• hungryphrog@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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    1 month ago

    I’m begging people to actually educate themselves on how the pyramids were built. They were built by paid workers, but then later, the Greeks saw them and assumed they were built by slaves because that’s what the Ancient Greek did with their building projects.

    • Linkerbaan@lemmy.world
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      1 month ago

      Oh you’re right. Did a quick google search and apparently the Greeks just thought up the slavery thing. Not sure why that narrative was still taught in school. Sequel meme

    • WoodScientist@lemmy.world
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      1 month ago

      The claims that they were built by the slaves or voluntary labor are both wrong. They were built by levied labor. Think a military draft, but you’re performing general labor for the state instead of fighting. Yes, those on the work gangs were fed, housed, and paid while there. But they weren’t building pyramids of their own free will either. It was still conscripted and forced labor. After their term of service, the workers got to go home. But it was still forced labor.

      • m0darn@lemmy.ca
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        1 month ago

        That’s pretty much my understanding too, but I’d like to point out that conscripted labor is pretty analogous to a tax. My contemplation on the subject:

        I think equitable taxes are good when the revenue is used for things that benefit society.

        I don’t know how equitably the labour was conscripted.

        I don’t think enormous pyramids are good for society, but on the other hand I don’t know how ancient Egyptian workers would have felt about the topic.

        I suspect that the Pharoahs weren’t very concerned about how the workers felt about the topic.