Scribe Ramose from Deir el-Medina

Scribe Ramose from Deir el-Medina

New Kingdom, 19th Dynasty, c. 1279-1213 B.C.

Musée du Louvre. E 16346

This painted limestone figure of the Scribe Ramose, shows the Scribe with a beautifully detailed thick wig. His shoulders are adorned with the cartouches of Ramesses II, Thutmose IV and Horemheb. Ramose (scribe in the Place of truth, servant-hem of the domain of Amun-Re, lord of the thrones of the Two Lands); Ramesses II; Thutmose IV; Horemheb; Amun-Re; Horakhty.

Deir el-Medina (Set Ma’at) was a workman’s village, which was state commissioned and owned. The artisans and architects who would design and build the tombs of the royals and elite would live there for many centuries with their families.

Deir el-Medina is therefore a treasure trove of knowledge for Egyptologists, as many of these everyday people occupying the village, were among the rare literate in society, and have left us with many ostraca detailing life in their community.

The scribe’s job was one of the most important in ancient Egypt, for he was the representative of culture, science, knowledge, and literature.

In this regard, scribes are considered the main founders of its civilization. The scribe’s role was largely administrative, but also preserved Egypt’s stories and oral traditions, just like writers today continue to fulfill the same role.

The priesthood scribes in temples thus played a great part in the preservation of ancient texts through editing and revising religious, theological, ritual, medical, and magical texts. The god Thoth, represented as Ibis bird or baboon, was a patron of scribes in ancient Egypt.