Comment on You can do anything
Contramuffin@lemmy.world 1 day ago
I’m not sure “expendable labor” is really the most accurate description. My understanding was that the pharoahs hired skilled artisans and craftsmen during winter seasons in exchange for food. They didn’t use slaves to build the pyramids, to my understanding
homes@piefed.world 1 day ago
to be fair, this meme is so very old (20-25 years old, possibly older), it probably predates that understanding which is only about 14 years old.
although there has long been the belief that the Ancient Egyptians couldn’t reasonably have built such incredible architectural wonders so long ago without the use of skilled laborers rather than slaves (as widely believed due to myths and legends), it wasn’t really conclusively proven until a number of archeological discoveries were made around 2011-2012, IIRC.
marcos@lemmy.world 1 day ago
Yeah, I had to check… Asterisx and Cleopatra had some dialog about how they weren’t slaves¹… Published in 1970.
I’m not sure knowledgeable people ever thought they were built by slaves.
1 - The author had some serious academic credentials.