Scribes in Ancient Egypt

The Ancient Egyptian alphabet contains over 700 characters. Those that could master the alphabet were rewarded with a life of relative ease, being one of the few literate members of Egyptian society. Unfortunately, becoming a scribe was one of the most difficult occupations to enter for Ancient Egyptians. Only boys were selected for training, which started around age five, and could last for up to 12 years. Training for scribes was often intense and physically demanding. To help learn the hundreds of characters of the Ancient Egyptian language, student scribes were required to copy texts such as sample correspondences, historical and religious documents, and administrative government manuals for hours per day. One scribe recorded an instance where he was shackled in a temple for months on end as motivation to improve in his studies. He goes on to write that the tactic was a success because his skill eventually surpassed that of his peers. Another scribe explained how beatings were used to impress upon the pupils the meanings of various symbols.

Once training was complete, scribes would work in Egyptian villages and for Egyptian royalty / aristocrats. Duties would include transcribing correspondences, collecting taxes, tallying amounts of crop, maintaining public records, ordering supplies, recording environmental data, etc. Aside from the great pay, the job of a scribe had plenty of fringe benefits. Due to the fact that only about 1% of the Ancient Egyptian population was literate, scribes were revered for being among the wisest and most knowledgeable members of their communities.

Upon completion of official scribe training, a scribe could stay in their role as scribe or pursue an apprenticeship in another occupation where knowledge of the alphabet was required, like the clergy, engineering, law, education, or medicine. The most able scribes were often recruited to instruct future Pharaohs in the topics of reading, writing, history, geometry, music, astronomy, science, geography, and basic medicine.

Thoth, god of the scribes, was also revered as the god of magic, wisdom, and learning. As the inventor of writing, Thoth was responsible for recording the confessions of the dead and for keeping a record of the souls that have already passed over into the Underworld. One reason the Ancient Egyptians respected scribes so much was because written words were seen to have great power. Not only could scribes interpret the words of the gods in holy texts, but they could decipher the spells and incantations of magicians. In Ancient Egypt, any person with the knowledge of a scribe was one not to be crossed, for fear of spiritual and esoteric retaliation.