted young men from other families as pupils regardless of the father’s profession. A sekhau, in fact, could be a temple or administrative centre official, a military man, a doctor, a priest and even a painter, sculptor or architect. This was a figure that stood out transversally in Egyptian society. There were several types of scribes, including the royal scribe, the temple scribe, and the daily life scribe, making sure that all administrative and economic activities were documented.Īll activities that involved the use of writing were the responsibility of the sekhau, the scribe. Scribes also occupied a political position, because they kept royal secrets. Writing played a major role throughout ancient Egyptian history, and the scribe was a figure of great importance and one of the highest positions in the state due to his work in temples and royal palaces. ― The Civilization of Ancient Egypt, by Paul Johnson But I have seen the metal-smith working in the very mouth of the furnace. This in the Satire on Trades, the scribe boasts: ‘I have never seen a sculptor sent on an embassy, not a bronze-founder leading a mission. The sculpture is preserved in the Louvre.
It has been dated to the 4th Dynasty, 26202500 BCE. “Some treatises written for copying by apprentice scribes go through all the occupations, exaggerating the disadvantages of each, and stressing the opportunities open to a scribe. The Seated Scribe or Squatting Scribe, a painted limestone sculpture of a seated scribe at work, was discovered by French archaeologist Auguste Mariette in 1850 at Saqqara, a vast burial ground in Egypt. The god Thoth, represented as Ibis bird or baboon, was a patron of scribes in ancient Egypt. The priesthood scribes in temples thus played a great part in the preservation of ancient texts through editing and revising religious, theological, ritual, medical, and magical texts. The scribe’s role was largely administrative, but also preserved Egypt’s stories and oral traditions, just like writers today continue to fulfill the same role. In this regard, scribes are considered the main founders of its civilization. The scribe’s job was one of the most important in ancient Egypt, for he was the representative of culture, science, knowledge, and literature. These banknotes are still in circulation. The Central Bank of Egypt issued 200 Egyptian pounds that depict the statue of the Seated scribe in 2007. Unfortunately we don’t know the name of this scribe. His wig doesn’t fully cover his ears to help him hear clearer, the writing instrument is lost since eternity. The level of his gaze is high, probably because the artist wanted to show that he was looking far away, pondering what he was about to write.
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