By Jacqueline Engel
The Egyptian title for scribe is ‘sesh'().
Scribes recorded the stocks of foods, court proceedings, wills and other legal documents, tax records, and all of the things that happened in everyday life.
Scribes were near the top of the social pyramid. This statue shows an unknown scribe in the traditional position in ancient Egyptian art – seated in a cross-legged pose, with a papyrus scroll over his knees.
The right hand was intended to grip a stylus or reed and is balanced over the open papyrus in the act of writing.
This iconic statue is represented on the 200 LE note.
5th Dynasty, about 2465-2323 BC, Saqqara, limestone, pigment.
LA CIVILTA' EGIZIA 