# Scriba

### Profile description


**Scribae** – scribes and clerical officials working in the **praetorium**, that is, the headquarters of the legion commander. They belonged to the administrative personnel responsible for maintaining military and official documentation.

Their duties included drafting orders, reports, pay lists, soldier records, and staff correspondence. Scribes played an important role in the functioning of Roman military administration, which was based on an extensive system of written orders and reports.

**Scribae** were usually educated soldiers or freedmen with the ability to read and write in Latin. Although they did not perform combat functions, they constituted an important element of the legion’s organisational support and command apparatus.

### Tasks and duties

The duty of the **scriba** is to write down on papyrus all necessary materials, such as, for example, the list of soldiers.

### For discussion and development

### External links