{{Short description|Person who writes or copies manuscripts}}
{{other uses}}
{{Missing information|Islamic, Indian, Mayan, Persian, and other scribes|date=July 2019}}
[[File:Amir Khusraw Dihlavi - Portrait of the Scribe Mir 'Abd Allah Katib in the Company of a Youth Burnishing Paper - Walters W650187A - Reverse Detail.jpg|thumb|upright|''Portrait of the Scribe Mir 'Abd Allah Katib in the Company of a Youth Burnishing Paper'' ([[Mughal Empire]], ca. 1602)]]
A '''scribe''' is a person who serves as a professional [[copyist]], especially one who made copies of [[manuscript]]s before the invention of [[Printing press|automatic printing]].<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.dictionary.com/browse/scribe |title=Scribe |website=[[Dictionary.com]] |access-date=6 June 2017 |first=Douglas |last=Harper |year=2010 |publisher=[[Online Etymology Dictionary]] |agency=[[Dictionary.com, LLC]]}}</ref><ref>{{EBD|wstitle=Scribes}}
</ref>

The work of scribes can involve copying manuscripts and other texts as well as secretarial and administrative duties such as the taking of dictation and keeping of business, judicial, and historical records for [[king]]s, [[nobility|nobles]], [[temple]]s, and [[City|cities]].

The profession of scribe first appears in [[Mesopotamia]]. Scribes contributed in fundamental ways to ancient and medieval cultures, including [[Ancient Egyptian literature|Egypt]], [[Chinese culture#Calligraphy|China]], [[Sanskrit#Writing system|India]], [[Persian literature|Persia]], the [[Roman Empire#Literacy, books, and education|Roman Empire]], and [[Illuminated manuscript|medieval Europe]]. [[#Judaism|Judaism]], [[Buddhism]], and [[Islamic manuscripts|Islam]] have important scribal traditions. Scribes have been essential in these cultures for the preservation of legal codes, religious texts, and artistic and didactic literature. In some cultures, social functions of the scribe and of the [[calligrapher]] overlap, but the emphasis in scribal writing is on exactitude, whereas calligraphy aims to express the aesthetic qualities of writing apart from its content.<ref>Cory MacPherson, ''Inventions in Reading and Writing: From Calligraphy to E-readers'' (Cavendish Square, 2017), pp. 22–23.</ref>

Previously a prominent fixture in literary cultures, scribes lost most of their prominence and status with the advent of the [[printing press]]. The generally less prestigious profession of [[scrivener]] continued to be important for copying and writing out legal documents and the like. In societies with low literacy rates, street-corner letter-writers (and readers) may still be found providing scribe service.<ref>{{Cite news |url=http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/06/11/1055220661012.html |title=Women of letters doing write for the illiterate |newspaper=[[smh.com.au]] |access-date=25 January 2018 |date=12 June 2003 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180126021144/http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/06/11/1055220661012.html |archive-date=26 January 2018 |agency=Reuters }}</ref>

==Mesopotamia==
{{See also|Sumerian literature|Cuneiform}}
[[File:Sumerian - Record of Temple Workers - Walters 481767 - View A.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Third Dynasty of Ur|Neo-Sumerian]] clay tablet with 24 columns on the front and back listing the names of almost 20,000 temple workers (2094–2047 BCE)]]
The [[Sumerians]] developed one of the earliest [[writing system]]s ([[cuneiform]]), the first body of written literature, and an extensive scribal profession to further these activities. The work of [[Near East]]ern scribes primarily exists on [[clay tablets]] and stone monuments written in [[cuneiform]], though later in the period of cuneiform writing they begin to use [[papyrus]], [[parchment]], and writing tablets.<ref>Roger Matthews, "Writing (and Reading) as Material Practice: The World of Cuneiform Culture as an Arena for Investigation," in ''Writing as Material Practice: Substance, Surface and Medium'' (Ubiquity, 2013), p. 72.</ref> The body of knowledge that scribes possessed belonged to an elite urban culture, and few had access to it.<ref>Massimo Maoicchi, "Writing in Early Mesopotamia: The Historical Interplay of Technology, Cognition, and Environment," in Beyond the Meme: Development and Structure in Cultural Evolution (University of Minnesota Press, 2019), p. 408.</ref> Traveling scribes played a vital role in the dissemination of literary culture.<ref>Daniel Arnaud, "Scribes and Literature," ''Near Eastern Archaeology'' 63:4, The Mysteries of Ugarit: History, Daily Life, Cult (2000), p. 199</ref>

During the middle to late 3rd millennium BCE, Sumerian literature in the form of [[Sumerian disputations|disputations]] proliferated, such as the ''[[Debate between bird and fish]]'';<ref>{{cite web|url=http://etcsl.orinst.ox.ac.uk/cgi-bin/etcsl.cgi?text=t.5.3.5&display=Crit&charenc=j&lineid=t535.p2#t535.p2 |title=The Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature |website=Etcsl.orinst.ox.ac.uk |date=2006-12-19 |access-date=2017-03-09}}</ref> the ''[[Debate between Summer and Winter]]'', in which Winter wins; and others between the cattle and grain, the tree and the reed, silver and copper, the pickaxe and the plough, and the millstone and the gul-gul stone.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://etcsl.orinst.ox.ac.uk/cgi-bin/etcsl.cgi?text=c.5.3 |title=The Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature |website=Etcsl.orinst.ox.ac.uk |date=2006-12-19 |access-date=2017-03-09}}</ref> Nearly all known Sumerian literary works were preserved as a result of young scribes apprenticing for their profession.<ref>Paul Delnero, "Memorization and the Transmission of Sumerian Literary Compositions," ''Journal of Near Eastern Studies'' 71:2 (October 2012), p.&nbsp;189.</ref> In addition to literary works, the contents of the tablets they produced include word lists, [[syllabary|syllabaries]], [[grammar book|grammar forms]], and lists of personal names.<ref>Delnero, "Memorization and Transmission," p. 189.</ref>

To the extent that the curriculum in scribal schools  can be reconstructed, it appears that they would have begun by studying lists and syllabaries and learning [[metrology]], the formulas for writing [[Cuneiform law|legal contracts]], and [[proverb]]s. They then might have advanced to praise poems and finally to copying more sophisticated works of literature.<ref>Delnero, "Memorization and Transmission," p. 190.</ref> Some scholars have thought that apprentice scribes listened to literary compositions read aloud and took dictation; others, that they copied directly from master copies. A combination of dictation, copying, and memorization for reproduction has also been proposed.<ref>As reviewed by Delnero, "Memorization and Transmission," p. 191.</ref>
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==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]].-->]]
[[File:Scribe's palette with styluses and residues of colors, wood, vegetable fibers - Museo Egizio Turin S 8387 p02.jpg|thumb|Scribe's palette with styluses and residues of colors, from the [[Tomb of Kha and Merit]]. Between 1425 and 1353 BC ([[New Kingdom of Egypt]]). [[Museo Egizio]], Turin.]]

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 script|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}}

== China ==
{{See also|Chinese calligraphy|Clerical script}}
[[File:Cai Lun with Donchō and Mochizuki Seibee (Minobu Museum of History and Folklore).jpg|thumb|upright|''The Three Gods of Paper-making'', Cai Lun (middle) with the Korean monk [[Damjing]] (left), who brought the art to Japan, and Mochizuki Seibei, who brought the art to {{nihongo|Nishijima|[[:ja:西嶋和紙|西嶋]]}}.(Minobu Town Museum of History and Folklore)|alt=One man standing behind two seated men; they all are in particularly formal garb]]

The earliest known examples of writing in China are a body of inscriptions made on bronze vessels and [[oracle bone]]s during the late Shang dynasty ({{BCE|{{circa|1250}}{{snd}}1050}}),<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kern |first=Martin |title=The Cambridge History of Chinese Literature, vol. 1: To 1375 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=2010 |isbn=978-0-521-85558-7 |editor-last=Owen |editor-first=Stephen |location=Cambridge |page=1}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Keightley |first=David |title=Sources of Shang history: the oracle-bone inscriptions of bronze-age China |publisher=University of California Press |year=1978 |isbn=978-0-520-02969-9 |location=Berkeley |author-link=David Keightley|page=xvi}}</ref> with the very oldest dated to {{BCE|{{circa|1200}}}}.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Bagley |first=Robert |title=The First Writing: Script Invention as History and Process |date=2004 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-521-83861-0 |editor-last=Houston |editor-first=Stephen |editor-link=Stephen D. Houston |pages=190–249 |language=en |chapter=Anyang writing and the origin of the Chinese writing system |author-link=Robert Bagley |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jsWL_XJt-dMC&q=1200}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Boltz |first=William G. |title=The Cambridge History of Ancient China: From the Origins of Civilization to 221&nbsp;BC |date=1999 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-521-47030-8 |editor-last=Loewe |editor-first=Michael |editor-link=Michael Loewe |language=en |chapter=Language and Writing |access-date=3 April 2019 |editor-last2=Shaughnessy |editor-first2=Edward L. |editor-link2=Edward L. Shaughnessy |chapter-url= https://books.google.com/books?id=cHA7Ey0-pbEC&pg=PA108 | doi= 10.1017/CHOL9780521470308.004 | pages=74–123 }}</ref>{{rp|108}} It was originally used for divination, with characters etched onto turtle shells to interpret cracks caused by exposure to heat. By the sixth century BCE, scribes were producing books using [[bamboo and wooden slips]].<ref name="Books A Living History">{{cite book |last1=Lyons |first1=Martyn |title=Books A Living History |date=2011 |publisher=Thames & Hudson |location=United Kingdom |isbn=978-0-500-29115-3 |pages=18–20}}</ref> Each strip contained a single column of script, and the books were bound together with hemp, silk, or leather. China is well-known as being the place where paper was originally invented, likely by an imperial eunuch named [[Cai Lun]] in 105 CE. The invention of paper allowed for the later invention of woodblock printing, where paper was rubbed onto an inked slab to copy the characters. Despite this invention, calligraphy remained a prized skill due to the belief that "the best way to absorb the contents of a book was to copy it by hand".<ref name="Books A Living History"/>

Chinese scribes played an instrumental role in the imperial government's civil service. During the Tang dynasty, private collections of Confucian classics began to grow. Young men hoping to join the civil service would need to pass an exam based on Confucian doctrine, and these collections, which became known as "academy libraries" were places of study. Within this merit system, owning books was a sign of status. Despite the later importance of Confucian manuscripts, they were initially heavily resisted by the Qin dynasty. Though their accounts are likely exaggerated, later scholars describe a period of book burning and scholarly suppression. This exaggeration likely stems from Han dynasty historians being steeped in Confucianism as state orthodoxy.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Murray |first1=Stuart |title=The Library An Illustrated History |date=2009 |publisher=Skyhorse Publishing |location=New York |isbn=978-1-60239-706-4 |pages=47–49}}</ref>

Similarly to the west, religious texts, particularly Buddhist, were transcribed in monasteries and hidden during "times of persecution".<ref>{{cite book |last1=Murray |first1=Stuart |title=The Library An Illustrated History |date=2009 |publisher=Skyhorse Publishing |location=New York |isbn=978-1-60239-706-4 |page=47}}</ref> In fact, the earliest known copy of a printed book is of the ''[[Diamond Sutra]]'' dating to 868 CE, which was found alongside [[Dunhuang manuscripts|other manuscripts within a walled-in cave called Dunhuang]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Lyons |first1=Martyn |title=Books A Living History |date=2011 |publisher=Thames & Hudson |location=United Kingdom |isbn=978-0-500-29115-3 |page=20}}</ref>

As professionals, scribes would undergo three years of training before becoming novices. The title of "scribe" was inherited from father to son. Early in their careers, they would work with local and regional governments and did not enjoy an official rank. A young scribe needed to hone their writing skills before specializing in an area like public administration or law. Archaeological evidence even points to scribes being buried with marks of their trade such as brushes, "administrative, legal, divinatory, mathematical, and medicinal texts", thus displaying a personal embodiment of their profession.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Selbitschka |first1=Armin |title=I Write Therefore I Am: Scribes, Literacy, and Identity in Early China |journal=Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies |date=2018 |volume=78 |issue=2 |pages=413–476 |doi=10.1353/jas.2018.0029 |s2cid=195510449 |url=https://doi.org/10.1353/jas.2018.0029 |access-date=29 November 2022|url-access=subscription }}</ref>

Already throughout the [[Zhou_dynasty|Zhou period]], scribes appear to have enjoyed a reputation as trustworthy and steadfast recorders of events—individuals who would risk their lives to preserve an accurate account of the truth. They frequently appear in historiography as reliable witnesses whose very presence authenticates an episode; in some cases, they may even have been invented to lend a particular story greater credibility.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Crone |first1=Thomas |title=The Scribal Witness: Narrative Authority in Ancient Chinese Literature |journal=Early China |date=2023 |volume=46 |issue=1 |pages=265-285 |doi=10.1017/eac.2022.25 |url=https://doi:10.1017/eac.2022.25 |doi-access=free }}{{Dead link|date=November 2025 |bot=InternetArchiveBot }}</ref>

== South Asia ==
<!--[[File:BKK Wat Rakhang Ho Trai.jpg|thumb|Library ''([[ho trai]])'' of [[Wat Rakhang]], a [[Thai Buddhist]] temple complex in [[Bangkok]], built on stilts to protect the Tipiṭaka (scriptures)]]-->
The Buddhist [[Tripiṭaka]] emerged at the beginning of the first century. Buddhist texts were treasured and sacred throughout Asia and were written in different languages. Buddhist scribes believed that, “The act of copying them could bring a scribe closer to perfection and earn him merit.”<ref>{{Cite book |last=Lyons |first=Martyn |title=Books: a living history |date=2013 |publisher=Thames & Hudson |isbn=978-0-500-29115-3 |location=London |pages=33 |oclc=857089276}}</ref>

Rather later, Hindu texts were written, although the most sacred, especially the [[Veda]]s, were [[Vedas#Chronology, transmission, and interpretation|not written down until much later]], and were learnt by heart by the priestly [[Brahmin]]s. Writing in the several scripts of [[Indo-Aryan languages|Indic languages]] was generally not regarded as a distinct artistic form, in a situation similar to Europe, but different from East Asian traditions of [[calligraphy]].

==Japan==
{{See also|Japanese calligraphy|Writing in the Ryukyu Kingdom}}
[[File:Shuin being made in Zentsuji - Kagawa - 2021 April 1.webm|thumb|''[[Shuin|Goshuin]]'', a record of a temple visit sometimes kept in a passport-like booklet, stamped and written at the [[Zentsū-ji]] Buddhist temple in [[Kagawa Prefecture|Kagawa]]]]

By the 5th century CE, written Chinese was being adapted in Japan to represent spoken [[Japanese language|Japanese]]. The complexity of reconciling Japanese with a system of writing not meant to express it meant that acquiring literacy was a long process.<ref>Andrew T. Kamei-Dyche, "The History of Books and Print Culture in Japan: The State of the Discipline," ''Book History'' 14 (2011), p. 270.</ref> Phonetic [[syllabary|syllabaries]] ''([[kana]])'', used for private writing, were developed by the 8th century and were in use along with ''[[kanji]]'', the [[logographic]] system, used for official records.<ref>Kamei-Dyche, "The History of Books and Print Culture," pp. 270–271.</ref> Gendering of the private and public spheres led to a characterization of ''kana'' as more feminine and ''kanji'' as masculine, but women of the court were educated and knew ''kanji'', and men also wrote in ''kana'', while works of literature were produced in both.<ref name="Kamei-Dyche p. 271">Kamei-Dyche, "The History of Books and Print Culture," p. 271.</ref>

[[File:2代由木尾雪雄作-Writing Box (Suzuribako) and Writing Table (Bundai) with Pines at Takasago and Sumiyoshi MET DP330038.jpg|thumb|Early 20th century writing box ''([[suzuri-bako]])'' and writing table (Metropolitan Museum of Art)]]
The earliest extant writings take the form of ''[[mokkan]]'', wooden slips used for official [[memoranda]] and short communications and for practical purposes such as shipping tags;<ref>Joan R. Piggott, "''Mokkan'': Wooden Documents from the Nara Period," ''Monumenta Nipponica'' 45:4 (1990), pp. 449–450.</ref> inscriptions on metal and stone; and manuscripts of [[sutra]]s and commentaries.<ref name="Kamei-Dyche p. 271"/> ''Mokkan'' were often used for writing practice.<ref>Kamei-Dyche, "The History of Books and Print Culture," p. 293, n. 8.</ref> Manuscripts first took the form of rolls made from cloth or sheets of paper,<ref name="Kamei-Dyche p. 272">Kamei-Dyche, "The History of Books and Print Culture," p. 272.</ref> but when manuscripts began to appear as bound books, they coexisted with [[handscroll]]s ''(makimono)''.

The influence of Chinese culture, especially written culture, made writing "immensely important" in the [[Japanese imperial court|early Japanese court]]. The earliest Japanese writing to survive dates from the late [[Asuka period|Asuka]] and [[Nara period|Nara]] periods (550–794), when Buddhist texts were being copied and disseminated. Because Buddhism was text-based, monks were employed in scribal and bureaucratic work for their skill in writing and knowledge of Chinese culture.<ref>Kamei-Dyche, "The History of Books and Print Culture," p. 294, n. 15.</ref> In portraits of Buddhist clerics, a handscroll is a symbol of scribal authority and the possession of knowledge.<ref>Radu Leca, "Dynamic Scribal Culture in Late Seventeenth-Century Japan: Ihara Saikaku's Engagement with Handscrolls," ''Japan Review'' 37 (2022), p. 82.</ref>

[[File:Motoori Norinaga self portrait.jpg|thumb|Self-portrait (1773) of the ''[[kokugaku]]'' literary scholar [[Motoori Norinaga]]]]
Government offices and [[Japanese Buddhism|Buddhist]] centers employed copyists on a wide scale,<ref name="Kamei-Dyche p. 271"/> requiring an abundance of materials such as paper, glue, ink, and brushes; exemplars from which to copy; an organizational structure; and technicians for assembly, called ''sōkō'' or ''sō’ō''.<ref>Bryan Lowe, "Texts and Textures of Early Japanese Buddhism: Female Patrons, Lay Scribes, and Buddhist Scripture in Eighth-Century Japan," ''Princeton University Library Chronicle'' 73:1 (2011), pp. 23–26.</ref> More than 10,000 Nara documents are preserved in the [[Shōsōin#Documents|Shōsōin archives]] of the [[Tōdai-ji]] temple complex.<ref>Piggott, "''Mokkan''," p. 449.</ref> The institution of the ''[[ritsuryō ]]'' legal state  from the 8th to 10th centuries produced "a mountain of paperwork" employing hundreds of bureaucratic scribes in the capital and in the provinces.<ref>Alexander N. Mesheryakov, "On the Quantity of Written Data Produced by the ''Ritsuryō'' State," ''Japan Review'' 15 (2003), pp. 187, 193.</ref> The average [[Buddhist sutras|sutra]] copyist is estimated to have generated 3,800–4,000 [[Character (symbol)|characters]] a day.<ref>Mesheryakov, "On the Quantity of Written Data," p. 187.</ref> Scribes were paid by the "page," and the fastest completed thirteen or more sheets a day, working on a low table and seated on the floor.<ref>Lowe, "Texts and Textures," pp. 28–29.</ref> Both speed and accuracy mattered. Proofreaders checked the copy against the exemplar, and the scribe's pay was docked for errors.<ref>Lowe, "Texts and Textures," p. 29.</ref>

In the 8th century, the demand for vast quantities of copies meant that scribes in the Office of Sutra Transcription were lay people of common status, not yet ordained monks, some finding opportunities for advancement.<ref>Bryan D. Lowe, "The Discipline of Writing: Scribes and Purity in Eighth-Century Japan," ''Japanese Journal of Religious Studies'' 39:2 (2012), p. 210, 229.</ref> In [[Classical Japan]], even lay scribes at some sutra copyist centers were required to practice [[purity in Buddhism|ritual purity]] through [[Buddhist vegetarianism#Japanese traditions|vegetarian dietary restrictions]], wearing ritual garments ''([[jōe]])'', ablution, avoiding contact with death and illness, and possibly sexual abstinence.<ref>Lowe, "The Discipline of Writing," pp. 201-221, 228–229.</ref> Outside Buddhist centers, professional scriveners practiced copyist craft.<ref>Lowe, "The Discipline of Writing," p. 227.</ref> Court-commissioned chronicles of the 8th century, such as ''[[Kojiki]]'' and ''[[Nihon shoki]]'', survive in much later copies, as is the case for the first [[Japanese poetry]] anthologies.<ref name="Kamei-Dyche p. 272"/>

The earliest printed books were produced under the [[Empress Shōtoku]] on a large scale in the 8th century, only three centuries after Japanese became a written language, and by the [[Edo period]] (1603–1868) bound printed books predominated.<ref name="Kamei-Dyche p. 272"/> Manuscripts remained valued for their aesthetic qualities,<ref name="Kamei-Dyche p. 273">Kamei-Dyche, "The History of Books and Print Culture," p. 273.</ref> and the scribal tradition continued to flourish for a wide range of reasons.<ref>P.&nbsp;F. Kornicki, "Manuscript, Not Print: Scribal Culture in the Edo Period," ''Journal of Japanese Studies'' 32:1 (2006), pp. 23-52.</ref> In addition to handwritten practical documents pertaining to legal and commercial transactions, individuals might write journals or [[commonplace book]]s, which involved copying out sometimes lengthy passages by hand.<ref>Kornicki, "Manuscript, Not Print," p. 28.</ref> This copying might extend to complete manuscripts of books that were expensive or not readily available to buy.<ref>Kornicki, "Manuscript, Not Print," pp. 28–30.</ref>

[[File:Teika(3).jpg|thumb|Portrait of Fujiwara no Teika (1162–1241), poet, scribe, and book collector]]
But scribal culture was not merely or always a matter of need or necessity. Copying Buddhist sutras was a devotional practice ''([[shakyō]])''. In the Nara period, wealthy patrons commissioned sutra copying on behalf of ancestors to gain them spiritual passage from the [[Buddhist hell]]s.<ref>Lowe, "Texts and Textures," pp. 18–20.</ref> The [[Edo period|Edo-period]] court noble [[Konoe Iehiro]] created a sutra manuscript in gold ink on dark blue paper, stating his purpose in the [[Colophon (publishing)|colophon]] as "to ensure the spiritual enlightenment of his departed mother."<ref name="Kornicki p. 29">Kornicki, "Manuscript, Not Print," p. 29.</ref>

Creating a calligraphic and pictorial work by copying secular literature likewise was an aesthetic practice for its own sake and a means of study.<ref name="Kornicki p. 29"/>  Within the social elite of the court, calligraphy was thought to express the inner character of the writer.<ref>Kamei-Dyche, "The History of Books and Print Culture," pp. 293–294, n. 13.</ref> In the [[Heian period]], the book collector, scholar-scribe, and literary artist [[Fujiwara no Teika]] was a leader in preserving and producing quality manuscripts of works of literature.<ref name="Kamei-Dyche p. 273"/> Even so prolific an author of printed prose works as [[Ihara Saikaku]] (1642–1693) also produced handwritten works in several formats, including manuscripts, handscrolls, and poetry slips ''([[tanzaku]])'' and cards ''(shikishi)''.<ref>Leca, "Dynamic Scribal Culture," pp. 78, 89.</ref> Unique and prized handscrolls preserved the [[Renga#The renga session|collaborative poetry sessions]] characteristic of ''[[renga]]'' and ''[[haikai]]'' poetic composition, distributed more widely in printed copies.<ref>Leca, "Dynamic Scribal Culture," pp. 86–88.</ref>

[[File:Brooklyn Museum - Young Woman with Youth and Young Attendant Taifu from Furyu Jinrin Juniso - Isoda Koryusai.jpg|thumb|''Young Woman with Youth and Young Attendant'', 18th-century [[Woodblock printing in Japan|woodblock print]] by [[Isoda Koryūsai]]]]
For authors not located near the major centers of publishing and printing, manuscripts were a route to publication.<ref>Peter Kornicki, "Keeping Knowledge Secret in Edo-Period Japan (1600–1868)," ''Textual Cultures'' 14:1 (2021), p. 3-18.</ref> Some authors self-published their books, especially romance novels ''([[ninjōbon]])'', in manuscript form.<ref>Kornicki, "Manuscript, Not Print," pp. 25–26.</ref> Women's [[Rekishi monogatari|prose writings]] in general were circulated as manuscripts during the Edo period<!--; only in the [[Meiji period]] was the fiction of [[Arakida Rei]], for instance, published in print-->.<ref>Kornicki, "Manuscript, Not Print," p. 34.</ref> Women were not prevented from writing and circulating their work, but private publication may have been a way for women to adhere to gender norms in not making themselves available in the public sphere.<ref>Kornicki, "Keeping Knowledge Secret," p. 18.</ref>

Manuscripts could more readily evade government [[Censorship in Japan|censorship]],<ref name="Kamei-Dyche p. 273"/> and officially banned books that could no longer be printed were copied for personal use or circulated privately.<ref>Kornicki, "Manuscript, Not Print," pp. 31–32, 37–40.</ref> Lending libraries ''(kashihon'ya)'' offered manuscript books, including illicit texts, along with printed books.<ref>Kornicki, "Manuscript, Not Print," p. 25.</ref> Books might also be composed as manuscripts when their transmission was limited to a particular circle of interested parties or sharers in the knowledge, such as local history and [[antiquarianism]],<ref>Local archives of handscrolls are referenced in village boundary disputes in Ihara Saikaku's story collection ''Honchō ōin hiji'' (''Trials under the Shade of Cherry Trees in Our Land'', 1689); Leca, "Dynamic Scribal Culture," pp. 82–83.</ref> a family's accumulated lore or farming methods, or medical texts of a particular school of medicine.<ref>Kornicki, "Manuscript, Not Print," pp. 33–35.</ref> Intentional secrecy might be desired to protect arcane knowledge or [[trade secret|proprietary information]] with commercial value.<ref>Kornicki, "Keeping Knowledge Secret," pp. 3-19.</ref>

In the esoteric strand of [[Japanese Buddhism]], scribes recorded oracles, the utterances of a ''[[kami]]''-inspired person often in the form of dialogues in response to questions. The transcriber also filled in context for the transmission. After the text was verified, it became part of the canon<!-- ''(shōgyō)''-->, stored in secret places, viewable by affiliated monks, and used to legitimate forms of religious authority. Because they dealt with genealogies and sacral boundaries, oracle texts were consulted as references in questions of lineage and land ownership.<ref>Elizabeth Tinsley, "Indirect Transmission in Shingon Buddhism: Notes on the Henmyōin Oracle," ''The Eastern Buddhist'' 45:1/2 (2014), pp. 77-112, especially 77–78, 82, 84, 87–88, 92ff. (on lineage and land).</ref>

[[File:KasugaEma0398.jpg|thumb|''Ema'' at the [[Kasuga-taisha|Kasuga Shinto shrine]] in [[Nara Prefecture|Nara]], 2004]]
At contemporary [[Shinto]] or Buddhist shrines, scribal traditions still play a role in creating ''[[ofuda]]'' (talismans), ''[[omikuji]]'' (fortunes or divination lots), ''[[Ema (Shinto)|ema]]'' (votive tablets), ''[[goshuin]]'' (calligraphic visitor stamps), and ''gomagi'' (inscribed sticks for ritual burning), forms that may employ a combination of stamps and handwriting on [[medium (art)|media]]. Today these are often mass produced<ref>Caleb Carter, "Power Spots and the Charged Landscape of Shinto," ''Japanese Journal of Religious Studies'' 45:1 (2018), pp. 160 (on commercialization), 162 (''ofuda'' and ''omikuji''), and 167 ''(goshuin)''.</ref> and commercialized for marketing to tourists.<ref>Yamanaka Hiroshi, 山中 弘, "Religious Change in Modern Japanese Society: Established Religions and Spirituality," ''Japanese Journal of Religious Studies'' 48:2 (2021), pp. 365-382, especially pp. 368, 372 (on ''goshuin''), 374 (on ''gomagi'' and the importation of Western vocabulary such as "spiritual supplements").</ref> ''Ema'', for instance, began as large-scale pictorial representations that historically were created by professional artists. Small versions began to be produced and sold, and a complex symbology developed for the messages. Modern versions sold at shrines, often already stamped with their local affiliation, tend to be used more verbally, with space left for individuals to act as their own scribes in messaging the ''kami''.<ref>Ian Reader, "Letters to the Gods: The Form and Meaning of ''Ema''," ''Japanese Journal of Religious Studies'' 18:1 (1991), pp. 30–37.</ref>

==Judaism==
[[File:Jeruzalem. Oude man maakt doosjes voor gebedssnoeren (tefellin) achter een voll…, Bestanddeelnr 255-2339.jpg|thumb|Workshop for making [[tefillin]], with rods for scrolls on racks against the wall; [[sofer]]s precisely write four biblical passages on parchment for placing in each box (Jerusalem, 1964)]]
Scribes of [[History of ancient Israel and Judah|ancient Israel]] were a literate minority in an [[Oral tradition|oral based-culture]]. Some of them belonged to the [[Levite|priestly class]], other scribes were the record-keepers and letter-writers in the royal palaces and administrative centers, affiliated with the ancient equivalent of [[professional guilds]]. 
There were no scribal schools in Israel during the early part of the [[History of Israel|Iron Age]] (1200–800 BCE). Between the 13th and 8th centuries BCE, the [[Hebrew alphabet|Hebrew alphabetic system]] had not been developed. Only after the appearance of the [[Kingdom of Israel (Samaria)|Kingdom of Israel]], [[Israel Finkelstein|Finkelstein]] points to the reign of [[Omri]], did the scribal schools begin to develop, reaching their culmination in the time of [[Jeroboam II]], under Mesopotamian influence.<ref>Schniedewind, William M.(2014) UNDERSTANDING SCRIBAL EDUCATION IN ANCIENT ISRAEL:A VIEW FROM KUNTILLET ʿAJRUD.In: MAARAV 21.1–2 pp.272 ff.</ref> The eventual standardization of the Hebrew writing system between the eighth and sixth centuries BCE would presumably have given rise to codified rules and principles of language that scribes would then have learned. The education of scribes in ancient Israel was supported by the state, although some scribal arts could have been taught within a small number of families.<ref>Werrett, Ian. [http://How%20Did%20Scribes%20ahttps://www.bibleodyssey.org/en/tools/bible-basics/how-did-scribes-and-the-scribal-tradition-shape-the-hebrew-bible.aspxnd%20the%20Scribal%20Tradition%20Shape%20the%20Hebrew%20Bible? How Did Scribes and the Scribal Tradition Shape the Hebrew Bible?]</ref>
Some scribes also copied documents, but this was not necessarily part of their job.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Metzger|first1=Bruce M.|last2=Coogan|first2=Michael D.|title=The Oxford Companion to the Bible|date=1993|publisher=Oxford University Press|location=Oxford|isbn=9780195046458|edition=1st|url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780195046458}}</ref>{{Page needed|date=March 2017}}
[[File:Tomb of Ezekiel.jpg|thumb|upright|Jewish scribes at the Tomb of Ezekiel in Iraq, {{circa}} 1914]]
The Jewish scribes used the following rules and procedures while creating copies of the [[Torah]] and eventually other books in the [[Hebrew Bible]].<ref>{{cite web |url=https://scottmanning.com/content/process-of-copying-the-old-testament-by-jewish-scribes/ |title=Process of copying the Old Testament by Jewish Scribes |last=Manning |first=Scott |date=17 March 2007 |access-date=9 July 2018 |website=Historian on the Warpath}}</ref>

# They could only use clean animal skins, both to write on, and even to bind manuscripts.
# Each column of writing could have no less than 48, and no more than 60, lines.
# The ink must be black, and of a special recipe.
# They must say each word aloud while they were writing.
# They must wipe the pen and wash their entire bodies before writing the most Holy Name of God, [[YHVH]], every time they wrote it.  Also before they would write the Most Holy Name of God, they would wash their hands 7 times.
# There must be a review within thirty days, and if as many as three pages required corrections, the entire manuscript had to be redone.
# The letters, words, and paragraphs had to be counted, and the document became invalid if two letters touched each other. The middle paragraph, word and letter must correspond to those of the original document.
# The documents could be stored only in sacred places (synagogues, etc.).
# As no document containing God's Word could be destroyed, they were stored, or buried, in a [[genizah]] (Hebrew: "storage").

[[File:Sofer STaM.jpg|thumb|upright=.7|A sofer at work]]

===Sofer===
{{Main|Sofer}}
Sofers (Jewish scribes) are among the few scribes that still do their trade by hand, writing on [[parchment]]. Renowned [[calligrapher]]s, they produce the Hebrew [[Sefer Torah|Torah scrolls]] and other holy texts.

====Accuracy====
{{further|Dead Sea Scrolls}}

Until 1948, the oldest known manuscripts of the [[Hebrew Bible]] dated back to 895 CE. In 1947, a shepherd boy discovered some scrolls dated between 100 BCE and 100 CE, inside a cave west of the [[Dead Sea]]. In the course of the following decades more scrolls were found in caves at [[Qumran]] and elsewhere.<ref>
{{cite news
|last1                = Kershner
|first1               = Isabel
|author-link1         = Isabel Kershner
|date                 = 16 March 2021
|title                = Israel Reveals Newly Discovered Fragments of Dead Sea Scrolls
|url                  = https://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/16/world/middleeast/dead-sea-scrolls-israel.html
|work                 = The New York Times
|issn                 = 0362-4331
|access-date          = 27 February 2025
}}
</ref>
The discovered texts have become known collectively as the "[[Dead Sea Scrolls]]".<ref>
The ''Oxford English Dictionary'' records the name "Dead Sea Scrolls" from 1949 onwards - {{oed | Dead Sea Scrolls}}
</ref>
One complete [[Books of the Bible | book]], plus fragments of every other book in the [[Hebrew Bible]] except [[Book of Esther|Esther]], have been identified amongst the texts.<ref>
{{cite book
 |last1                = Debel
 |first1               = Hans
 |editor-last1         = Dušek
 |editor-first1        = Jan
 |editor-last2         = Roskovec
 |editor-first2        = Jan
 |date                 = 26 September 2016
 |chapter              = Retracing Authoritative Traditions behind the Scriptural Texts: The Book of Daniel as a Case in Point
 |title                = The Process of Authority: The Dynamics in Transmission and Reception of Canonical Texts
 |url                  = https://books.google.com/books?id=G90sDQAAQBAJ
 |series               = Deuterocanonical and Cognate Literature Studies, volume 27
 |location             = Berlin
 |publisher            = Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG
 |page                 = 117
 |edition              = reprint
 |isbn                 = 9783110399394
 |access-date          = 7 March 2025
 |quote                = It is a well-known truism that the different sites in the Judean Desert yielded fragments of all the books included in the canon of the Hebrew Bible except Esther. It should nevertheless be noted, in this regard, that the identification of 4Q118 as a fragment from Chronicles - the ''only'' fragment of Chronicles found among the Dead Sea Scrolls - remains highly doubtful [...]. [...] Taking into account the canons of the eastern churches, reference should also be made to the numerous fragments of the book of Jubilees and 1 [[Enoch | Henoch]], as well as to the longer version of Psalm 151 found in 11QPsa.
}}
</ref><ref>
{{cite book
 |last1                = VanderKam
 |first1               = James
 |last2                = Flint
 |first2               = Peter
 |author-link2         = Peter Flint
 |date                 = 10 July 2005
 |orig-date            = 2002
 |chapter              = The Biblical Scrolls and the Text of the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament
 |title                = The Meaning of the Dead Sea Scrolls: Their Significance For Understanding the Bible, Judaism, Jesus, and Christianity
 |url                  = https://books.google.com/books?id=SBMXnB4CRpUC
 |series               = Continuum imprint
 |location             = London
 |publisher            = A&C Black
 |page                 = 119
 |edition              = reprint
 |isbn                 = 9780567084682
 |access-date          = 7 March 2025
 |quote                = With the possible exception of Nehemiah  Esther is the only book in the traditional Hebrew Bible not represented among the manuscripts found at Qumran, Masada, and other sites near the Dead Sea. [...] Research and evidence from certain nonbiblical scrolls, however, show that Esther was rejected by the Qumran community for theological reasons.
}}
</ref><ref>
{{cite book
 |last1                = Ariel
 |first1               = Donald T.
 |author2              = Israel Antiquities Authority (Rashut ha-ʻatiḳot)
 |author-link2         = Israel Antiquities Authority
 |editor-last1         = Ariel
 |editor-first1        = Donald T.
 |year                 = 2007
 |title                = The Dead Sea Scrolls
 |url                  = https://books.google.com/books?id=fhoRAQAAIAAJ
 |edition              = 2
 |publisher            = Israel Antiquities Authority
 |page                 = 3
 |isbn                 = 9789654061926
 |access-date          = 7 March 2025
 |quote                = The scrolls, biblical and sectarian, [...] contain fragments of all the books of the Hebrew Bible (with the exception of the Book of Esther), as well as a complete text of Isaiah.
}}
</ref>
Fragments from each of the [[Canon of the Hebrew Bible | Hebrew canonical books]] have been discovered,<ref>
{{cite book
 |last1                = Ulrich
 |first1               = Eugene
 |author-link1         = Eugene Ulrich
 |editor-last1         = VanderKam
 |editor-first1        = James C.
 |editor-last2         = Flint
 |editor-first2        = Peter W.
 |editor-link2         = Peter Flint
 |date                 = 2 April 2024
 |orig-date            = 1999
 |chapter              = Appendix I: Index of Passages in the Biblical scrolls
 |title                = The Dead Sea Scrolls After Fifty Years: A Comprehensive Assessment
 |url                  = https://books.google.com/books?id=GDT-EAAAQBAJ
 |series               = Biblical Studies, Ancient Near East and Early Christianity - Book Archive pre-2000
 |volume               = 2
 |location             = Leiden
 |publisher            = Brill
 |pages                = 649–665
 |isbn                 = 9789004676855
 |access-date          = 13 March 2025
}}
</ref>
including 30 fragments from the [[Book of Deuteronomy]].<ref>
{{cite book
 |last1                = VanderKam
 |first1               = James C.
 |date                 = 31 January 2012
 |chapter              = The 'Biblical' Scrolls and Their Implications: Number of copies from the Qumran caves
 |title                = The Dead Sea Scrolls and the Bible
 |url                  = https://books.google.com/books?id=2g7hBhKI31QC
 |location             = Grand Rapids, Michigan
 |publisher            = Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing
 |pages                = 2–3
 |isbn                 = 9780802866790
 |access-date          = 13 March 2025
 |quote                = [...] 1QIsa contains the entire book of Isaiah. All of the other representatives of 'biblical' books are fragmentary to one degree or another, usually to a very high degree. [...] The list below gives the numbers of identified copies for each book of the Hebrew Bible. [...] Deuteronomy   30
}}
</ref>

While there were other items found among the Dead Sea Scrolls not currently in the Hebrew Bible, and many variations and errors occurred when they were copied, the texts, on the whole, testify to the accuracy of the scribes.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Johnson|first1=Paul|title=A History of the Jews|date=1993|publisher=Phoenix|location=London|isbn=978-1857990966|page=91|edition=2nd}}</ref> The Dead Sea Scrolls are currently the best route of comparison to the accuracy and consistency of translation for the Hebrew Bible because they are the oldest out of any [[Bible|biblical text]] currently known.<ref>
{{cite book
 |last1                = Johnson
 |first1               = Paul
 |author-link1         = Paul Johnson (writer)
 |title                = A History of the Jews
 |date = 8 August 2013
 |url                  = https://books.google.com/books?id=gbUzAAAAQBAJ
 |publisher            = Hachette UK
 |orig-date            = 1987
 |publication-date     = 2013
 |page                 = 
 |isbn                 = 9781780226699
 |access-date          = 21 February 2022
 |quote                = The Dead Sea Scrolls testify, on the whole, to the accuracy with which the Bible was copied through the ages [...].
}} 
</ref><ref>{{cite book|last1=Johnson|first1=Paul|title=A History of the Jews|date= 1993|publisher= Phoenix |location= London|isbn=978-1857990966|page=91|edition=2nd}}</ref>

====Corrections and editing====
[[File:מימין לשמאל יושבים הרב יונתן שטנצל הגאון רבי אשר וייס הרב דוד יצחק מנדלבוים כתיבת ספר תורה ביתר עילית.JPG|thumb|Completing the writing of the text for an [[inauguration of a Torah scroll]]]]
Priests who took over the leadership of the Jewish community preserved and edited biblical literature. Biblical literature became a tool that legitimated and furthered the priests' political and religious authority.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/article/origins-written-bible/ |title=Origins of the Written Bible |first=William M. |last=Schniedewind |author-link=William M. Schniedewind |date=18 November 2008 |access-date=9 July 2018 |publisher=[[PBS Online]] |work=Nova}}</ref>

Corrections by the scribes ([[Tiqqun soferim]]) refers to changes that were made in the original wording of the Hebrew Bible during the second temple period, perhaps sometime between 450 and 350 BCE. One of the most prominent men at this time was [[Ezra|Ezra the scribe]]. He also hired scribes to work for him, in order to write down and revise the oral tradition.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://booksnthoughts.com/ezra-changed-the-torah-text/ |title=Ezra changed the Torah text |first=Israel |last=Drazin |date=26 August 2015 |access-date=9 July 2018 |website=Jewish Books}}</ref> After Ezra and the scribes had completed the writing, Ezra gathered the Jews who had returned from exile, all of whom belonged to [[Kohen|Kohanim]] families. Ezra read them an unfamiliar version of the Torah. This version was different from the Torah of their fathers. Ezra did not write a new bible. Through his ‘editing', he presented the religion in a new light.<ref>{{cite book |first=M. |last=Okouneff |title=The Wrong Scribe: The Scribe Who Revised the King David Story |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3XFdjwEACAAJ |publisher=[[CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform]] |date=23 January 2016 |pages=146 |editor-first=John |editor-last=Greenburg |isbn=9781523640430}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.haaretz.com/jewish/2014-10-22/ty-article/.premium/who-wrote-the-torah/0000017f-e39d-d804-ad7f-f3ffaf3a0000 |title=Who Wrote the Torah? |last=Gilad |first=Elon |date=22 October 2014 |access-date=9 July 2018 |newspaper=[[Haaretz]]}}</ref>

==Ancient Rome==
{{See also|Scriba (ancient Rome)|Roman Empire#Literacy, books, and education}}
[[File:Ara detta degli scribi, I sec, da necropoli di porta s. sebastiano (terme di diocleziano) 01.JPG|thumb|[[Roman funerary art|Roman funerary altar]] depicting public scribes assisting [[Roman magistrate|magistrates]] (25–50 CE)]]
[[Ancient Rome]] had several occupations for which the ability to write accurately and clearly was the primary qualification. The English word “scribe” derives from the Latin word ''scriba'', a [[public notary]] or [[clerk]]. The public ''scribae'' were the highest in rank of the four prestigious occupational grades (''[[decuriae]]'') among the attendants of the [[Roman magistrates]].<ref>[[Marietta Horster]],  "Living on Religion: Professionals and Personnel," in ''A Companion to Roman Religion'' (Blackwell, 2007), p. 334; Daniel Peretz, "The Roman Interpreter and His Diplomatic and Military Roles," ''Historia'' 55 (2006), p. 452.</ref>

In the city of Rome, the ''scribae'' worked out of the [[aerarium|state treasury]] and government archive. They received a good salary. ''Scribae'' were often [[Slavery in ancient Rome|former slaves]] and their sons; other literary or educated men who advanced to the job through [[Patronage in ancient Rome|patronage]]; or even men as highly ranked as the [[equestrian order]].<ref>David Armstrong, ''Horace'' (Yale University Press, 1989), p. 18.</ref> Among the writing duties of a ''scriba'' was the recording of sworn oaths on public tablets.<ref>[[Clifford Ando]], ''Imperial Ideology and Provincial Loyalty in the Roman Empire'' (University of California Press, 2000), p. 96.</ref> The office afforded several advantages, including a knowledge of [[Roman law]] that was traditionally the privilege of the elite.<ref>[[T.R.S. Broughton]], ''The Magistrates of the Roman Republic'' (American Philological Association, 1951, 1986), vol. 1, pp. 166–168.</ref> People who needed legal documents drawn up and whose own literacy was low could make use of a public scribe.<ref>T. J. Kraus, "(Il)literacy in Non-Literary Papyri from Graeco-Roman Egypt: Further Aspects of the Educational Ideal in Ancient Literary Sources and Modern Times," ''Mnemosyne'' 53:3 (2002), pp. 325–327; [[Clifford Ando]], ''Imperial Ideology and Provincial Loyalty in the Roman Empire'' (University of California Press, 2000), p. 101.</ref> A ''scriba'' might also be a private secretary.<ref>Peter White, "Bookshops in the Literary Culture of Rome," in ''Ancient Literacies: The Culture of Reading in Ancient Greece and Rome'' (Oxford University Press, 2009), p. 269, note 4.</ref>

A ''tabellio'' (Greek ''agoraios'') was a lower rank of scribe or notary who worked in civil service.<ref>Marcus Niebuhr Tod, “A New Fragment of the ''Edictum Diocletiani'',” ''Journal of Hellenic'' Studies 24 (1904), pp. 195-202.</ref> A ''notarius'' was a [[stenographer]].<ref>Nicholas Horsfall, “Rome without Spectacles,” ''Greece & Rome'' 42:1 (1995), p. 50.</ref>

An ''[[amanuensis]]'' was a scribe who took dictation and perhaps offered some compositional polish.<ref>Myles McDonnell, "Writing, Copying, and Autograph Manuscripts in Ancient Rome," ''Classical Quarterly'' 46:2 (1996), p. 473.</ref> ''Amanuenses'' were typically Greek<ref>Clarence A. Forbes, "The Education and Training of Slaves in Antiquity," ''Transactions and Proceedings of the American Philological Association'' 86 (1955), p. 341.</ref> and might be either male or female.<ref>[[Susan Treggiari]], "Jobs for Women," ''American Journal of Ancient History'' 1 (1976), p. 78.</ref> Upper-class Romans made extensive use of dictation, and [[Julius Caesar]] was said to employ as many as four secretaries at once on different projects.<ref>Nicholas Horsfall, “Rome without Spectacles,” p. 51, citing [[Pliny the Elder]], ''Natural History'' 7.19; [[Cicero]], ''Brutus'' 87.</ref> The [[Apostle Paul]], a Roman citizen literate in Greek, made use of an amanuensis for his [[Pauline epistles|epistles]].<ref>Chris Keith, "'In My Own Hand': Grapho-Literacy and the Apostle Paul," ''Biblica'' 89:1 (2008), pp. 39-58.</ref> It was considered impolite, however, to use a scribe for writing personal letters to friends; these were to be written by one's own hand.<ref>McDonnell, "Writing, Copying, and Autograph Manuscripts," p. 474.</ref> The [[Vindolanda tablets]] (early 2nd century CE) from a fort in [[Roman Britain]] contain several hundred examples of handwriting; a few tablets stand out as having been written by professional scribes.<ref>McDonnell, "Writing, Copying, and Autograph Manuscripts," p. 471.</ref>

Some [[domus|Roman households]] had libraries extensive enough to require specialized staff including ''librarii'', copyists or scribes, who were often slaves or freedmen, along with more general librarians ''(librarioli)''.<ref>George W. Houston, “The Slave and Freedman Personnel of Public Libraries in Ancient Rome,” Transactions of the American Philological Association 132:1/2 (2003), p. 147.</ref> Public libraries also existed under imperial sponsorship, and bookshops both sold books and employed independent ''librarii'' along with other specialists who constructed the [[scroll]]s. A copyist (''librarius'' or ''libraria'') was said to need an "irrational knack" for copying text accurately without slowing down to comprehend it.<ref>McDonnell, "Writing, Copying, and Autograph Manuscripts," p. 473.</ref> Some literary slaves specialized in [[proofreading]].<ref>McDonnell, "Writing, Copying, and Autograph Manuscripts," p. 477.</ref>

Occasionally even [[Roman senator|senators]] took dictation or copied texts by hand for personal use, as did ''[[Grammarian (Greco-Roman)|grammatici]]'' (“grammarians” or professors of higher education), but generally the routine copying of manuscripts was a task for educated slaves or for freedpersons who worked independently in bookshops.<ref>McDonnell, "Writing, Copying, and Autograph Manuscripts," p. 477 "et passim’’.</ref> Books were a favored gift for friends, and since they had to be individually written out, "deluxe" editions, made from higher-grade papyrus and other fine materials, might be commissioned from intellectuals who also acted as editors.<ref>McDonnell, "Writing, Copying, and Autograph Manuscripts," p. 479.</ref> Unscrupulous copyists might produce and trade in unauthorized editions, sometimes passing them off as [[autograph manuscript]]s by famous authors.<ref>McDonnell, "Writing, Copying, and Autograph Manuscripts," p. 478</ref>

[[File:Butcher's funerary relief, Ashmolean Museum reproduction, Oxford.jpg|thumb|upright=1.2|Museum reproduction of an ancient Roman [[Roman funerary art|funerary relief]] for a butcher, with a woman writing in [[wax tablets]] at left]]
The literacy of a ''librarius'' was also valued in business settings, where they might serve as clerks.<ref>Andrew Garland, “Cicero's ''Familia Urbana'',” ''Greece & Rome'' 39:2 (1992), p. 167.</ref> For example, a ''libraria cellaria'' would be a woman who kept business records such as inventories.<ref>Garland, “Cicero's ''Familia Urbana'',” p. 164.</ref>  An early 2nd-century marble [[relief]] from Rome depicts a female scribe, seated on a chair and writing on kind of a tablet, facing the butcher who is chopping meat at a table.

Eleven Latin inscriptions uncovered from Rome identify women as scribes in the sense of copyists or amanuenses (not public ''scribae''). Among these are Magia, Pyrrhe, Vergilia Euphrosyne, and a [[Ancient Roman freedmen|freedwoman]] whose name does not survive; Hapate, a shorthand writer of Greek who lived to the age of 25; and Corinna, a storeroom clerk and scribe. Three are identified as literary assistants: Tyche, Herma, and Plaetoriae.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Haines-Eitzen|first=Kim|date=Winter 1998|title=Girls Trained in Beautiful Writing: Female Scribes in Roman Antiquity and Early Christianity|journal=Journal of Early Christian Studies|volume= 6|issue=4|pages=629–646|doi=10.1353/earl.1998.0071|s2cid=171026920}}</ref>

==Europe in the Middle Ages==
{{See also|Illuminated manuscripts}}

===Monastic scribes===
[[File:Archive-ugent-be-2563040A-7640-11E8-B87C-CA810AD9BE4D DS-15 (cropped).jpg|thumb|Monastic scribes copying manuscripts, in a miniature from the manuscript ''Werken'', manufactured by [[John van Ruysbroeck|Jan van Ruusbroec]] in Bergen-op-Zoom, published 1480<ref>{{cite web|title=Werken|url=https://lib.ugent.be/viewer/archive.ugent.be:2563040A-7640-11E8-B87C-CA810AD9BE4D#?c=&m=&s=&cv=6&xywh=-483,-206,6839,5592|work=lib.ugent.be|access-date=2020-08-21}}</ref>]]
[[File:Titivillus.jpg|thumb|[[Titivillus]], a [[demon]] said to introduce errors into the work of  scribes, besets a scribe at his desk (14th century illustration)]]
In the [[Middle Ages]], every book was made by hand. Specially trained monks, or scribes, had to carefully cut sheets of parchment, make the ink, write the script, bind the pages, and create a cover to protect the script. This was all accomplished in a monastic writing room called a [[scriptorium]] which was kept very quiet so scribes could maintain concentration.<ref name=" Pavlik, McIntosh">{{cite book|last1=Pavlik|first1=John|last2=McIntosh|first2=Shawn|title=Converging Media: A New Introduction to Mass Communication|date=2017|publisher=Oxford University Press|location=Oxford|isbn=9780190271510|pages=66–67}}</ref> A large scriptorium may have up to 40 scribes working.<ref name="book" />

Scribes woke to morning bells before dawn and worked until the evening bells, with a lunch break in between. They worked every day except for the [[Sabbath]].<ref name="Lyons"/> The primary purpose of these scribes was to promote the ideas of the Christian Church, so they mostly copied classical and religious works. The scribes were required to copy works in Latin, Greek, and Hebrew whether or not they understood the language.<ref name="Lyons" /> These re-creations were often written in calligraphy and featured rich illustrations, making the process incredibly time-consuming. Scribes had to be familiar with the writing technology as well. They had to make sure that the lines were straight and the letters were the same size in each book that they copied.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|title=Books : a living history|last=Martyn.|first=Lyons|date=2011|publisher=J. Paul Getty Museum|isbn=9781606060834|location=Los Angeles|oclc=707023033}}</ref> It typically took a scribe fifteen months to copy a Bible.<ref name="Lyons">{{cite book|last1=Lyons|first1=Martyn|title=Books: A Living History|date=2011|publisher=J. Paul Getty Museum|location=Los Angeles|isbn=9781606060834|pages=36–38, 41}}</ref>

Such books were written on parchment or vellum made from treated hides of sheep, goats, or calves. These hides were often from the monastery's own animals as monasteries were self-sufficient in raising animals, growing crops, and brewing beer.<ref name="book" /> The overall process was too extensive and costly for books to become widespread during this period.<ref name=" Pavlik, McIntosh"/>

Although scribes were only able to work in daylight, due to the expense of candles and the rather poor lighting they provided, monastic scribes were still able to produce three to four pages of work per day.<ref name="Lyons" /> The average scribe could copy two books per year.<ref name="book">{{cite book|last1=Murray|first1=Stuart A.P.|title=The Library: An Illustrated History|date=2009|publisher=Skyhorse Publishing|location=New York, NY|isbn=9781602397064|pages=[https://archive.org/details/libraryillustrat0000murr/page/33 33–34]|ref=15|url=https://archive.org/details/libraryillustrat0000murr/page/33}}</ref> They were expected to make at least one mistake per page.<ref name=":0" />

During the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, copying became more of a specialized activity and was increasingly performed by specialists. To meet expanding demand, the ''[[pecia]]'' system was introduced, in which different parts of the same text were assigned to hired copiers working both in and out of the monasteries.<ref>Lyons, M. (2011). Books: A Living History. Getty Publications.</ref>

===Female scribes===

Women also played a role as scribes in Anglo-Saxon England, as religious women in convents and schools were literate. Excavations at medieval convents have uncovered [[styli]], indicating that writing and copying were done at those locations.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://thenewinquiry.com/blog/women-scribes-the-technologists-of-the-middle-ages/|title=Women Scribes: The Technologists of the Middle Ages|author=Lady Science|date=16 February 2018|website=The New Inquiry}}</ref> Also, female pronouns are used in prayers in manuscripts from the late 8th century, suggesting that the manuscripts were originally written by and for female scribes.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://blogs.bl.uk/digitisedmanuscripts/2017/03/female-scribes-in-early-manuscripts-.html|title=Female Scribes in Early Manuscripts |website= Medieval manuscripts blog}}</ref>

[[File:Codex Manesse Bligger von Steinach.jpg|thumb|From the [[Codex Manesse]] (c. 1304)]]
In the 12th century within a [[Benedictine]] monastery at [[Wessobrunn]], Bavaria there lived a female scribe named Diemut. She lived within the monastery as recluse and professional scribe. Two medieval book lists exist that have named Diemut as having written more than forty books. Fourteen of Diemut's books are in existence today. Included in these are four volumes of a six volume set of [[Pope Gregory the Great]]'s ''Moralia in Job'', two volumes of a three-volume Bible, and an illuminated copy of the Gospels. It has been discovered that Diemut was a scribe for as long as five decades. She collaborated with other scribes in the production of other books. Since the Wessobrunn monastery enforced its strict claustration it is presumed that these other scribes were also women. Diemut was credited with writing so many volumes that she single-handedly stocked the Wessobrunn's library. Her dedication to book production for the benefit of the Wessobrunn monks and nuns eventually led to her being recognized as a local saint. At the Benedictine monastery within [[Admont]], Austria it was discovered that some of the nuns had written verse and prose in both Latin and German. They delivered their own sermons, took dictation on wax tablets, and copied and illuminated manuscripts. They also taught Latin grammar and biblical interpretation at the school. By the end of the 12th century they owned so many books that they needed someone to oversee their scriptorium and library. Two female scribes have been identified within the Admont Monastery; Sisters Irmingart and Regilind.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Hall|first=Thomas N.|date=Summer 2006|title=Women as Scribes: Book Production and Monastic Reform in Twelfth Century Bavaria|journal=The Sixteenth Century Journal|volume=37|pages=160–162|doi=10.1086/SCJ20477735 |via=Gale}}</ref>

There are several hundred women scribes that have been identified in Germany. These women worked within German women's convent from the thirteenth to the early 16th century. Most of these women can only be identified by their names or initials, by their label as "scriptrix", "soror", "scrittorix", "scriba" or by the [[Colophon (publishing)|colophon]] (scribal identification which appears at the end of a manuscript). Some of the women scribes can be found through convent documents such as obituaries, payment records, book inventories, and narrative biographies of the individual nuns found in convent chronicles and sister books. These women are united by their contributions to the libraries of women's convents. Many of them remain unknown and unacknowledged but they served the intellectual endeavor of preserving, transmitting and on occasion creating texts. The books they left their legacies within were usually given to the sister of the convent and were dedicated to the abbess, or given or sold to the surrounding community. There are two obituaries that have been found that date back to the 16th century, both of the obituaries describe the women who died as a "scriba". In an obituary found from a monastery in Rulle, describes Christina Von Haltren as having written many other books.<ref name=Cyrus>{{Cite book|title=The Scribe for Women's Convents in Late Medieval Germany|last=Cyrus|first=Cynthia|publisher=University of Toronto Press|year=2009|isbn=9780802093691}}</ref>

[[File:1453 Breviary Manuscript Page.jpg|thumb|upright|Breviary manuscript page with the portrait signature of [[Maria Ormani]], nun and scribe (1453)]]
Women's monasteries were different from men's in the period from the 13th to the 16th century. They would shift their order depending on their abbess. If a new abbess would be appointed then the order would change their identity. Every time a monastery would shift their order they would need to replace, correct and sometimes rewrite their texts. Many books survived from this period. Approximately 4,000 manuscripts have been discovered from women's convents from late medieval Germany. Women scribes served as the business women of the convent. They produced a large amount of archival and business materials, they recorded the information of the convent in the form of chronicles and obituaries. They were responsible for producing the rules, statutes and constitution of the order. They also copied a large amount of prayer books and other devotional manuscripts. Many of these scribes were discovered by their colophon.<ref name=Cyrus/>

Despite women being barred from transcribing Torah scrolls for ritual use, a few Jewish women between the thirteenth and sixteenth centuries are known to have copied other Hebrew manuscripts. They learned the craft from male scribes they were related to, and were unusual because women were not typically taught Hebrew. Knowledge of these women scribes comes from their colophon signatures.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Riegler|first1=Michael|last2=Baskin|first2=Judith R.|date=2008|title="May the Writer Be Strong": Medieval Hebrew Manuscripts Copied by and for Women|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.2979/nas.2008.-.16.9|journal=Nashim: A Journal of Jewish Women's Studies & Gender Issues|issue=16|pages=9–28|doi=10.2979/nas.2008.-.16.9|jstor=10.2979/nas.2008.-.16.9|s2cid=161946788|issn=0793-8934|url-access=subscription}}</ref>

===Town scribe===
[[File:Tavernier Jean Mielot.jpg|thumb|right|[[Jean Miélot]], a European author and scribe at work]]
The scribe was a common job in medieval European towns during the 10th and 11th centuries. Many were employed at scriptoria owned by local schoolmasters or lords. These scribes worked under deadlines to complete commissioned works such as historic chronicles or poetry. Due to parchment being costly, scribes often created a draft of their work first on a wax or chalk tablet.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Murray|first1=Stuart A.P.|title=The Library: An Illustrated History|date=2009|publisher=Skyhorse Publishing|location=New York, NY|isbn=9781602397064|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/libraryillustrat0000murr}}</ref>

==Notable scribes==
[[File:Scribes with typewriters outside Post Office, Mandi.jpg|thumb|Modern scribes with typewriters outside post office, [[Mandi, Himachal Pradesh]], India, 2010]]
* [[Ahmes]], [[15th Dynasty]] Egyptian scribe
* [[Amat-Mamu]], [[Naditu]] priestess and Babylonian temple scribe 
* [[Amina, bint al-Hajj ʿAbd al-Latif]], a Moroccan jurist and scribe
* [[Baruch ben Neriah]], the scribe and friend of the biblical prophet [[Jeremiah]]
* [[Ben Sira]], [[Hellenistic Judaism|Hellenistic Jewish]] scribe of the [[Second Temple period]]
* [[Dubhaltach MacFhirbhisigh]], 17th-century Irish scribe and [[Irish Gaelic|Gaelic]] scholar
* [[Ezra]], Jewish sofer in the early Second Temple period
* [[Máel Muire mac Céilechair]], a principal scribe of the ''[[Lebor na hUidre]]'' manuscript
* [[Maurezo Canevarius]], 8th-century Italian scribe
* [[Metatron]], celestial scribe in the [[angelology]] tradition
* [[Poggio Bracciolini]], [[Italian Renaissance]] scholar known for his [[humanist script]]
* [[Sidney Rigdon]], scribe who assisted with the [[Joseph Smith Translation of the Bible]]
* [[Sîn-lēqi-unninni]], a [[Mesopotamia]]n priest and scholar thought to have compiled the best-preserved version of ''[[Epic of Gilgamesh|Gilgamesh]]''
* [[Zayd ibn Thabit]], the personal scribe of [[Muhammad]]

==Gallery==
<!--chronological order-->
{{Gallery
|title=
|width=
|lines=
|File:Assyrian wall relief showing a scribe and a horseman trampling enemies. From Anah, Iraq. Iraq Museum.jpg|Assyrian scribe<!--, holding a stylus and a clay tablet,--> documenting a battle scene (9th–7th century BCE)
|File:Maya Codex-Style Vessel with two scenes 3 Kimbell.jpg|[[Maya civilization#Writing and literacy|Mayan scribes]] (550–950 CE)
|File:Kunsthistorisches Museum 10th century ivory Gregory the Great 23062013.jpg|[[Gregory the Great]] and scribes (10th century)
|File:Monk-Scribe Astride a Wyvern MET DT7191.jpg|German monastic scribe astride a [[wyvern]] (mid-12th century)
|File:Luis de Santangel.jpg|Luis de Santángel (d. 1498), ''escribano de ració'' (scrivener of accounting) to [[Ferdinand II of Aragon|Ferdinand]] and [[Isabella I of Castile|Isabella]] of Spain 
|File:Colophon from the Khamsa of Nizami - BL Or. MS 12208 f. 325v.jpg|[[Colophon (publishing)|Colophon]] portrait of [[Daulat (artist)|Daulat]] and the scribe 'Abd al-Rahim ("Amber-pen"), from the [[Khamsa of Nizami]] (1595–96)
<!--|File:Scribe at Toshogu Shrine - Nikko - Japan (48042242798).jpg|Scribe at [[Toshogu Shrine]], [[Nikkō]], Japan, 2019-->
}}

==See also==
* [[Scrivener]]
* [[Letterer]]
* [[Worshipful Company of Scriveners]]
* [[Katib]] and [[Naskh (script)|Naskh]]
* [[Islamic manuscripts]] and [[Islamic calligraphy]]
* [[Arabic calligraphy]]
* [[Persian calligraphy]]
* [[List of obsolete occupations]]
* [[Archivist]]

==References==
{{Reflist|30em}}

==Further reading==
* {{cite book|author=Avrin, Leila |title=Scribes, Scripts and Books|publisher=  ALA Publishing|date= 2010|isbn=978-0838910382}}
* {{cite book|author=Martin, Henri-Jean |title=The History and Power of Writing|url=https://archive.org/details/historypowerofwr00mart |url-access=registration |publisher= University of Chicago Press |date=1995|isbn=0-226-50836-6}}
* Tahkokallio, Jaako. (2019). “Counting Scribes: Quantifying the Secularization of Medieval Book Production”. ''Book History'', 22(1), pg. 1-42.
* {{cite book|url=https://archive.org/stream/someoldegyptianl003090mbp/someoldegyptianl003090mbp_djvu.txt |title=Some Old Egyptian Librarians|author=Richardson, Ernest Gushing |publisher= Charles Sribners|date= 1911}}

==External links==
{{Wikiquote}}
{{Wiktionary|scribe}}
{{Commons category|Scribes}}
{{Wikisource|The New Student's Reference Work/Scribe}}
* {{cite book|url=https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/13634a.htm|title= Catholic Encyclopedia|publisher=newadvent.org}}

{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Culture of ancient Egypt]]
[[Category:Clay tablets]]
[[Category:Historical legal occupations]]
[[Category:Obsolete occupations]]
[[Category:Scribes| ]]
[[Category:Textual scholarship]]
[[Category:Writing occupations]]