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[-] Nomecks@lemmy.ca 3 points 6 days ago

Ancient superyacht

[-] oxysis 92 points 1 week 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.

[-] atomicbocks@sh.itjust.works 27 points 1 week ago

From what I have seen the newest consensus seems to be that they were essentially a massive jobs program.

[-] cattywampas@midwest.social 25 points 1 week 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 27 points 1 week 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

[-] InnerScientist@lemmy.world 22 points 1 week ago

Should have just called it the pyramid scheme.

[-] VinesNFluff@pawb.social 75 points 1 week ago

The ROI was eternal life

Do people just forget religion exists and believers take it fully seriously?

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,

[-] user_name@lemmy.world 34 points 1 week ago

Workers were paid. More interesting to ask why they built the pyramids.

[-] OfCourseNot@fedia.io 14 points 1 week 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 10 points 1 week ago

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

That's more than many people will get today from a single job. đź’€

[-] samus12345@sh.itjust.works 31 points 1 week ago
[-] AreaKode@lemmy.world 20 points 1 week ago
[-] Dadifer@lemmy.world 13 points 1 week ago
[-] iAmTheTot@sh.itjust.works 21 points 1 week ago

I believe the most recent understanding is that the builders would have been paid, actually.

[-] HikingVet@lemmy.ca 15 points 1 week 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.

[-] SchmidtGenetics@lemmy.world 3 points 1 week ago

So are/were a lot of slaves.

Being forced to do something with room and board is just slavery with a justification.

[-] HikingVet@lemmy.ca 6 points 1 week 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 3 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week 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?

[-] HikingVet@lemmy.ca 3 points 1 week ago
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[-] VerilyFemme 6 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week 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 5 points 1 week 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.

[-] original_charles@lemmy.world 10 points 1 week ago

The vast majority of people who built the pyramids were paid laborers.

Source

[-] then_three_more@lemmy.world 3 points 1 week 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).

[-] sunbrrnslapper@lemmy.world 13 points 1 week ago

The ROI was outstanding if it facilitated their journey to a good afterlife well.

[-] wabafee@lemmy.world 12 points 1 week ago
[-] pelespirit@sh.itjust.works 11 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

It was a public works project, just like government jobs, infrastructure, and the military are for the US.

[-] Lucky_777@lemmy.world 11 points 1 week 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"

[-] balderdash9@lemmy.zip 10 points 1 week ago

In other words, capitalism is in no way necessary for human civilization.

[-] IrateAnteater@sh.itjust.works 14 points 1 week ago

Of course it's not necessary. The democracy +capitalism combo is just the least worst setup we figured out so far.

[-] UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world 14 points 1 week 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.

[-] balderdash9@lemmy.zip 7 points 1 week ago

The global south would disagree with you.

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

[-] IrateAnteater@sh.itjust.works 6 points 1 week 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.

[-] balderdash9@lemmy.zip 3 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week 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.

[-] MonkderVierte@lemmy.zip 10 points 1 week ago
[-] NoneOfUrBusiness@fedia.io 9 points 1 week ago

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

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[-] someguy3@lemmy.world 9 points 1 week ago

Motive was someone's huge fucking ego to be remembered forever.

[-] cRazi_man@europe.pub 9 points 1 week ago

Whips. Lots of whips and middle managers.

[-] UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world 10 points 1 week ago

Were the Egyptian pyramids built by slaves?

The labourers would have been enticed by the mix of high-quality food and the opportunity to work on such a prestigious project. Today, many of the highly experienced archaeological workmen at the pyramids come from the same region, though they are paid in hard currency, rather than prime beef and accolades.

The Pharaohs were large plantation owners with enormous surplus foodstuffs, including livestock and garlic (which was highly prized for its medicinal value). And the workers were, in many ways, members of an enormous enthusiastic cult community that rewarded the construction of these mega-projects both economically and socially.

So, not all that far off from capitalism in the modern sense.

[-] cRazi_man@europe.pub 4 points 1 week ago

"Capitalism in the modern sense"

You mean the wealth inequality, gig economy, being paid below a fair living wage, and unaffordable rent/bills keeping people in jobs they hate and aren't fit for?

Sounds more like slavery now than what the ancient Egyptians had. Sign me up to build the next pyramid.

[-] plantfanatic@sh.itjust.works 3 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

I mean at the same time

Ancient Egyptians were able to sell themselves and children into slavery in a form of bonded labor. Self-sale into servitude was not always a choice made by the individuals' free will, but rather a result of individuals who were unable to pay off their debts.[

Several departments in the Ancient Egyptian government were able to draft workers from the general population to work for the state with a corvée labor system. The laborers were conscripted for projects such as military expeditions, mining and quarrying, and construction projects for the state. These slaves were paid a wage, depending on their skill level and social status for their work

They used slaves for everything and paid them, so having a paid receipt is a weird distinction to try and make something less worse than it was.

[-] MyDarkestTimeline01@ani.social 8 points 1 week ago

It's how the labour caste paid their taxes

[-] SippyCup@feddit.nl 9 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

In medieval times that's certainly true. Egyptian laborers were paid. Generally in food and housing, as coinage wouldn't be introduced for quite some time. Especially skilled laborers were sometimes given land. Egypt had a very routinized farming season and most laborers were farmers with nothing to farm in the off season.

Skilled stone masons could kinda go wherever so locking them in to work with taxes was a great way to get them to leave.

Fun fact, they had a daily meal of a particularly thick beer that had chunks of bread in it. And one time they went on strike when they ran out of wigs.

[-] omgboom@lemmy.dbzer0.com 6 points 1 week ago
[-] Battle_Masker 4 points 1 week ago

It's real estate. They were playing the long game

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this post was submitted on 16 Jul 2025
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