Scribe

A scribe is a professional writer in societies where literacy required specialized training. Scribes copied documents, maintained records, produced legal and religious texts, and ensured continuity of written tradition. Their work demanded precision, but it also involved decisions about spelling, layout, clarification, and correction. In religious and literary contexts, scribes were key figures in the preservation and transmission of authoritative texts over long periods of time. Because texts passed through many scribal hands, scribes influenced how traditions were stabilized, standardized, and sometimes subtly reshaped as they were copied.