Scribe facts for kids
Imagine a time when very few people could read or write. That's when a scribe was a super important person! Scribes were like human copy machines and record keepers. Their main job was reading and writing for others.
Scribes wrote letters, important documents, and historical records. They worked for kings, queens, nobility (rich and powerful families), and religious places. Because so few people could read or write, scribes were essential for keeping information safe.
Over time, the job of a scribe changed. It slowly turned into jobs like secretaries, clerks, journalists, accountants, and lawyers. Today, we don't have scribes in the same way. But we still have authors and writers who create books and articles for us to read!
Ancient Egyptian Scribes
In Ancient Egypt, being a scribe was a very important and respected job. These scribes didn't just write; they also helped decorate tombs, buildings, and statues with pictures and special writing called hieroglyphics.
Most scribes in Ancient Egypt were men. This was common in many old civilizations, where most official jobs were only for males.
Egyptian scribes had to be very smart. They needed to know how to write not only hieroglyphs, but also another script called hieratic. This was a faster, simpler way of writing. They also had to be good at arithmetic (math).
They wrote on a special kind of paper called papyrus. Papyrus was made from reeds, which are tall plants that grow near water. Scribes used reed pens and ink to do their writing.
Related Pages
Images for kids
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Modern scribes with typewriters outside a post office in Mandi, Himachal Pradesh, India, 2010.
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A wooden model of a granary (place to store grain) with scribes, from an ancient tomb.
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An ancient Egyptian scribe's palette with spaces for different colors of paint and tools for writing.
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A tablet showing cuneiform writing, another ancient writing system.
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This statue shows the scribe Minnakht reading a papyrus scroll while sitting on the floor.
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Jewish scribes at the Tomb of Ezekiel in Iraq, c. 1914.
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Monks working as scribes, copying books by hand. This picture is from a manuscript made in 1480.
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See also
In Spanish: Escriba para niños
