how much did scribes get paid in ancient egypt
The king ruled by delegating responsibility to his vizier who then chose the people beneath him best suited to the job. Help us and translate this article into another language! There were no photocopiers if another copy was wanted it had to be written out be hand. Laborers were often paid in bread and beer, the staples of the Egyptian diet. The monetary unit was the deben, approximately 90 grams of copper, and trade was based on an . However, you may visit "Cookie Settings" to provide a controlled consent. 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. Wealthier boys often received private tutoring instead. 0. We contribute a share of our revenue to remove carbon from the atmosphere and we offset our team's carbon footprint. Egypts bureaucratic society depended on the skills of an army of scribes of all ranks from filing clerk to tax assessor. Additionally, the ink they used had to be prepared using a very special formula and had to be black in color. The only exception was during the Middle Kingdom (circa 1980-1630 b.c.e.) https://www.worldhistory.org/article/1073/jobs-in-ancient-egypt/. Graves of the builders were first found nearby in 1990 by a tourist. Related Content Men and women could also become entertainers, primarily musicians and dancers. What was the difference between the Pharisees and the scribes? Craftsmen were the middle class of ancient Egypt. All of these building projects and attendant rituals were very expensive and eventually contributed to what is known as the Old Kingdom collapse during the reign of Pepi II (2278-2184 BCE). They were able to live a wealthy lifestyle and were highly respected in every day life. Thank you! A farmer cannot deny possession of a field without losing his rights. No one liked paying taxes in ancient Egypt any more than they do now, but the Cattle Count at least provided a semblance of participating in one's government. License. The Egyptian Economy by James C. Thompson, Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike. For only $5 per month you can become a member and support our mission to engage people with cultural heritage and to improve history education worldwide. At the bottom rung of all these jobs were the people who served as the basis for the entire economy: the farmers. A young person would enter service around the age of 13 and could rise to a prominent position in the household. For example, those who performed the copying were permitted to use ONLY animal skins that were clean for writing. Scribes were important because: 1. 214-221, David.R,1999, Handbook to life in Ancient Egypt, Oxford University Press. Copy. A deben was "approximately 90 grams of copper; very expensive items could also be priced in debens of silver or gold with proportionate changes in value" (ibid). Thompson continues: Since seventy-five litters of wheat cost one deben and a pair of sandals also cost one deben, it made perfect sense to the Egyptians that a pair of sandals could be purchased with a bag of wheat as easily as with a chunk of copper. World History Encyclopedia. There is nothing like it on earth. The writer of the Satire, obviously a scribe himself, may have exaggerated somewhat for effect but his argument is basically sound: the occupation of scribe was among the most comfortable in ancient Egypt and certainly compared favorably with most jobs. Scribes were very important people. Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. They were highly respected and well paid. He has taught history, writing, literature, and philosophy at the college level. Students were given potsherds to write on in the beginning, in case mistakes were made. They took on this work in addition to their daily chores which also began before sunrise and continued past nightfall.