• Oxysis/Oxy@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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    9 days ago

    I mean the artisans who worked on the pyramids were payed quite well. They even got buried nearby when they eventually passed away.

    And no, slaves were not the ones building a the pyramids.

      • cattywampas@midwest.social
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        9 days ago

        This is speculation but I’d bet there was some amount of less-than-voluntary aspect to the construction of at least some of the pyramids. As in “we’ll pay you, but this is your job for the next 30 years while you’re not harvesting.”

        • shneancy@lemmy.world
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          9 days ago

          to be fair, there was fuck all to do inbetween harvests. if someone came up to me as i’m bored out of my mind watching grains grow and said “hey wanna help build a huge fucking triangle? the pharaoh pays well” i’d say yes in a heartbeat. i doubt they had trouble finding workers

    • pirateKaiser@sh.itjust.works
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      9 days ago

      I honestly forget that frequently. My general attitude when any type of believer says something I consider obvious bullshit is to spend a couple of seconds thinking we’re in on a pretend joke until it hits me.

    • outhouseperilous@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      9 days ago

      In my experience the overwhelming maj{rity of believers don’t. Theyll say they do and argue and gwt offended, bit its just an identity/social thing to them.

      It’s kinda sad,

  • Lovable Sidekick@lemmy.world
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    9 days ago

    Somebody once advanced the theory that the pyramids may have been public works projects, to keep the whole economy from collapsing. The pharaohs had accumulated so much of the available wealth, they spent some of it to put people to work. I think that’s an interesting speculation.

    • RQG@lemmy.world
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      9 days ago

      So trickle down eventually works. You just have to let them get to godhood first. Got it.

      Capitalism probably

    • OfCourseNot@fedia.io
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      9 days ago

      ‘Paid’. When some egyptaboo tells you that “there weren’t slaves in Egypt at this time”, remember the ‘workers’ were paid in housing, bread, and beer. And were kinda bound by their duty to the God-Pharaoh. Totally not slavery!

      Tho now thinking of it it’s not like my wage stretches farther than that either…

      Edit: spelling and punctuation are hard.

      • Natanox@discuss.tchncs.de
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        9 days ago

        remember the ‘workers’ were paid in housing, bread, and beer.

        That’s more than many people will get today from a single job. 💀

          • Natanox@discuss.tchncs.de
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            8 days ago

            I am. Feel free to talk with people about this who live in old vehicles, on a friends’ couch or literally on the streets despite having a “job”. Or those who only have proper housing and food by working two or more jobs.

                • Natanox@discuss.tchncs.de
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                  7 days ago

                  The only reason we don’t have this shit in more rich countries often is that people receive welfare despite working a full-time job because it doesn’t pay properly. In Germany we call this “aufstocken”. Basically another way to create wage slavery and redirect money from the state towards the private sector. The US is just very obvious and very loud about everything. Other third world countries indeed don’t have it any better.

      • HikingVet@lemmy.ca
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        9 days ago

        We have the receipts and the village for the artisans. While it was difficult work they were well taken care of and well compensated.

          • HikingVet@lemmy.ca
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            9 days ago

            They have the receipts for their incomes and weren’t listed as slaves by the the Egyptian state at the time.

            They weren’t forced they were hired.

            • SchmidtGenetics@lemmy.world
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              9 days ago

              That’s a distinction without a difference.

              Slaves were bought as well, they have receipts as well, it’s just a way to make it “legal”. Even though the end purpose is the same.

              Just because you’re paid and have a room, doesn’t remove the forced aspect of it, do you think they were free to say no and be able to do something else?

                • SchmidtGenetics@lemmy.world
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                  9 days ago

                  To make it not seem like slavery and give them more motivation.

                  Oh hey, yeah you’re totally not slaves, you can buy your freedom in 25 years, but how many make it that far as well.

                  Why not pay slaves, the money is all yours and comes right back. So why not in that situation?

                  Were they free to say no and do something else? You didn’t answer this question.

                • PugJesus@lemmy.world
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                  8 days ago

                  Why would you pay slaves?

                  Slaves in most of history receive payment - and considering that the payment in this discussion is in bread and beer…?

      • VerilyFemme@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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        9 days ago

        I wonder if, because that’s how most of the world got things done for a little bit, we retroactively apply slavery as the only solution to how the ancients got stuff done?

        • HikingVet@lemmy.ca
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          9 days ago

          Thats only part of the answer. There were slves in Egypt, everyone had them. They just weren’t the labour pool for the pyramids as all the recently uncovered (last couple of decades) records indicate.

    • then_three_more@lemmy.world
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      9 days ago

      Nope, well paid workers who got vacation time and sick pay for such horrible conditions "stung by scorpion” (probably a metaphor for hangover), “bleeding wife” (wife on her period).

  • Lucky_777@lemmy.world
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    9 days ago

    Glory and worship is equally addictive as profit. The whole point was to have a badass setup in the afterlife. So you could consider this “profit”

      • UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world
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        9 days ago

        The democracy +capitalism combo is just the least worst setup we figured out so far.

        That’s what the state propagandists tell us, anyway.

      • balderdash@lemmy.zip
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        9 days ago

        The global south would disagree with you.

        Its working out pretty well for the wealthy in colonialist countries though.

        • IrateAnteater@sh.itjust.works
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          9 days ago

          Why does it sound like you think “least worst” is synonymous with “good”? And you are also combining your opinion of the type of system with specific implementations of it. The two are related, but separate. For example, an autocrat can be a fantastic leader, and overall great for their country and everyone in it. That doesn’t mean an autocratic government is a good system in the general sense.

          • balderdash@lemmy.zip
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            9 days ago

            By what metric is capitalism the “least worst” system? Most of the people who defend capitalism have to sell their labor and own zero capital. The result is a two-tiered system where the obscenely wealthy exist right next to a vast majority who don’t have enough savings to survive a minor emergency. This is the situation in rich countries. The ongoing exploitation throughout so-called “third-world” capitalist countries also speaks against capitalism.

            Moreover, if socialism is such a bad system, why did America fight tooth and nail to stop it? Diplomatic isolation, trade embargos, propaganda, political assassinations. It is because socialism actually threatens the profits of the wealthy. The west can’t exploit the land, labor, and resources of nations that place the workers in charge of their own workplaces. Maybe if the most powerful country in the history of the world wasn’t working against it the system could prove its worth.

      • chuckleslord@lemmy.world
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        9 days ago

        All of the democratic socialist countries would like a word. Unfortunately, the CIA already killed them all.

        Edit: To clarify, capitalism + democracy goes out of its way to fuck any other burgeoning system from getting its legs. So, I don’t think it’s fair to state “it’s the least worst”.

  • NoneOfUrBusiness@fedia.io
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    9 days ago

    I mean the pyramids were wholly improductive multi-decade undertakings, so that’s not making the point you think it’s making.