Obsolete occupations

right|thumb|The mounted archer represented the quintessential samurai. The were members of the professional warrior class in pre-industrial Japan, who served as retainers to the lords. These men came from warrior families and trained from a young age in military arts through private instruction. Swordsmanship, archery, and horsemanship were the primary martial skills; and often in Japanese history, only samurai had the right to even possess these weapons. These weapons required years of training to master, and this commitment made the samurai superior to conscripts and militia, the latter who

thumb|Drawing of the archetypical ninja from a series of Hokusai Manga|sketches by Hokusai. Woodblock print on paper. Vol. six, 1817.

thumb|right|The troubadour Perdigon playing his fiddle

thumb|upright=0.8|right|A Greek hoplite Hoplites ( ; ) were citizen-soldiers of Ancient Greek city-states who were primarily armed with spears and shields. Hoplite soldiers used the phalanx formation to be effective in war with fewer soldiers. The formation discouraged the soldiers from acting alone, for this would compromise the formation and minimise its strengths. The hoplites were primarily represented by free citizens – propertied farmers and artisans – who were able to afford a linen or bronze armour suit and weapons (estimated at a third to a half of its able-bodied adult ma

thumb|upright=1.35|East Indiaman (left) battling , a privateer commanded by French corsair [[Robert Surcouf in October 1800, as depicted in a painting by Ambroise Louis Garneray.]]

thumb|upright|''Portrait of the Scribe Mir 'Abd Allah Katib in the Company of a Youth Burnishing Paper'' (Mughal Empire, ca. 1602) A scribe is a person who serves as a professional copyist, especially one who made copies of manuscripts before the invention of automatic printing.

thumb|Painting of two British light dragoons in 1809 during the [[Peninsular War]]

thumb|The 18th-century castrato Farinelli, painted by [[Bartolomeo Nazari]]

thumb|200px|Greek and her client, approx. 430 BC. The fact that she is on the couch with him is telling, as wives were not allowed into the symposium. A ' (; , ; . , ), Latinized as ' ( ), was a type of highly educated female companion in ancient Greece who served as an artist, entertainer, and conversationalist. Historians have often classed them as courtesans, but the extent to which they were sex workers is a matter of dispute.

thumb|212px|French cuirassier (1809)

thumb|Coachman, Boston MA 1902 thumb|Russian coachman, before 1917 — his belt indicates his master's wealth A coachman is a person who drives a coach or carriage, or similar horse-drawn vehicle. A coachman has also been called a coachee, coachy, whip, or hackman.

thumb|Rhapsode by Giovanni Domenico Tiepolo

The word seneschal ( ) can have several different meanings, all of which reflect certain types of supervising or administering in a historic context. Most commonly, a seneschal was a senior position filled by a court appointment within a royal, ducal, or noble household during the Middle Ages and early Modern period – historically a steward or majordomo of a medieval great house. In a medieval royal household, a seneschal was in charge of domestic arrangements and the administration of servants, which, in the medieval period particularly, meant the seneschal might oversee hundreds of laborers,

thumb|A Peking fruit seller, c. 1869 thumb|Peddler in Ho Chi Minh City, [[Vietnam]]

thumb|Ganymede and the Eagle, sculpture by [[Bertel Thorvaldsen, c. 1817]] A cup-bearer was historically an officer of high rank in royal courts, whose duty was to pour and serve the drinks at the royal table. On account of the constant fear of plots and intrigues (such as poisoning), a person had to be regarded as thoroughly trustworthy to hold the position. He would guard against poison in the king's cup, and was sometimes required to swallow some of the drink before serving it. His confidential relations with the king often gave him a position of great influence.

thumb|A wheelwright's shop

historical occupation

thumb|400px|right|Barge Haulers on the Volga|Burlaks on the Volga (painting by [[Ilya Repin, 1870–73)]] A burlak () was a river boat or barge puller in the Russian Empire. It was a seasonal occupation.

A housecarl (; ) was a non-servile manservant or household bodyguard in medieval Northern Europe.

person who distributes water for others

thumb|right|The sōhei Benkei with [[Minamoto no Yoshitsune|upright]]

aspect of ancient Greek society

young low ranking male employee who waits on the officers and passengers of a ship

occupation of manufacturing charcoal

thumb|Telling a problem to a public scrivener. Istanbul, 1878 thumb|An écrivain public in Chambéry, France thumb|A historical reenactment of a 15th-century scrivener recording the will of a [[man-at-arms]]

3rd-class head of diplomatic mission

1864–1904 group in the Russian Empire

type of light infantry that were arrangeed into long thin lines of alternating rows and fired volleys of shot into enemy ranks

position responsible for operating telephones and telephone communications systems

thumb|250px|An exhibit depicting Exilarch Rav Huna|Huna at the [[Beit Hatfutsot]] The exilarch was the leader of the Jewish community in Mesopotamia (modern-day Iraq) during the Parthian and Sasanian Empires and Abbasid Caliphate up until the 1258 CE Mongol invasion of Baghdad, with intermittent gaps due to ongoing political developments. The exilarch was regarded by the Jewish community as the royal heir of the Davidic line and held prominence as both a rabbinical authority and a noble within the Persian and Arab courts.

thumb|Chasqui playing a (conch shell) in "Primer nueva corónica y buen gobierno" (drawing 168 folio 351).

officer of who makes public pronouncements

thumb|Musicians and skomorokhs. An outline of a fresco from [[Saint Sophia Cathedral, Kyiv, 11th century]] thumb|Skomorokhs in a village, , 1857 A skomorokh (, Russian: , , ) was a medieval East Slavic actor, who could also sing, dance, play musical instruments and compose for oral/musical and dramatic performances. The term has an unclear etymology.

In medieval and early modern Germany, the '''''' (; Latin ) was the head or manager of a mint, a moneyer with responsibility for the minting of coins, or specie. His duties were defined differently at different times and places.

thumb|right|Court Gējìs of the Former Shu by Tang Yin (1470–1524)

right|thumb|300px|A Laconian black-figured cup by [[Rider Painter featuring a member of the hippeus.]] Hippeis (, singular ἱππεύς, hippeus) is a Greek term for cavalry. In ancient Athenian society, after the political reforms of Solon, the hippeus was the second highest of the four social classes. It was composed of men who had at least 300 medimnoi or their equivalent as yearly income. According to the Timocratic Constitution, the average citizen had a yearly income of less than 200 medimnoi. This gave the men who made 300 medimnoi the ability to purchase and maintain a war horse during their

thumb|A lamplighter tasked with cleaning and lighting street lamps in Britain during World War I thumb|The lamplighter in Brest, Belarus (15 October 2011). A lamplighter or gaslighter is a person employed to light and maintain street lights. These included candles, oil lamps, and gas lighting.

person enslaved or sentenced to row in a galley

historical profession

thumb|A modern teamster with his truck

thumb|Colporteur during the 19th century in Brittany. Colportage is the distribution of publications, books, and religious tracts by carriers called "colporteurs" or "colporters". The term does not necessarily refer to religious book peddling.

type of infantry that is heavily armed and armoured

thumb|150px|Feather fletching – these are shield cut with barred red hen feathers and a solid white cock. Fletching is the fin-shaped aerodynamic stabilization device attached on arrows, crossbow bolts, darts, and javelins, typically made from light semi-flexible materials such as feathers or bark. Each piece of such a device is a fletch, also known as a flight or feather. A fletcher is a person who attaches fletchings to the shaft of arrows. Fletchers were traditionally associated with the Worshipful Company of Fletchers, a guild in the City of London.

thumb|Matagi hunters with Japanese black bear, 1966, [[Kamikoani, Akita]]

right|thumb|Tawaif Mah Laqa Bai singing poetry A tawaif () was a highly successful courtesan singer‚ dancer‚ and poet who catered to the nobility of the Indian subcontinent, particularly during the Mughal era. With fewer opportunities available during the British Raj, many tawaifs (known as "nautch girls" to the British) transitioned into prostitution.

infantry that rides on horseback

thumb|Queen Helen with her retinue on the way to the Shrine of Venus Cloacina, 15th century

thumb|A knocker-up in Leeuwarden, 1947 A knocker-up or knocker-upper was a member of a profession in the Netherlands, Britain, Ireland, and some other countries that started during, and lasted well into, the Industrial Revolution, when alarm clocks were neither cheap nor reliable. A knocker-up's job was to rouse sleeping people so they could get to work on time. By the 1940s and 1950s, this profession had more or less entirely died out, although it still continued in some pockets of industrial England until the early 1970s.

Naemyŏngbu (), was a category of rank in the royal court of Joseon that referred to concubines and female officials living within the palaces. It was separate from the Oemyŏngbu () category, which consisted of royal women living outside the palace.

person specifically employed to operate an elevator

thumb|French voltigeurs crossing the Danube before the [[battle of Wagram]]

historical Russian bureaucratic occupation

English monarch courtier

hermits encouraged to live in purpose-built hermitages, follies, grottoes, or rockeries on the estates of wealthy land-owners, primarily during the 18th century

thumb|right|A French cantinière in the Crimea during the Crimean War in 1855, photographed by [[Roger Fenton]]

thumb|Telegrapher, dated before 1927 from the Tropenmuseum collection A telegraphist (British English), telegrapher (American English), or telegraph operator is a person who uses a telegraph key to send and receive Morse code messages in a telegraphy system. These messages, also called telegrams, can be transmitted electronically by land lines, or wirelessly by radio.

__NOTOC__ thumb|An Amtmann in his office or Amtsstube. Reconstruction at Mildenstein Castle (administrative seat in the Amt of Leisnig)

Kungnyŏ () is a Korean term referring to women waiting on the king and other royalty in traditional Korean society. It is short for "gungjung yeogwan", which translates as "a lady officer of the royal court". Kungnyŏ includes sanggung (palace matron) and nain (assistant court ladies), both of which hold rank as officers. The term is also used more broadly to encompass women in a lower class without a rank such as musuri (lowest maids in charge of odd chores), gaksimi, sonnim, uinyeo (female physicians) as well as nain and sanggung. The term spans those from courtiers to domestic workers.

Imperial Chinese ministerial rank

historical practice