As early as the 11th century BCE, scribes in Ancient Israel were distinguished professionals who would exercise functions which today could be associated with lawyers, journalists, government ministers, judges, or financiers.

Who was the first scribe?

The find challenges the widely-held belief that the first people to write were the Sumerians of Mesopotamia (modern-day Iraq) sometime before 3000 BC. The exact date of Sumerian writing remains in doubt but the new Egyptian discoveries have been confidently dated to between 3300 BC and 3200 BC using carbon isotopes.

When was the scribe created?

The Seated Scribe​, c. 2620-2500 B.C.E., c. 4th Dynasty, Old Kingdom, painted limestone with rock crystal, magnesite, and copper/arsenic inlay for the eyes and wood for the nipples, found in Saqqara (Musée du Louvre, Paris).