OLD KINGDOM, 4th DYNASTY

2600 BCE

The seated scribe

53.7 cm
Limestone, alabaster, and rock crystal, height
found in Saqqara
Paris, Musée National du Louvre,

The scribe is sitting cross-legged on the ground. He has a pa- animals, the gods and their festivals, and the correct way to addtre=
knees. He is holding the rest of the members of the official hierarchy. "Wisdom literature" was used
pyrus scroll spread out over his
scroll in his left hand. His right hand must have contained a brush. teach them the correct way to behave, to be obedient to those highes
and most o
Papyrus scrolls were usually 1.5 to 2 metres long and up to
20 cen- up in the hierarchy, to be fair to those who were weaker,
timetres across. They were made from the stems of the papyrus plant, all to teach them self-discipline: "Only the reserved are held in hig

which were cut into strips and compressed together. The Egyptians regard and a man of character who is also rich asserts himself in th
wrote in vertical columns from right to left administration like a crocodile."
was an administrative state. In theory
the pharaoh owne-
Several statues of this kind have survived; the bodies are all Egypt
its people all the harvested tood wa
more or less the same, the heads on the other hand are individualized the entire country including
to him and he redistributed it. The situation pracics
in
and often expressive. This scribe has a look of concentration. His handed over
for their own con
mouth signals tense alertness. Only the highest personages sat on was different. The farmers kept an agreed amount
us
of oxen and
were levied on the number
chairs, sitting on the floor demonstrated a serving function. However, sumption, while taxes
the tact that an individual form, an individual representational formula, estimated harvest yield. The temple complexes includea wareno

distributed amongst the pharaos

was developed for an from which the collected food was
the pyramids.
functionaries and workers in the tombs or at
-

occupational cafegory
demonstrates that priests,
it was for example. The organization and provisioning of the thousanas o
is
who, in changing shifts, built
the pyramids in Giza nor o
mportantand highly re- men
Without scnioes
of officials.
able to ceivable without a highly qualified group chaoS.
Deing have led to
the Nile would also
Ie was the prerequi the annual inundation of time the Nie Ou
anew every
Site Tor an official career flooded fertile land had to be surveyed
and officials formed the its banks. Only through the
annual flood was life
on the river
Nicp De
could the land paic
Dackbone of the admin- sible, only with the help of the
surveyors

istration. Training took established again. were

honoured
and
t
civilizations warriors
place in schools, but In other ancient appear
Ony a small minority of quently depicted, but in the art of ancient Egy more
diff
dificult
attacks
Outside
always
children had the chance rarely The surrounding deserts mad
eology the
defence
t
country's enemies. In ancient
was

to be accepted there. and according to the

wOuld Siay rank,
They learned hiero the job of the pharaoh. He himself who w e r e of the highest o n e
r

9yphs and the faster Egypt it was not warriors and

generals combinedin

were
functions
the two
CurSive style of writing, but priests and officials. Often

they learned the places person.

and regions of Egyp,
Statue of a scribe of Amenhotep I the names of plants and

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