A scribe is a person who serves as a professional copyist , especially one who made copies of manuscripts before the invention of automatic printing .
129-493: The work of scribes can involve copying manuscripts and other texts as well as secretarial and administrative duties such as the taking of dictation and keeping of business, judicial, and historical records for kings , nobles , temples , and cities . The profession of scribe first appears in Mesopotamia . Scribes contributed in fundamental ways to ancient and medieval cultures, including Egypt , China , India , Persia ,
258-437: A librarius was also valued in business settings, where they might serve as clerks. For example, a libraria cellaria would be a woman who kept business records such as inventories. An early 2nd-century marble relief from Rome depicts a female scribe, seated on a chair and writing on kind of a tablet, facing the butcher who is chopping meat at a table. Eleven Latin inscriptions uncovered from Rome identify women as scribes in
387-565: A men's rights group , sued the US Selective Service System in 2019, leading to it being declared unconstitutional by a US Federal Judge. The federal district judge's opinion was unanimously overturned on appeal to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit . In September 2021, the House of Representatives passed the annual Defense Authorization Act, which included an amendment that states that "all Americans between
516-916: A Roman citizen literate in Greek, made use of an amanuensis for his epistles . It was considered impolite, however, to use a scribe for writing personal letters to friends; these were to be written by one's own hand. The Vindolanda tablets (early 2nd century CE) from a fort in Roman Britain contain several hundred examples of handwriting; a few tablets stand out as having been written by professional scribes. Some Roman households had libraries extensive enough to require specialized staff including librarii , copyists or scribes, who were often slaves or freedmen, along with more general librarians (librarioli) . Public libraries also existed under imperial sponsorship, and bookshops both sold books and employed independent librarii along with other specialists who constructed
645-450: A body of inscriptions made on bronze vessels and oracle bones during the late Shang dynasty ( c. 1250 – 1050 BCE ), with the very oldest dated to c. 1200 BCE . It was originally used for divination, with characters etched onto turtle shells to interpret cracks caused by exposure to heat. By the sixth century BCE, scribes were producing books using bamboo and wooden slips . Each strip contained
774-438: A complex symbology developed for the messages. Modern versions sold at shrines, often already stamped with their local affiliation, tend to be used more verbally, with space left for individuals to act as their own scribes in messaging the kami . Scribes of ancient Israel were a literate minority in an oral based-culture . Some of them belonged to the priestly class , other scribes were the record-keepers and letter-writers in
903-577: A corps of 150,000 black slaves, called his Black Guard . He used them to coerce the country into submission. Modern conscription, the massed military enrollment of national citizens ( levée en masse ), was devised during the French Revolution , to enable the Republic to defend itself from the attacks of European monarchies. Deputy Jean-Baptiste Jourdan gave its name to the 5 September 1798 Act, whose first article stated: "Any Frenchman
1032-838: A day, working on a low table and seated on the floor. Both speed and accuracy mattered. Proofreaders checked the copy against the exemplar, and the scribe's pay was docked for errors. In the 8th century, the demand for vast quantities of copies meant that scribes in the Office of Sutra Transcription were lay people of common status, not yet ordained monks, some finding opportunities for advancement. In Classical Japan , even lay scribes at some sutra copyist centers were required to practice ritual purity through vegetarian dietary restrictions , wearing ritual garments ( jōe ) , ablution, avoiding contact with death and illness, and possibly sexual abstinence. Outside Buddhist centers, professional scriveners practiced copyist craft. Court-commissioned chronicles of
1161-462: A disliked government or unpopular war; sexism , in that historically men have been subject to the draft in the most cases; and ideological objection, for example, to a perceived violation of individual rights. Those conscripted may evade service , sometimes by leaving the country, and seeking asylum in another country. Some selection systems accommodate these attitudes by providing alternative service outside combat -operations roles or even outside
1290-546: A draft in order to reinforce social equality, create social consciousness, break down class divisions and allow young adults to immerse themselves in public enterprise. This justification forms the basis of Israel's People's Army Model . Charles Rangel called for the reinstatement of the draft during the Iraq War not because he seriously expected it to be adopted but to stress how the socioeconomic restratification meant that very few children of upper-class Americans served in
1419-418: A gender-neutral model. Israel has universal female conscription, although it is possible to avoid service by claiming a religious exemption and over a third of Israeli women do so. Finland introduced voluntary female conscription in 1995, giving women between the ages of 18 and 29 an option to complete their military service alongside men. Sudanese law allows for conscription of women, but this
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#17327649809741548-456: A national army or fyrd is a strange delusion dreamt up by antiquarians in the late eighteenth or early nineteenth centuries to justify universal military conscription. In feudal Japan the shogun decree of 1393 exempted money lenders from religious or military levies, in return for a yearly tax. The Ōnin War weakened the shogun and levies were imposed again on money lenders. This overlordism
1677-413: A personal embodiment of their profession. The Buddhist Tripiṭaka emerged at the beginning of the first century. Buddhist texts were treasured and sacred throughout Asia and were written in different languages. Buddhist scribes believed that, “The act of copying them could bring a scribe closer to perfection and earn him merit.” Rather later, Hindu texts were written, although the most sacred, especially
1806-557: A prized skill due to the belief that "the best way to absorb the contents of a book was to copy it by hand". Chinese scribes played an instrumental role in the imperial government's civil service. During the Tang dynasty, private collections of Confucian classics began to grow. Young men hoping to join the civil service would need to pass an exam based on Confucian doctrine, and these collections, which became known as "academy libraries" were places of study. Within this merit system, owning books
1935-481: A reed (2 mm). The end of the rush was cut obliquely and then chewed so that the fibers became separated. The result was a short, stiff brush which was handled in the same manner as that of a calligrapher. Thoth was the god credited with the invention of writing by the ancient Egyptians. He was the scribe of the gods who held knowledge of scientific and moral laws. The earliest known examples of writing in China are
2064-535: A role in creating ofuda (talismans), omikuji (fortunes or divination lots), ema (votive tablets), goshuin (calligraphic visitor stamps), and gomagi (inscribed sticks for ritual burning), forms that may employ a combination of stamps and handwriting on media . Today these are often mass produced and commercialized for marketing to tourists. Ema , for instance, began as large-scale pictorial representations that historically were created by professional artists. Small versions began to be produced and sold, and
2193-471: A select class of warriors or mercenaries . Jean Jacques Rousseau argued vehemently against professional armies since he believed that it was the right and privilege of every citizen to participate to the defense of the whole society and that it was a mark of moral decline to leave the business to professionals. He based his belief upon the development of the Roman Republic , which came to an end at
2322-410: A single column of script, and the books were bound together with hemp, silk, or leather. China is well-known as being the place where paper was originally invented, likely by an imperial eunuch named Cai Lun in 105 CE. The invention of paper allowed for the later invention of woodblock printing, where paper was rubbed onto an inked slab to copy the characters. Despite this invention, calligraphy remained
2451-415: A system of writing not meant to express it meant that acquiring literacy was a long process. Phonetic syllabaries ( kana ) , used for private writing, were developed by the 8th century and were in use along with kanji , the logographic system, used for official records. Gendering of the private and public spheres led to a characterization of kana as more feminine and kanji as masculine, but women of
2580-479: A type of tribal kingship . The monarchies of Europe in the Christian Middle Ages derived their claim from Christianisation and the divine right of kings , partly influenced by the notion of sacral kingship inherited from Germanic antiquity . The Early Middle Ages begin with a fragmentation of the former Western Roman Empire into barbarian kingdoms . In Western Europe, the kingdom of
2709-460: A vital role in the dissemination of literary culture. During the middle to late 3rd millennium BCE, Sumerian literature in the form of disputations proliferated, such as the Debate between bird and fish ; the Debate between Summer and Winter , in which Winter wins; and others between the cattle and grain, the tree and the reed, silver and copper, the pickaxe and the plough, and the millstone and
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#17327649809742838-513: Is a soldier and owes himself to the defense of the nation." It enabled the creation of the Grande Armée , what Napoleon Bonaparte called "the nation in arms", which overwhelmed European professional armies that often numbered only into the low tens of thousands. More than 2.6 million men were inducted into the French military in this way between the years 1800 and 1813. The defeat of
2967-428: Is an absolute monarch if he holds the powers of government without control, or the entire sovereignty over a nation ; he is a limited monarch if his power is restrained by fixed laws; and he is an absolute, when he holds the whole legislative , judicial , and executive power , or when the legislative or judicial powers, or both, are vested in other people by the king. Kings are hereditary sovereigns when they hold
3096-476: Is not implemented in practice. In the United Kingdom during World War II , beginning in 1941, women were brought into the scope of conscription but, as all women with dependent children were exempt and many women were informally left in occupations such as nursing or teaching, the number conscripted was relatively few. Most women who were conscripted were sent to the factories, although some were part of
3225-676: The Auxiliary Territorial Service (ATS), Women's Land Army , and other women's services. None were assigned to combat roles unless they volunteered. In contemporary United Kingdom, in July 2016, all exclusions on women serving in Ground Close Combat (GCC) roles were lifted. In the Soviet Union , there was never conscription of women for the armed forces , but the severe disruption of normal life and
3354-794: The Abbasid caliphs in 9th-century Baghdad . Over time they became a powerful military caste . On more than one occasion, they seized power, for example, ruling Egypt from 1250 to 1517. From 1250 Egypt had been ruled by the Bahri dynasty of Kipchak origin. Slaves from the Caucasus served in the army and formed an elite corps of troops. They eventually revolted in Egypt to form the Burgi dynasty . The Mamluks' excellent fighting abilities, massed Islamic armies, and overwhelming numbers succeeded in overcoming
3483-582: The English Civil War ; the United Kingdom abolished conscription in 1960. Around the reign of Hammurabi (1791–1750 BC ), the Babylonian Empire used a system of conscription called Ilkum . Under that system those eligible were required to serve in the royal army in time of war. During times of peace they were instead required to provide labour for other activities of the state. In return for this service, people subject to it gained
3612-596: The Franks developed into the Carolingian Empire by the 8th century, and the kingdoms of Anglo-Saxon England were unified into the kingdom of England by the 10th century. With the breakup of the Carolingian Empire in the 9th century, the system of feudalism places kings at the head of a pyramid of relationships between liege lords and vassals, dependent on the regional rule of barons , and
3741-482: The French Revolution in the 1790s, where it became the basis of a very large and powerful military . Most European nations later copied the system in peacetime, so that men at a certain age would serve 1 to 8 years on active duty and then transfer to the reserve force . Conscription is controversial for a range of reasons, including conscientious objection to military engagements on religious or philosophical grounds; political objection, for example to service for
3870-639: The Judicial Yuan of the Republic of China in its Interpretation 490 considered that the physical differences between males and females and the derived role differentiation in their respective social functions and lives would not make drafting only males a violation of the Constitution of the Republic of China . Though women are not conscripted in Taiwan, transsexual persons are exempt. In 2018,
3999-576: The King of Bahrain and the King of Eswatini . Conscription Conscription , also known as the draft in American English , is the practice in which the compulsory enlistment in a national service , mainly a military service , is enforced by law. Conscription dates back to antiquity and it continues in some countries to the present day under various names. The modern system of near-universal national conscription for young men dates to
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4128-796: The Late Middle Ages there were a number of large and powerful kingdoms in Europe, which would develop into the great powers of Europe in the Early Modern period . By the end of the Middle Ages, the kings of these kingdoms would start to place arches with an orb and cross on top as an Imperial crown , which only the Holy Roman Emperor had had before. This symbolized them holding the imperium and being emperors in their own realm not subject even theoretically anymore to
4257-593: The Netherlands started including women in its draft registration system, although conscription is not currently enforced for either sex. France and Portugal , where conscription was abolished, extended their symbolic, mandatory day of information on the armed forces for young people - called Defence and Citizenship Day in France and Day of National Defence in Portugal – to women in 1997 and 2008, respectively; at
4386-900: The Nurse Corps in preparation for a planned invasion of Japan . In 1981 in the United States , several men filed lawsuit in the case Rostker v. Goldberg , alleging that the Selective Service Act of 1948 violates the Due Process Clause of the Fifth Amendment by requiring that only men register with the Selective Service System (SSS). The Supreme Court eventually upheld the Act, stating that "the argument for registering women
4515-666: The Prussian Army in particular shocked the Prussian establishment, which had believed it was invincible after the victories of Frederick the Great . The Prussians were used to relying on superior organization and tactical factors such as order of battle to focus superior troops against inferior ones. Given approximately equivalent forces, as was generally the case with professional armies, these factors showed considerable importance. However, they became considerably less important when
4644-484: The Roman Empire , and medieval Europe . Judaism , Buddhism , and Islam have important scribal traditions. Scribes have been essential in these cultures for the preservation of legal codes, religious texts, and artistic and didactic literature. In some cultures, social functions of the scribe and of the calligrapher overlap, but the emphasis in scribal writing is on exactitude, whereas calligraphy aims to express
4773-604: The Sabbath . The primary purpose of these scribes was to promote the ideas of the Christian Church, so they mostly copied classical and religious works. The scribes were required to copy works in Latin, Greek, and Hebrew whether or not they understood the language. These re-creations were often written in calligraphy and featured rich illustrations, making the process incredibly time-consuming. Scribes had to be familiar with
4902-525: The Shōsōin archives of the Tōdai-ji temple complex. The institution of the ritsuryō legal state from the 8th to 10th centuries produced "a mountain of paperwork" employing hundreds of bureaucratic scribes in the capital and in the provinces. The average sutra copyist is estimated to have generated 3,800–4,000 characters a day. Scribes were paid by the "page," and the fastest completed thirteen or more sheets
5031-555: The Vedas , were not written down until much later , and were learnt by heart by the priestly Brahmins . Writing in the several scripts of Indic languages was generally not regarded as a distinct artistic form, in a situation similar to Europe, but different from East Asian traditions of calligraphy . By the 5th century CE, written Chinese was being adapted in Japan to represent spoken Japanese . The complexity of reconciling Japanese with
5160-431: The equestrian order . Among the writing duties of a scriba was the recording of sworn oaths on public tablets. The office afforded several advantages, including a knowledge of Roman law that was traditionally the privilege of the elite. People who needed legal documents drawn up and whose own literacy was low could make use of a public scribe. A scriba might also be a private secretary. A tabellio (Greek agoraios )
5289-420: The scrolls . A copyist ( librarius or libraria ) was said to need an "irrational knack" for copying text accurately without slowing down to comprehend it. Some literary slaves specialized in proofreading . Occasionally even senators took dictation or copied texts by hand for personal use, as did grammatici (“grammarians” or professors of higher education), but generally the routine copying of manuscripts
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5418-644: The 820s and 830s. The Turkic troops soon came to dominate the government , establishing a pattern throughout the Islamic world of a ruling military class, often separated by ethnicity, culture and even religion by the mass of the population, a paradigm that found its apogee in the Mamluks of Egypt and the Janissary corps of the Ottoman Empire , institutions that survived until the early 19th century. In
5547-555: The 8th century, such as Kojiki and Nihon shoki , survive in much later copies, as is the case for the first Japanese poetry anthologies. The earliest printed books were produced under the Empress Shōtoku on a large scale in the 8th century, only three centuries after Japanese became a written language, and by the Edo period (1603–1868) bound printed books predominated. Manuscripts remained valued for their aesthetic qualities, and
5676-802: The Christian Crusader fortresses in the Holy Land. The Mamluks were the most successful defence against the Mongol Ilkhanate of Persia and Iraq from entering Egypt. On the western coast of Africa, Berber Muslims captured non-Muslims to put to work as laborers. They generally converted the younger people to Islam and many became quite assimilated. In Morocco, the Berber looked south rather than north. The Moroccan Sultan Moulay Ismail , called "the Bloodthirsty" (1672–1727), employed
5805-657: The Hebrew Torah scrolls and other holy texts. Until 1948, the oldest known manuscripts of the Hebrew Bible dated back to CE 895. In 1947, a shepherd boy discovered some scrolls dated between 100 BCE and CE 100, inside a cave west of the Dead Sea . Over the next decade, more scrolls were found in caves and the discoveries became known collectively as the Dead Sea Scrolls . Every book in the Hebrew Bible
5934-468: The Holy Roman Emperor. Philosophers Works Currently (as of 2023 ), seventeen kings are recognized as the heads of state of sovereign states (i.e. English king is used as official translation of the respective native titles held by the monarchs). Most of these are heads of state of constitutional monarchies ; kings ruling over absolute monarchies are the King of Saudi Arabia ,
6063-773: The Janissaries in origin and means of development were the Mamluks of Egypt in the Middle Ages . The Mamluks were usually captive non-Muslim Iranian and Turkic children who had been kidnapped or bought as slaves from the Barbary coasts. The Egyptians assimilated and trained the boys and young men to become Islamic soldiers who served the Muslim caliphs and the Ayyubid sultans during the Middle Ages . The first mamluks served
6192-659: The Kapikulu system willingly, as they saw this as a potentially invaluable career opportunity for their children. Eventually the Sultan turned to foreign volunteers from the warrior clans of Circassians in southern Russia to fill his Janissary armies. As a whole the system began to break down, the loyalty of the Jannissaries became increasingly suspect. Mahmud II forcibly disbanded the Janissary corps in 1826. Similar to
6321-541: The Prussian armies faced Napoleon's forces that outnumbered their own in some cases by more than ten to one. Scharnhorst advocated adopting the levée en masse , the military conscription used by France. The Krümpersystem was the beginning of short-term compulsory service in Prussia, as opposed to the long-term conscription previously used. In the Russian Empire , the military service time "owed" by serfs
6450-627: The Sultan's Kapıkulu forces increased to about 100,000. In later years, Sultans turned to the Barbary Pirates to supply their Jannissaries corps. Their attacks on ships off the coast of Africa or in the Mediterranean, and subsequent capture of able-bodied men for ransom or sale provided some captives for the Sultan's system. Starting in the 17th century, Christian families living under the Ottoman rule began to submit their sons into
6579-479: The Torah. This version was different from the Torah of their fathers. Ezra did not write a new bible. Through the genius of his ‘editing', he presented the religion in a new light. Ancient Rome had several occupations for which the ability to write accurately and clearly was the primary qualification. The English word “scribe” derives from the Latin word scriba , a public notary or clerk . The public scribae were
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#17327649809746708-548: The US, men who do not register with the Selective Service cannot apply for citizenship, receive federal financial aid, grants or loans, be employed by the federal government, be admitted to public colleges or universities, or, in some states, obtain a driver's license. Many American libertarians oppose conscription and call for the abolition of the Selective Service System , arguing that impressment of individuals into
6837-504: The United States, every male resident is required by law to register with the Selective Service System within 30 days following his 18th birthday and be available for a draft; this is often accomplished automatically by a motor vehicle department during licensing or by voter registration. According to Milton Friedman the cost of conscription can be related to the parable of the broken window in anti-draft arguments. The cost of
6966-552: The accuracy and consistency of translation for the Hebrew Bible because they are the oldest out of any biblical text currently known. Priests who took over the leadership of the Jewish community preserved and edited biblical literature. Biblical literature became a tool that legitimated and furthered the priests' political and religious authority. Corrections by the scribes ( Tiqqun soferim ) refers to changes that were made in
7095-497: The aesthetic qualities of writing apart from its content. Scribes, previously so widespread across cultures, lost most of their prominence and status with the advent of the printing press . The generally less prestigious profession of scrivener continued to be important for copying and writing out legal documents and the like. In societies with low literacy rates, street-corner letter-writers (and readers) may still be found providing scribe service. The Sumerians developed one of
7224-404: The ages of 18 and 25 must register for selective service." This amendment omitted the word "male", which would have extended a potential draft to women; however, the amendment was removed before the National Defense Authorization Act was passed. Feminists have argued, first, that military conscription is sexist because wars serve the interests of what they view as the patriarchy ; second, that
7353-480: The all-volunteer American armed forces. It is estimated by the British military that in a professional military, a company deployed for active duty in peacekeeping corresponds to three inactive companies at home. Salaries for each are paid from the military budget. In contrast, volunteers from a trained reserve are in their civilian jobs when they are not deployed. Under the total defense doctrine, conscription paired with periodic refresher training ensures that
7482-401: The armed forces amounts to involuntary servitude . For example, Ron Paul , a former U.S. Libertarian Party presidential nominee, has said that conscription "is wrongly associated with patriotism , when it really represents slavery and involuntary servitude". The philosopher Ayn Rand opposed conscription, opining that "of all the statist violations of individual rights in a mixed economy,
7611-456: The basis that it violates gender equality , and some countries, especially in Europe , have extended conscription obligations to women. In 2006, eight countries ( China , Eritrea , Israel , Libya , Malaysia , North Korea , Peru , and Taiwan ) conscripted women into military service. Norway introduced female conscription in 2015, making it the first NATO member to have a legally compulsory national service for both men and women, and
7740-510: The civil service. Much of what is known about ancient Egypt is due to the activities of its scribes and the officials. But because of their ability to study in the vast Egyptian libraries, they were entrusted with jobs bigger than just copyists. Monumental buildings were erected under their supervision, administrative and economic activities were documented by them, and stories from Egypt's lower classes and foreign lands survive due to scribes putting them in writing. Scribes were considered part of
7869-450: The civilian workforce. Every soldier conscripted in the army is taken away from his civilian work, and away from contributing to the economy which funds the military. This may be less a problem in an agrarian or pre-industrialized state where the level of education is generally low, and where a worker is easily replaced by another. However, this is potentially more costly in a post-industrial society where educational levels are high and where
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#17327649809747998-488: The constable and the marshals). Men were summoned by the bailiff (or the sénéchal in the south). Bailiffs were military and political administrators installed by the King to steward and govern a specific area of a province following the king's commands and orders. The men summoned in this way were then summoned by the lieutenant who was the King's representative and military governor over an entire province comprising many bailiwicks , seneschalties and castellanies. All men from
8127-447: The court were educated and knew kanji , and men also wrote in kana , while works of literature were produced in both. The earliest extant writings take the form of mokkan , wooden slips used for official memoranda and short communications and for practical purposes such as shipping tags; inscriptions on metal and stone; and manuscripts of sutras and commentaries. Mokkan were often used for writing practice. Manuscripts first took
8256-491: The earliest writing systems , the first body of written literature, and an extensive scribal profession to further these activities. The work of Near Eastern scribes primarily exists on clay tablets and stone monuments written in cuneiform , though later in the period of cuneiform writing they begin to use papyrus , parchment , and writing tablets. The body of knowledge that scribes possessed belonged to an elite urban culture, and few had access to it. Traveling scribes played
8385-741: The earliest known copy of a printed book is of the Diamond Sutra dating to 868 CE, which was found alongside other manuscripts within a walled-in cave called Dunhuang . As professionals, scribes would undergo three years of training before becoming novices. The title of "scribe" was inherited from father to son. Early in their careers, they would work with local and regional governments and did not enjoy an official rank. A young scribe needed to hone their writing skills before specializing in an area like public administration or law. Archaeological evidence even points to scribes being buried with marks of their trade such as brushes, "administrative, legal, divinatory, mathematical, and medicinal texts", thus displaying
8514-511: The entire able-bodied population of a country can be mobilized to defend against invasion or assist civil authorities during emergencies. For this reason, some European countries have reintroduced or debated reintroducing conscription during the onset of the Second Cold War . Military Keynesians often argue for conscription as a job guarantee . For example, it was more financially beneficial for less-educated young Portuguese men born in 1967 to participate in conscription than to participate in
8643-413: The extra personnel for its planned invasion of Japan. However, the Japanese surrendered and the idea was abandoned. During the Great Patriotic War , the Red Army conscripted nearly 30 million men. Men's rights activists , feminists , and opponents of discrimination against men have criticized military conscription, or compulsory military service, as sexist . The National Coalition for Men,
8772-465: The first country in the world to draft women on the same formal terms as men. In practice only motivated volunteers are selected to join the army in Norway. Sweden introduced female conscription in 2010, but it was not activated until 2017. This made Sweden the second nation in Europe to draft women, and the second in the world (after Norway) to draft women on the same formal terms as men. Denmark will extend conscription to women from 2027, also on
8901-497: The form of dialogues in response to questions. The transcriber also filled in context for the transmission. After the text was verified, it became part of the canon, stored in secret places, viewable by affiliated monks, and used to legitimate forms of religious authority. Because they dealt with genealogies and sacral boundaries, oracle texts were consulted as references in questions of lineage and land ownership. At contemporary Shinto or Buddhist shrines, scribal traditions still play
9030-456: The form of rolls made from cloth or sheets of paper, but when manuscripts began to appear as bound books, they coexisted with handscrolls (makimono) . The influence of Chinese culture, especially written culture, made writing "immensely important" in the early Japanese court . The earliest Japanese writing to survive dates from the late Asuka and Nara periods (550–794), when Buddhist texts were being copied and disseminated. Because Buddhism
9159-442: The formulas for writing legal contracts , and proverbs . They then might have advanced to praise poems and finally to copying more sophisticated works of literature. Some scholars have thought that apprentice scribes listened to literary compositions read aloud and took dictation; others, that they copied directly from master copies. A combination of dictation, copying, and memorization for reproduction has also been proposed. One of
9288-468: The gul-gul stone. Nearly all known Sumerian literary works were preserved as a result of young scribes apprenticing for their profession. In addition to literary works, the contents of the tablets they produced include word lists, syllabaries , grammar forms , and lists of personal names. To the extent that the curriculum in scribal schools can be reconstructed, it appears that they would have begun by studying lists and syllabaries and learning metrology ,
9417-651: The high proportion of civilians affected by World War II after the German invasion attracted many volunteers for " The Great Patriotic War ". Medical doctors of both sexes could and would be conscripted (as officers). Also, the Soviet university education system required Department of Chemistry students of both sexes to complete an ROTC course in NBC defense , and such female reservist officers could be conscripted in times of war. The United States came close to drafting women into
9546-464: The highest in rank of the four prestigious occupational grades ( decuriae ) among the attendants of the Roman magistrates . In the city of Rome, the scribae worked out of the state treasury and government archive. They received a good salary. Scribae were often former slaves and their sons; other literary or educated men who advanced to the job through patronage ; or even men as highly ranked as
9675-458: The highly competitive job market with men of the same age who continued to higher education. Throughout history, women have only been conscripted to join armed forces in a few countries, in contrast to the universal practice of conscription from among the male population. The traditional view has been that military service is a test of manhood and a rite of passage from boyhood into manhood. In recent years, this position has been challenged on
9804-426: The ink, write the script, bind the pages, and create a cover to protect the script. This was all accomplished in a monastic writing room called a scriptorium which was kept very quiet so scribes could maintain concentration. A large scriptorium may have up to 40 scribes working. Scribes woke to morning bells before dawn and worked until the evening bells, with a lunch break in between. They worked every day except for
9933-702: The intermediate positions of counts (or earls ) and dukes . The core of European feudal manorialism in the High Middle Ages were the territories of the former Carolingian Empire , i.e. the kingdom of France and the Holy Roman Empire (centered on the nominal kingdoms of Germany and Italy ). In the course of the European Middle Ages, the European kingdoms underwent a general trend of centralisation of power, so that by
10062-507: The king or the local lord, bringing along the weapons and armor according to their wealth. These levies fought as footmen, sergeants, and men at arms under local superiors appointed by the king or the local lord such as the arrière-ban in France. Arrière-ban denoted a general levy, where all able-bodied males age 15 to 60 living in the Kingdom of France were summoned to go to war by the King (or
10191-405: The knowledge, such as local history and antiquarianism , a family's accumulated lore or farming methods, or medical texts of a particular school of medicine. Intentional secrecy might be desired to protect arcane knowledge or proprietary information with commercial value. In the esoteric strand of Japanese Buddhism , scribes recorded oracles, the utterances of a kami -inspired person often in
10320-402: The land-holding aristocracy of the time and were required to serve with their own armour and weapons for a certain number of days each year. The historian David Sturdy has cautioned about regarding the fyrd as a precursor to a modern national army composed of all ranks of society, describing it as a "ridiculous fantasy": The persistent old belief that peasants and small farmers gathered to form
10449-512: The major centers of publishing and printing, manuscripts were a route to publication. Some authors self-published their books, especially romance novels ( ninjōbon ) , in manuscript form. Women's prose writings in general were circulated as manuscripts during the Edo period. Women were not prevented from writing and circulating their work, but private publication may have been a way for women to adhere to gender norms in not making themselves available in
10578-473: The middle of the 14th century, Ottoman Sultan Murad I developed personal troops to be loyal to him, with a slave army called the Kapıkulu . The new force was built by taking Christian children from newly conquered lands, especially from the far areas of his empire, in a system known as the devşirme (translated "gathering" or "converting"). The captive children were forced to convert to Islam . The Sultans had
10707-424: The military draft is the worst. It is an abrogation of rights. It negates man's fundamental right—the right to life—and establishes the fundamental principle of statism : that a man's life belongs to the state, and the state may claim it by compelling him to sacrifice it in battle." In 1917, a number of radicals and anarchists, including Emma Goldman , challenged the new draft law in federal court, arguing that it
10836-504: The military for six years. In the decades prior to World War I universal conscription along broadly Prussian lines became the norm for European armies, and those modeled on them. By 1914 the only substantial armies still completely dependent on voluntary enlistment were those of Britain and the United States. Some colonial powers such as France reserved their conscript armies for home service while maintaining professional units for overseas duties. The range of eligible ages for conscripting
10965-700: The military is a sexist institution and that conscripts are therefore indoctrinated into sexism; and third, that conscription of men normalizes violence by men as socially acceptable. Feminists have been organizers and participants in resistance to conscription in several countries. Conscription has also been criticized on the ground that, historically, only men have been subjected to conscription. Men who opt out or are deemed unfit for military service must often perform alternative service, such as Zivildienst in Austria , Germany and Switzerland , or pay extra taxes, whereas women do not have these obligations. In
11094-806: The military, such as siviilipalvelus (alternative civil service) in Finland and Zivildienst (compulsory community service) in Austria and Switzerland. Several countries conscript male soldiers not only for armed forces, but also for paramilitary agencies, which are dedicated to police -like domestic-only service like internal troops , border guards or non-combat rescue duties like civil defence . As of 2023, many states no longer conscript their citizens, relying instead upon professional militaries with volunteers . The ability to rely on such an arrangement, however, presupposes some degree of predictability with regard to both war-fighting requirements and
11223-404: The most fit and capable subtract from the productivity of the economy; add to this the cost of training them, and in some countries paying them. Compared to these extensive costs, some would argue there is very little benefit; if there ever was a war then conscription and basic training could be completed quickly, and in any case there is little threat of a war in most countries with conscription. In
11352-423: The most important professionals in ancient Egypt was a person educated in the arts of writing (both hieroglyphics and hieratic scripts, as well as the demotic script from the second half of the first millennium BCE, which was mainly used as shorthand and for commerce) and arithmetic. Sons of scribes were brought up in the same scribal tradition, sent to school, and inherited their fathers' positions upon entering
11481-515: The original wording of the Hebrew Bible during the second temple period, perhaps sometime between 450 and 350 BCE. One of the most prominent men at this time was Ezra the scribe . He also hired scribes to work for him, in order to write down and revise the oral tradition. After Ezra and the scribes had completed the writing, Ezra gathered the Jews who had returned from exile, all of whom belonged to Kohanim families. Ezra read them an unfamiliar version of
11610-568: The powers of government by right of birth or inheritance, and elective when raised to the throne by choice. The term king may also refer to a king consort , a title that is sometimes given to the husband of a queen regnant , but the title of prince consort is more common. The English term king is derived from the Anglo-Saxon cyning , which in turn is derived from the Common Germanic * kuningaz . The Common Germanic term
11739-446: The public sphere. Manuscripts could more readily evade government censorship , and officially banned books that could no longer be printed were copied for personal use or circulated privately. Lending libraries (kashihon'ya) offered manuscript books, including illicit texts, along with printed books. Books might also be composed as manuscripts when their transmission was limited to a particular circle of interested parties or sharers in
11868-487: The realm. The bulk of the Anglo-Saxon English army, called the fyrd , was composed of part-time English soldiers drawn from the freemen of each county. In the 690s laws of Ine of Wessex , three levels of fines are imposed on different social classes for neglecting military service. Some modern writers claim military service in Europe was restricted to the landowning minor nobility. These thegns were
11997-405: The reciprocal rights and duties of citizens. "It may not be doubted that the very conception of a just government in its duty to the citizen includes the reciprocal obligation of the citizen to render military service in case of need and the right to compel." It can be argued that in a cost-to-benefit ratio , conscription during peacetime is not worthwhile. Months or years of service performed by
12126-467: The richest noble to the poorest commoner were summoned under the arrière-ban and they were supposed to present themselves to the King or his officials. In medieval Scandinavia the leiðangr ( Old Norse ), leidang ( Norwegian ), leding , ( Danish ), ledung ( Swedish ), lichting ( Dutch ), expeditio ( Latin ) or sometimes leþing ( Old English ), was a levy of free farmers conscripted into coastal fleets for seasonal excursions and in defence of
12255-556: The right to hold land. It is possible that this right was not to hold land per se but specific land supplied by the state. Various forms of avoiding military service are recorded. While it was outlawed by the Code of Hammurabi , the hiring of substitutes appears to have been practiced both before and after the creation of the code. Later records show that Ilkum commitments could become regularly traded. In other places, people simply left their towns to avoid their Ilkum service. Another option
12384-586: The royal court, were not conscripted into the army, did not have to pay taxes, and were exempt from the heavy manual labor required of the lower classes ( corvée labor). The scribal profession worked with painters and artisans who decorated reliefs and other building works with scenes, personages, or hieroglyphic text. However, the physical aspect of their work sometimes took a toll on their joints , with ancient bones showing some signs of arthritis that might be attributable to their profession. The demotic scribes used rush pens which had stems thinner than that of
12513-625: The royal palaces and administrative centers, affiliated with the ancient equivalent of professional guilds . There were no scribal schools in Israel during the early part of the Iron Age (1200–800 B.C.E.). Between the 13th and 8th centuries B.C.E., the Hebrew alphabetic system had not been developed. Only after the appearance of the Kingdom of Israel , Finkelstein points to the reign of Omri , did
12642-815: The same time as the Roman Army changed from a conscript to a professional force. Similarly, Aristotle linked the division of armed service among the populace intimately with the political order of the state. Niccolò Machiavelli argued strongly for conscription in The Prince and The Art of War and saw the professional armies, made up of mercenary units, as the cause of the failure of societal unity in Italy. Other proponents, such as William James , consider both mandatory military and national service as ways of instilling maturity in young adults. Some proponents, such as Jonathan Alter and Mickey Kaus , support
12771-532: The scope of hostilities. Many states that have abolished conscription still, therefore, reserve the power to resume conscription during wartime or times of crisis. States involved in wars or interstate rivalries are most likely to implement conscription, and democracies are less likely than autocracies to implement conscription. With a few exceptions, such as Singapore and Egypt, former British colonies are less likely to have conscription, as they are influenced by British anti-conscription norms that can be traced back to
12900-457: The scribal schools begin to develop, reaching their culmination in the time of Jeroboam II , under Mesopotamian influence. The eventual standardization of the Hebrew writing system between the eighth and sixth centuries B.C.E. would presumably have given rise to codified rules and principles of language that scribes would then have learned. The education of scribes in ancient Israel was supported by
13029-422: The scribal tradition continued to flourish for a wide range of reasons. In addition to handwritten practical documents pertaining to legal and commercial transactions, individuals might write journals or commonplace books , which involved copying out sometimes lengthy passages by hand. This copying might extend to complete manuscripts of books that were expensive or not readily available to buy. But scribal culture
13158-478: The sense of copyists or amanuenses (not public scribae ). Among these are Magia, Pyrrhe, Vergilia Euphrosyne, and a freedwoman whose name does not survive; Hapate, a shorthand writer of Greek who lived to the age of 25; and Corinna, a storeroom clerk and scribe. Three are identified as literary assistants: Tyche, Herma, and Plaetoriae. In the Middle Ages , every book was made by hand. Specially trained monks, or scribes, had to carefully cut sheets of parchment, make
13287-675: The situation had since changed with the 2013 and 2015 restriction removals. Miller's opinion was reversed by the Fifth Circuit , stating that only the Supreme Court could overturn the Supreme Court precedence from Rostker . The Supreme Court considered but declined to review the Fifth Circuit's ruling in June 2021. In an opinion authored by Justice Sonia Sotomayor and joined by Justices Stephen Breyer and Brett Kavanaugh ,
13416-459: The spiritual enlightenment of his departed mother." Creating a calligraphic and pictorial work by copying secular literature likewise was an aesthetic practice for its own sake and a means of study. Within the social elite of the court, calligraphy was thought to express the inner character of the writer. In the Heian period , the book collector, scholar-scribe, and literary artist Fujiwara no Teika
13545-528: The state, although some scribal arts could have been taught within a small number of families. Some scribes also copied documents, but this was not necessarily part of their job. The Jewish scribes used the following rules and procedures while creating copies of the Torah and eventually other books in the Hebrew Bible . Sofers (Jewish scribes) are among the few scribes that still do their trade by hand, writing on parchment . Renowned calligraphers , they produce
13674-616: The three justices agreed that the male-only draft was likely unconstitutional given the changes in the military's stance on the roles, but because Congress had been reviewing and evaluating legislation to eliminate its male-only draft requirement via the National Commission on Military, National, and Public Service (NCMNPS) since 2016, it would have been inappropriate for the Court to act at that time. On 1 October 1999, in Taiwan ,
13803-409: The twelfth and thirteenth centuries, copying became more of a specialized activity and was increasingly performed by specialists. To meet expanding demand, the pecia system was introduced, in which different parts of the same text were assigned to hired copiers working both in and out of the monasteries. King King is the title given to a male monarch in a variety of contexts. A king
13932-413: The various European languages . The Germanic term is notably different from the word for "King" in other Indo-European languages ( *rēks "ruler"; Latin rēx , Sanskrit rājan and Irish rí ; however, see Gothic reiks and, e.g., modern German Reich and modern Dutch rijk ). The English word is of Germanic origin, and historically refers to Germanic kingship , in the pre-Christian period
14061-442: The work, military service, does not disappear even if no salary is paid. The work effort of the conscripts is effectively wasted, as an unwilling workforce is extremely inefficient. The impact is especially severe in wartime, when civilian professionals are forced to fight as amateur soldiers. Not only is the work effort of the conscripts wasted and productivity lost, but professionally skilled conscripts are also difficult to replace in
14190-414: The workforce is sophisticated and a replacement for a conscripted specialist is difficult to find. Even more dire economic consequences result if the professional conscripted as an amateur soldier is killed or maimed for life; his work effort and productivity are lost. Classical republicans promoted conscription as a tool for maintaining civilian control of the military , thereby preventing usurpation by
14319-473: The writing technology as well. They had to make sure that the lines were straight and the letters were the same size in each book that they copied. It typically took a scribe fifteen months to copy a Bible. Such books were written on parchment or vellum made from treated hides of sheep, goats, or calves. These hides were often from the monastery's own animals as monasteries were self-sufficient in raising animals, growing crops, and brewing beer. The overall process
14448-706: The young boys trained over several years. Those who showed special promise in fighting skills were trained in advanced warrior skills, put into the sultan's personal service, and turned into the Janissaries , the elite branch of the Kapıkulu . A number of distinguished military commanders of the Ottomans, and most of the imperial administrators and upper-level officials of the Empire, such as Pargalı İbrahim Pasha and Sokollu Mehmet Paşa , were recruited in this way. By 1609,
14577-416: Was 25 years at the beginning of the 19th century. In 1834 it was decreased to 20 years. The recruits were to be not younger than 17 and not older than 35. In 1874 Russia introduced universal conscription in the modern pattern, an innovation only made possible by the abolition of serfdom in 1861. New military law decreed that all male Russian subjects, when they reached the age of 20, were eligible to serve in
14706-521: Was a leader in preserving and producing quality manuscripts of works of literature. Even so prolific an author of printed prose works as Ihara Saikaku (1642–1693) also produced handwritten works in several formats, including manuscripts, handscrolls, and poetry slips ( tanzaku ) and cards (shikishi) . Unique and prized handscrolls preserved the collaborative poetry sessions characteristic of renga and haikai poetic composition, distributed more widely in printed copies. For authors not located near
14835-439: Was a lower rank of scribe or notary who worked in civil service. A notarius was a stenographer . An amanuensis was a scribe who took dictation and perhaps offered some compositional polish. Amanuenses were typically Greek and might be either male or female. Upper-class Romans made extensive use of dictation, and Julius Caesar was said to employ as many as four secretaries at once on different projects. The Apostle Paul ,
14964-622: Was a sign of status. Despite the later importance of Confucian manuscripts, they were initially heavily resisted by the Qin dynasty. Though their accounts are likely exaggerated, later scholars describe a period of book burning and scholarly suppression. This exaggeration likely stems from Han dynasty historians being steeped in Confucianism as state orthodoxy. Similarly to the west, religious texts, particularly Buddhist, were transcribed in monasteries and hidden during "times of persecution". In fact,
15093-486: Was a task for educated slaves or for freedpersons who worked independently in bookshops. Books were a favored gift for friends, and since they had to be individually written out, "deluxe" editions, made from higher-grade papyrus and other fine materials, might be commissioned from intellectuals who also acted as editors. Unscrupulous copyists might produce and trade in unauthorized editions, sometimes passing them off as autograph manuscripts by famous authors. The literacy of
15222-540: Was a violation of the Thirteenth Amendment 's prohibition against slavery and involuntary servitude. However, the Supreme Court unanimously upheld the constitutionality of the draft act in the case of Arver v. United States on 7 January 1918, on the ground that the Constitution gives Congress the power to declare war and to raise and support armies. The Court also relied on the principle of
15351-479: Was arbitrary and unpredictable for commoners. While the money lenders were not poor, several overlords tapped them for income. Levies became necessary for the survival of the overlord, allowing the lord to impose taxes at will. These levies included tansen tax on agricultural land for ceremonial expenses. Y akubu takumai tax was raised on all land to rebuild the Ise Grand Shrine , and munabechisen tax
15480-642: Was based on considerations of equity, but Congress was entitled, in the exercise of its constitutional powers, to focus on the question of military need, rather than 'equity.'" In 2013, Judge Gray H. Miller of the United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas ruled that the Service's men-only requirement was unconstitutional, as while at the time Rostker was decided, women were banned from serving in combat,
15609-428: Was borrowed into Estonian and Finnish at an early time, surviving in these languages as kuningas . It is a derivation from the term *kunjom "kin" ( Old English cynn ) by the -inga- suffix. The literal meaning is that of a "scion of the [noble] kin", or perhaps "son or descendant of one of noble birth" ( OED ). The English term translates, and is considered equivalent to, Latin rēx and its equivalents in
15738-731: Was common during the Second World War: in Britain, it was commonly known as "call-up" and extended to age 51. Nazi Germany termed it Volkssturm ("People's Storm") and included boys as young as 16 and men as old as 60. During the Second World War, both Britain and the Soviet Union conscripted women. The United States was on the verge of drafting women into the Nurse Corps because it anticipated it would need
15867-544: Was expanded to meet national demand during the World Wars . In the United States, the Selective Service System drafted men for World War I initially in an age range from 21 to 30 but expanded its eligibility in 1918 to an age range of 18 to 45. In the case of a widespread mobilization of forces where service includes homefront defense, ages of conscripts may range much higher, with the oldest conscripts serving in roles requiring lesser mobility. Expanded-age conscription
15996-529: Was imposed on all houses . At the time, land in Kyoto was acquired by commoners through usury and in 1422 the shogun threatened to repossess the land of those commoners who failed to pay their levies. The system of military slaves was widely used in the Middle East , beginning with the creation of the corps of Turkic slave-soldiers ( ghulams or mamluks ) by the Abbasid caliph al-Mu'tasim in
16125-524: Was not merely or always a matter of need or necessity. Copying Buddhist sutras was a devotional practice ( shakyō ) . In the Nara period, wealthy patrons commissioned sutra copying on behalf of ancestors to gain them spiritual passage from the Buddhist hells . The Edo-period court noble Konoe Iehiro created a sutra manuscript in gold ink on dark blue paper, stating his purpose in the colophon as "to ensure
16254-489: Was represented except Esther . Numerous copies of each book were discovered, including 25 copies of the book of Deuteronomy . While there were other items found among the Dead Sea Scrolls not currently in the Hebrew Bible, and many variations and errors occurred when they were copied, the texts, on the whole, testify to the accuracy of the scribes. The Dead Sea Scrolls are currently the best route of comparison to
16383-559: Was text-based, monks were employed in scribal and bureaucratic work for their skill in writing and knowledge of Chinese culture. In portraits of Buddhist clerics, a handscroll is a symbol of scribal authority and the possession of knowledge. Government offices and Buddhist centers employed copyists on a wide scale, requiring an abundance of materials such as paper, glue, ink, and brushes; exemplars from which to copy; an organizational structure; and technicians for assembly, called sōkō or sō’ō . More than 10,000 Nara documents are preserved in
16512-540: Was to sell Ilkum lands and the commitments along with them. With the exception of a few exempted classes, this was forbidden by the Code of Hammurabi. Under the feudal laws on the European continent, landowners in the medieval period enforced a system whereby all peasants , freemen commoners and noblemen aged 15 to 60 living in the countryside or in urban centers, were summoned for military duty when required by either
16641-406: Was too extensive and costly for books to become widespread during this period. Although scribes were only able to work in daylight, due to the expense of candles and the rather poor lighting they provided, monastic scribes were still able to produce three to four pages of work per day. The average scribe could copy two books per year. They were expected to make at least one mistake per page. During
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