Editing Scribe (section)

==Ancient Egypt==
{{see also|List of ancient Egyptian scribes|The Seated Scribe}}
[[File:Egyptian - Scribe Statue of Min-nakht - Walters 22230 - Three Quarter.jpg|thumb|upright|Early [[New Kingdom]] statue commemorating the scribe Minnakht ("Strength of [[Min (god)|Min]]"), showing how ancient scribes worked seated on the floor with the papyrus on their lap<!-- [[Walters Art Museum]], [[Baltimore]].-->]]

One of the most important professionals in ancient Egypt was a person educated in the arts of writing (both [[hieroglyphics]] and [[hieratic]] scripts, as well as the [[Demotic (Egyptian)|demotic]] script from the second half of the first millennium BCE, which was mainly used as shorthand and for commerce) and arithmetic.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Rice|first1=Michael|title=Who's Who in Ancient Egypt|date=1999|publisher=Routledge|location=London|isbn=978-0415154482|page=lvi}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last1=Damerow|first1=Peter|title=Abstraction and Representation: Essays on the Cultural Evolution of Thinking|date=1996|publisher=Kluwer|location=[[Dordrecht]]|isbn=978-0792338161|pages=188–}}</ref> Sons of scribes were brought up in the same scribal tradition, sent to school, and inherited their fathers' positions upon entering the civil service.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Carr|first1=David M.|title=Writing on the Tablet of the Heart: Origins of Scripture and Literature|date=2005|publisher=[[Oxford University Press]]|location=Oxford|isbn=978-0195172973|page=66}}</ref>

Much of what is known about ancient Egypt is due to the activities of its scribes and the officials. But because of their ability to study in the vast Egyptian libraries, they were entrusted with jobs bigger than just copyists. Monumental buildings were erected under their supervision,<ref name="Kemp">{{cite book|last1=Kemp|first1=Barry J. |author-link=Barry J. Kemp |title=Ancient Egypt: Anatomy of a Civilization|date=2006|publisher=Routledge|location=London|isbn=978-0415235495|page=180|edition=2nd}}</ref> administrative and economic activities were documented by them, and stories from Egypt's lower classes and foreign lands survive due to scribes putting them in writing.<ref name="Kemp"/>{{rp|296}}

Scribes were considered part of the royal court, were not [[conscription|conscripted]] into the army, did not have to pay taxes, and were exempt from the heavy manual labor required of the lower classes ([[corvée]] labor). The scribal profession worked with painters and artisans who decorated [[relief]]s and other building works with scenes, personages, or hieroglyphic text.  However, the physical aspect of their work sometimes took a toll [[Joint pain|on their joints]], with ancient bones showing some signs of [[arthritis]] that might be attributable to their profession.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Lidz |first=Franz |date=2024-08-16 |title=Ancient Scribes Got Ergonomic Injuries, Too |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2024/08/16/science/ancient-scribes-ergonomic-injuries.html |access-date=2024-08-26 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}}</ref>

[[File:Ancient Egyptian Scribe's palette HARGM7677.jpg|thumb|upright|left|Ancient Egyptian scribe's palette with five depressions for pigments and four styli]]

<div>The hieroglyph used to [[scribe equipment (hieroglyph)|signify the scribe]], ''to write'' and ''writings'', etc., is [[Gardiner's sign list|Gardiner sign]] Y3, <hiero>Y3</hiero> from the category of 'writings, & music'. The hieroglyph contains the scribe's ink-mixing palette, a vertical case to hold writing-reeds, and a leather pouch to hold the black and red ink blocks.</div>

[[File:Model of a Granary with Scribes MET DP351558.jpg|thumb|upright|Granary with scribes (lower right) in a [[Middle Kingdom of Egypt|Middle Kingdom]] tomb model]]
The demotic scribes used rush pens which had stems thinner than that of a reed (2&nbsp;mm). The end of the rush was cut obliquely and then chewed so that the fibers became separated. The result was a short, stiff brush which was handled in the same manner as that of a calligrapher.<ref>{{cite journal |first=Willy |last=Clarysse |title=Egyptian Scribes Writing Greek |journal=Chronique d'Égypte |volume=68 |issue=135–136 |date=1993 |pages=186–201 |doi=10.1484/J.CDE.2.308932}}</ref>

[[Thoth]] was the god credited with the invention of writing by the ancient Egyptians. He was the scribe of the gods who held knowledge of scientific and moral laws.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Budge|first1=E. A. Wallis|author-link=E. A. Wallis Budge|title=The Gods of the Egyptians|date=1969|publisher=Dover Publications|location=New York|isbn=978-0486220550|url=https://archive.org/details/godsofegyptianso00budg_0}}</ref>{{Page needed|date=March 2017}}{{clear}}