Who were the civil servants of ancient Egypt?

The civil servants of ancient Egypt were called scribes, or sekhau. Scribes had many roles, including tax collection, conducting the census and overseeing the harvest and distribution of the food supply.

Scribes were essential to the day-to-day running of the country. They tracked rainfall and the height of the Nile, wrote legal documents and ensured construction of buildings went as planned. Scribes could also be doctors, teachers, priests and many other important professions. Schools were run by scribes and covered many of the same topics, such as math and writing, as modern schools. The position of scribe was typically passed from father to son.