![]() ![]() ![]() I have seen many beatings – set your heart on books! I have watched those conscripted for labour – there is nothing better than books! It is the greatest of all callings, there is none like it in all the land. The introduction, supposedly written by a father for his son, reads: It compares a scribe’s work with that of other trades and crafts in an attempt to persuade the student that education will make him better off than anyone else. In the Ramesside era (1300-1075 BC), the Satire of the Trades was one of the texts most frequently copied by student scribes. It belongs to a genre known as ‘Wisdom Texts’, supposed collections of the experiences of learned and influential men to be shared with following generations as advice on behaviour, deportment and career advancement. The text known as the Satire of the Trades dates to the Middle Kingdom, the Golden Age of Egyptian literature, between 20 BC. This limited the scope for employment but such ‘on the job’ training allowed apprentices to help out at home while learning. Boys from poorer families could only hope to be educated with support from a wealthier relative or patron, or through apprenticeship to an older scribe, perhaps the local clerk or land agent, who would teach them the basics of the scribe’s craft. To these boarding establishments, known as ‘stables’, family or household servants delivered the students’ food and drink rations daily for several years, during which time the student was not contributing to the family’s income. Government departments and major temples supported schools, where boys commenced their training at six or seven, sometimes earlier. Unsurprisingly, every father hoped to see his son become a scribe: they were highly respected members of society.īut education was not available to all. When the scribe read back his work, his client trusted him to honestly recite the words he had written, trusting he would not abuse his calling. ![]() Scribes were required to make agreements and intentions permanent and binding. Those unable to read themselves employed scribes to draw up contracts, letters, inventories and wills. They believed that committing speech to writing made the words real and true, a belief shared by all Egyptians, literate or not. The ancient Egyptians placed huge significance on the written word. Trainee scribes were led to believe that, if they stuck to their lessons and followed their tutors’ instructions, the sky was the limit.Įgyptian scribes regularly appear in tomb depictions of everyday activities recording the biennial cattle census, measuring the fields for taxation purposes, checking deliveries of harvested grain, weighing precious metals. The lasting success of these changes owed much to his scribal background. He had to wait a few years, but eventually Horemheb achieved the pinnacle of his career by becoming the last king of the 18th Dynasty, making his mark by instituting dramatic reforms to the organisation of the army, the judiciary and administration in general. As a close adviser of the young Pharaoh, Horemheb was appointed ‘Deputy of the King throughout the Two Lands’, and might have expected to succeed to the throne should the king die childless. From Scribe of Recruits, during the reign of Akhenaten (1353-1336 BC), Horemheb rose through the military ranks and, by the rule of Tutankhamun (1332-1323 BC), he was commander in chief of the Egyptian forces. Born of middle-ranking parents, his scribal training led to an army career. Scraps of ancient hieratic writing, mostly penned by student scribes on limestone flakes called ostraca, suggest that no matter how humble his origins, an educated Egyptian could achieve almost anything. The two writings existed side by side for at least 2,500 years. For everyday purposes, however, scribes used a shorthand version of the hieroglyphic script known as hieratic, which was quicker to write and more economical of space. Including both ideograms (which convey a whole word or idea, either concrete or abstract, in a single sign) and phonograms (representing either an alphabetic sound or a group of consonants), it was used in formal inscriptions on tomb and temple walls as well as on elaborate funerary papyri. Hieroglyphs – ‘the Words of God’ – compose a writing system with more than 1,000 distinct characters, the meaning of which was lost for 1,500 years before they were deciphered by Jean-François Champollion in 1823. Many relied instead on the simpler hieratic script for the multitude of everyday documents generated by the Egyptian bureaucracy. However, contrary to popular belief, not all Egyptian scribes understood hieroglyphs. In ancient Egypt, literacy was the key to success. ![]()
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