Tens of thousands of years ago, during a period of Egyptian history known as the Old Kingdom (around 2649–2130 BC), it was rare for people to be able to read and write. From an estimated population of between 1 million and 1.5 million, only about 1% were literate and able to write in hieroglyphics.
Their rare skills meant that scribes were highly valued by society and the state, and were members of the privileged classes. This can be seen in examples from the ancient Egyptian literary genre now called teaching. In Duakheti’s Teaching (known as The Satire of the Trades), a father introduces his son to 20 different occupations and says:
For the scribal profession is greater than any profession, there is none like it on earth.
