![]() Scribes were initially not as vital in the Fertile Crescent, growing in importance when the Akkadians settled among Sumerians c. ![]() Scribes in Mesopotamia were trained early, in schools known as Tablet Houses, which were associated with important temples. Mesopotamia was the birthplace of writing and civilization, and as a result, scribes were extremely important as key administrators who maintained administrative and economic offices and also aided in the development of literature, religion, and historical documents. Scribes were also extremely important in political structures, and many theorists link scribal culture to the expansion and political solidification of many civilizations. These cases in the West led to the development of the alphabet and in the East to the codification of the Chinese language. The role of the scribe became important in castes or administrative classes within societies that helped develop and demonstrate the importance of symbolic forms and helped develop more sophisticated methods of notation. In cultures where only a small amount of the population was literate, or even had no concept of symbolic representation, scribal culture was also closely associated with ritual and religion, and in many cases scribes were responsible for the codification of writing, religion, and law. In many cultures scribes were a ruling class, and those who possessed literacy maintained a monopoly of knowledge over the largely illiterate agrarian and working-class members of society. Very often scribes were instrumental in creating and maintaining the legal, economic, and religious aspects of a culture. ![]() Scribes were key to the administrative and legislative aspects of many societies after the creation of writing and fulfilled numerous functions other than simply record keeping. ![]()
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