Egypt tombs suggest pyramids not built by slaves

Jazzy · Post by **Jazzy** » Mon Jan 11, 2010 6:33 am

CAIRO (Reuters) – New tombs found in Giza support the view that the Great Pyramids were built by free workers and not slaves, as widely believed, Egypt's chief archaeologist said on Sunday.

Films and media have long depicted slaves toiling away in the desert to build the mammoth pyramids only to meet a miserable death at the end of their efforts.

"These tombs were built beside the king's pyramid, which indicates that these people were not by any means slaves," Zahi Hawass, the chief archaeologist heading the Egyptian excavation team, said in a statement.

Story Link: Egypt tombs suggest pyramids not built by slaves - Yahoo! News

Rapunzel · Post by **Rapunzel** » Mon Jan 11, 2010 10:35 am

That idea is straight from the big blockbuster Hollywood movies.

If you read any books on Egyptology they will tell you that most of the builders were local farmers who were paid to work on the pyramids. They generally worked from June to September during the annual inundation of the Nile.

The heavy summer rains over the Ethiopian highlands, caused the different tributaries to swell. All of these tributaries met in the Nile which flooded its banks annually. The Egyptians believed this was a blessing from the god Hapi as it brought great fertility to their land.

So pyramid building was an excellent way to supplement their income when their fields were underwater for several months of the year.

Snowfire · Post by **Snowfire** » Mon Jan 11, 2010 11:40 am

Rapunzel;1281295 wrote: That idea is straight from the big blockbuster Hollywood movies.

If you read any books on Egyptology they will tell you that most of the builders were local farmers who were paid to work on the pyramids. They generally worked from June to September during the annual inundation of the Nile.

The heavy summer rains over the Ethiopian highlands, caused the different tributaries to swell. All of these tributaries met in the Nile which flooded its banks annually. The Egyptians believed this was a blessing from the god Hapi as it brought great fertility to their land.

So pyramid building was an excellent way to supplement their income when their fields were underwater for several months of the year.

I agree. It's been known for some time that they were well fed and well looked after. Such work could never have been performed by slaves who were whipped and starved. As you say, Hollywood's artistic licence

fuzzywuzzy · Post by **fuzzywuzzy** » Mon Jan 11, 2010 7:19 pm

what about the film 55 days in Peking with John Wayne in it......About the boxer uprising.............God we laughed!!!!!!

Hollywood = poetic lisence in the extreme:wah:

were built by free workers and not slaves, as widely believed,

Ummm question....believed by whom?

Nomad · Post by **Nomad** » Sun Jan 17, 2010 10:53 pm

Id like to see Egypt step into the 21st century by bull dozing the pyramids and those damned sphinxes and maybe build some nice modern condos with swimming pools because who the hell wants to live in a desert without a swimming pool?

Post by **spot** » Mon Jan 18, 2010 1:29 am

Ian;1283057 wrote: There is a correlation between the word worker and worship

A correlation in what non-etymological sense?

The Oxford English Dictionary derives "work" from various Scandinavian languages, "to do", and "worship" from the Medieval English "worth" as in having value.

Post by **spot** » Mon Jan 18, 2010 3:53 am

You can't just make things up because you like the idea.

Nomad · Post by **Nomad** » Mon Jan 18, 2010 8:21 am

spot;1283067 wrote: You can't just make things up because you like the idea.

au contraire mon fraire

Post by **spot** » Mon Jan 18, 2010 9:14 am

Nomad;1283116 wrote: au contraire mon fraire

In the good old days you'd have been flogged at the village pump and held in the stocks all day. Even now it's not out of the question.

Saint_ · Post by **Saint_** » Mon Jan 18, 2010 11:29 am

I thought this discovery was fascinating, but I like the idea of men and women toiling for lifetimes and generations to build a proud monument against the tides of time.

It's better than a slave force dying and suffering for a tyrant.:-3

Post by **spot** » Mon Jan 18, 2010 11:39 am

I suspect they're discussing the construction teams. I'd be amazed if the quarries weren't employing slave and convict labour, that was commonplace in the ancient world. The Greeks and Romans didn't bat an eyelid over it. The construction teams, on the other hand, were craftsmen.

Saint_ · Post by **Saint_** » Mon Jan 18, 2010 11:41 am

You mean the educated and the rich got the cushy jobs and the poor got to slave in the rock pits?

Well, thank goodness things have changed since then!:wah:

AMMO · Post by **AMMO** » Mon Jan 18, 2010 12:50 pm

What about this 'slight' oversight that the things aren't even man made.

They tried and failed abyssmally in the past,proving no man could create a pyramid then or now.

Snowfire · Post by **Snowfire** » Mon Jan 18, 2010 12:55 pm

AMMO;1283205 wrote: What about this 'slight' oversight that the things aren't even man made.

They tried and failed abyssmally in the past,proving no man could create a pyramid then or now.

Here we go again. Who has "proven" that the pyramids weren't man made. Apart from you, that is. There are lots of myths and legends. A few preposterous notions of alien intervention but no proof that I know of.

I'm all ears

Rapunzel · Post by **Rapunzel** » Tue Jan 19, 2010 1:14 pm

Saint_;1283175 wrote: I like the idea of men and women toiling for lifetimes and generations to build a proud monument against the tides of time.

I think this whenever I see one of England's great cathedrals.

People spent their whole lives carving the intricate stonework for a wondrous cathedral which could take a hundred or more years to build and which would stand for generations.

Why can't we afford to pay for such intricate craftsmanship and dedication today?

fuzzywuzzy · Post by **fuzzywuzzy** » Tue Jan 19, 2010 5:23 pm

What facinates me is the building practices of both the Egyptians and the Chinese.

Nomad · Post by **Nomad** » Tue Jan 19, 2010 7:39 pm

Rapunzel;1283503 wrote:

Why can't we afford to pay for such intricate craftsmanship and dedication today?

Different but remarkable none the less. At least interesting.

Attached files

Clodhopper · Post by **Clodhopper** » Tue Jan 19, 2010 7:41 pm

I think this whenever I see one of England's great cathedrals.

People spent their whole lives carving the intricate stonework for a wondrous cathedral which could take a hundred or more years to build and which would stand for generations.

Why can't we afford to pay for such intricate craftsmanship and dedication today?

Salisbury. :-4:-4:-4:-4

Clodhopper · Post by **Clodhopper** » Tue Jan 19, 2010 7:42 pm

Oh - we did. Liverpool.

Post by **jones jones** » Wed Aug 17, 2011 6:54 am

Archaeologist have been excavating in Egypt for the last 200 years. No single artifact, no single inscription or anything else has been found until today anywhere to predate the Egyptian civilization more than 5000 years ago.

So around 3000 BC Egypt suddenly appeared as a unified state with absolutely no history at all. Within less than 400 years they miraculously acquired the means to construct a pyramid 756 feet square and 481 feet high using 2,300,000 dressed blocks averaging 2.5 tons each.

Not only that but they were also able to construct the most accurately aligned structure in existence which faces true north with only 3/60th of a degree of error. Oh and they were also able to align this structure to a perfect match of a sky-ground image circa 10,500 BC!

Wow … far out man!

Post by **spot** » Wed Aug 17, 2011 7:11 am

And oddly enough, had I been there I could have told them exactly how to do it. It's simple enough once you've worked it out. And they did, as you say, have several hundred years sat round in their huts to think it through before they hewed their first block.

chonsigirl · Post by **chonsigirl** » Wed Aug 17, 2011 7:27 am

Egyptian “Scorpion King” Made Medicine From Herbs & Booze 5k Years Ago | 80beats | Discover Magazine

Ghee, if a civilization figured out beer about 5,000 years ago, they must have been keeping it a secret for quite awhile.......

YZGI · Post by **YZGI** » Wed Aug 17, 2011 8:48 am

Think of what we could accomplish if we still had no T.V.?

Post by **Oscar Namechange** » Wed Aug 17, 2011 11:53 am

YZGI;1365779 wrote: Think of what we could accomplish if we still had no T.V.?
True but there Is no way my husband Is going to start whittling again.

Post by **spot** » Wed Aug 17, 2011 12:04 pm

oscar;1365802 wrote: True but there Is no way my husband Is going to start whittling again.

Blimey, that's a new word for it.

Post by **Oscar Namechange** » Wed Aug 17, 2011 12:46 pm

spot;1365804 wrote: Blimey, that's a new word for it. That comment possesses all the Double Entendre qualities of an On The Buses episode whilst lacking the social etiquette of Steptoe.

larrygn · Post by **larrygn** » Mon Nov 07, 2011 10:44 am

Jazzy;1281235 wrote: CAIRO (Reuters) – New tombs found in Giza support the view that the Great Pyramids were built by free workers and not slaves, as widely believed, Egypt's chief archaeologist said on Sunday.

Films and media have long depicted slaves toiling away in the desert to build the mammoth pyramids only to meet a miserable death at the end of their efforts.

"These tombs were built beside the king's pyramid, which indicates that these people were not by any means slaves," Zahi Hawass, the chief archaeologist heading the Egyptian excavation team, said in a statement.

Story Link: Egypt tombs suggest pyramids not built by slaves - Yahoo! News

I find it hard to believe that facts known for 50 years should qualify for " news", but they are definitely "history".

Post by **jones jones** » Mon Nov 07, 2011 12:28 pm

larrygn;1374837 wrote: I find it hard to believe that facts known for 50 years should qualify for " news", but they are definitely "history".

Wow ... that's like far out man!

I thought that every intelligent earthling knew that the pyramids were built by visitors from another galaxy!

Like we built this city on rock 'n roll!! :guitarist:guitarist:guitarist