• Rodeo@lemmy.ca
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    1 year ago

    People are barfing that up a lot lately, but the only reliable source I’ve seen shows that the people who built the pyramids were being paid in bread and beer; that is, they were receiving the necessities of life, not payment.

    Giving slaves the necessities of life and calling it payment to justify the slavery is as old as … well, the pyramids at least.

    • finestnothing@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      But… That’s… What a barter society does? Ancient Egypt didn’t have currency, it was a barter-based society. You don’t have a farm or land to grow your own food? You work for someone else to get food, or resources to trade for food, drinks, shelter, medicine etc. They were also given good cuts of meat and had good barracks/quarters to live in nearby villages while working there. Workers who died were even buried in well stocked tombs near the pyramids which was a place of honor, slaves would likely be put in mass graves, unmarked graves, and/or far from the pyramids.

      What were non-slave workers (working on the pyramids or not) in ancient Egypt paid with if working for good food, drink, and shelter is only for slaves? A currency that didn’t exist? The profound pleasure of working for the pharaoh while having a farm of their own at home for food?

      • Rodeo@lemmy.ca
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        1 year ago

        They were also given good cuts of meat and had good barracks/quarters to live in nearby villages while working there.

        I’d like to see a source for that.

        Workers who died were even buried in well stocked tombs near the pyramids which was a place of honor

        Man that’s even worse than the bread and beer thing. “You’re not slaves because when you die on the job we bury you in a better hole!”

      • Madison420@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        Sure. It’s a barter society where one class holds literally all of the power.

        “It’s this deal because I’m a god!” You’re just not gunna argue with a god on earth.

        • mommykink@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          it’s a barter society where one class holds literally all the power

          You’re phrasing these like they’re contradictory statements when they’re not incompatible concepts at all.

            • finestnothing@lemmy.world
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              1 year ago

              Not at all? Yeah one class had most of the political/legal power because they were backed by who everyone believed was the incarnation of their god so it was hard to argue. Do/can you argue with the IRS (or whatever government entity collects taxes for you)? Food/resources/labor were still collected as taxes/tithes to support that class which managed their society, which is basically the same as any society that has currency.

              • Madison420@lemmy.world
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                1 year ago

                I both can and have argued against the IRS and won. The IRS accepts fact and objective reality, though the idea of pharoh in court trying to prove objectively they are God personified does make me giggle.