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Scribes are paradoxically both central and invisible in most societies before the typographic revolution of the 15th century, witnessed by every manuscript, but often elusive as historical figures. The act of writing is a quotidian and vernacular practice as well as a literary one, and must be observed not only in the outputs of literary copyists or reports of their activities, but in the documents of everyday life. This volume collects contributions on scribal practice as it features on diverse media (including papyri, tablets, and inscriptions) in a range of ancient societies, from the Ancient Near East and Dynastic Egypt through the Graeco-Roman world to Byzantium. These discussions of the role and place of scribes and scribal activity in pre-typographic cultures both contribute to a better understanding of one of the key drivers of these cultures, and illuminate the transmission of knowledge and traditions within and between them.

Copyists. --- Scribes. --- Transmission of texts. --- Scribes --- History --- History. --- Scribes, Egyptian --- Scribes, Roman --- Copyists --- Scribes - History --- Scribes - Rome --- Scribes - Egypt

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Scribes, Jewish --- Biblia --- Legends.

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This book discusses the alphabetic scribes (sēpiru) mentioned in Mesopotamian documents of the Neo-Babylonian and Achaemenid periods - specifically, of the 6th-5th centuries BCE. The period in question saw a wide diffusion of writing in the Northwest Semitic alphabetic script - mostly in Aramaic - in Mesopotamia; yet, alphabetic texts were normally written in ink on perishable materials and did not survive to be discovered by modern archaeologists. In contrast, cuneiform tablets written on clay have been found in large numbers, and they document different aspects of the alphabetic scribes' activities. This book presents evidence for understanding the Akkadian term sēpiru as a designation for an alphabetic scribe and discusses the functions of these professionals in different administrative and economic spheres. It further considers the question of the ethnic origins of the alphabetic scribes in Mesopotamia, with special attention to the participation of Judeans in Babylonia in this profession. Bloch also provides translations of over 100 cuneiform documents of economic, legal and administrative content.

Scribes --- Alphabet. --- Cuneiform writing. --- Semitic languages --- Scribes. --- Middle East

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"In a society, in which only a fraction of the population was literate and numerate, being one of few specialists in reading, writing and reckoning meant an invaluable asset. The fact that the Roman state heavily relied on these professional scribes in financial and legal administration entailed a unique position and status. By gathering and analysing the available source material on the Roman scribae, the book traces the history of Rome's public scribes from the early Republic to the Later Roman Empire. He tells the story of men of low social origin, who, by means of their specialised knowledge, find themselves at the heart of the Roman polity, in close proximity to the powerful and responsible for the written arcana of the state - a story of knowledge and power, corruption and contested social mobility"--

Scribes --- Rome --- Officials and employees --- Scribes, Roman --- Officials and employees. --- E-books --- Employees. --- Scribes. --- Rome (Empire). --- Scribes - Rome --- Rome - Officials and employees

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Pharisees. --- Scribes, Jewish. --- Sadducees. --- Social classes