Egypt Tombs Suggest Pyramids Not Built by Slaves
January 10, 2010 5:11 PM Subscribe
Egypt Tombs Suggest Pyramids Not Built by Slaves 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 [Zahi Hawass] said on Sunday.
This post was deleted for the following reason: poster's request -- jessamyn
As a kid we were always taught that slaves built the pyramids, but I thought that this has been dispelled and proven otherwise in recent years.
posted by Slack-a-gogo at 5:15 PM on January 10, 2010
posted by Slack-a-gogo at 5:15 PM on January 10, 2010
This is the first I've heard of it. Even if this is bound to get deleted, thanks for teaching me something new.
posted by mccarty.tim at 5:17 PM on January 10, 2010
posted by mccarty.tim at 5:17 PM on January 10, 2010
Yeah, I've heard this for a few years. Although Googling around a bit makes it clear that aliens actually built them, duh...
posted by Huck500 at 5:24 PM on January 10, 2010 [1 favorite]
posted by Huck500 at 5:24 PM on January 10, 2010 [1 favorite]
Old news is new news if you have never heard it before. Carry on.
By the way, there was an interesting article on Zahi Hawass last year in the The New Yorker.. Bit of showman, really.
posted by IndigoJones at 5:25 PM on January 10, 2010
By the way, there was an interesting article on Zahi Hawass last year in the The New Yorker.. Bit of showman, really.
posted by IndigoJones at 5:25 PM on January 10, 2010
Yeah, I think this was on one of those BBC-ish "Walking With Pyramids" or whatever it was called a few years ago. Still cool, though.
posted by DU at 5:32 PM on January 10, 2010
posted by DU at 5:32 PM on January 10, 2010
Yeah ok, but I'm more interested in HOW they were built. That's the elusive question.
posted by Liquidwolf at 5:33 PM on January 10, 2010
posted by Liquidwolf at 5:33 PM on January 10, 2010
Fuck. There goes Passover.
posted by Astro Zombie at 5:34 PM on January 10, 2010 [2 favorites]
posted by Astro Zombie at 5:34 PM on January 10, 2010 [2 favorites]
They weren't slaves! They were participants in an exciting timeshare opportunity wherein their backbreaking labor was exchanged for two weeks a year in the afterlife of their choice! And whether they decided to accept or not, they all received a free beating! How could they lose?
I heard they were built with wind power
posted by infinitewindow at 5:44 PM on January 10, 2010 [1 favorite]
I heard they were built with wind power
posted by infinitewindow at 5:44 PM on January 10, 2010 [1 favorite]
This is not news. At all. And it's hardly the 'discovery' of Zahi Hawass. An archaeology group called AERA has been excavating the workers' town for many years.
posted by grounded at 5:46 PM on January 10, 2010 [1 favorite]
posted by grounded at 5:46 PM on January 10, 2010 [1 favorite]
The way I heard it, most of the labor was provided by farmers who worked during the non-growing season. That's what David Macaulay said in his book "Pyramid", which came out in 1982. (It also shows exactly how the pyramids were built.
posted by Chocolate Pickle at 5:47 PM on January 10, 2010
posted by Chocolate Pickle at 5:47 PM on January 10, 2010
I thought this was common knowledge since everyone knows it was aliens that did it.
posted by Kraftmatic Adjustable Cheese at 5:51 PM on January 10, 2010
posted by Kraftmatic Adjustable Cheese at 5:51 PM on January 10, 2010
Zawi Hawass has also been pushing hard to have European-held (or, more accurately seized) Egyptian artifacts repatriated to Egypt, including the Rosetta Stone at the British Museum and a bust of Queen Nefertiti at the Ägyptisches Museum Berlin.
posted by blucevalo at 5:55 PM on January 10, 2010
posted by blucevalo at 5:55 PM on January 10, 2010
I thought this was common knowledge since everyone knows it was aliens that did it.
While Dr. Daniel Jackson's work does show that Aliens constructed the pyramids, it was still human servants who did the grunt work.
posted by Atreides at 6:04 PM on January 10, 2010 [2 favorites]
While Dr. Daniel Jackson's work does show that Aliens constructed the pyramids, it was still human servants who did the grunt work.
posted by Atreides at 6:04 PM on January 10, 2010 [2 favorites]
Yup. Nothing terribly new here, defenestration, I'm afraid - but it is a useful reminder.
More controversially, as Astro Zombie has suggested, there is no archeological evidence that the Jews were ever held in captivity as slaves in Egypt - so no Moses, no Passover, no parting of the Red Sea, no wandering the desert for 40 years, etc... which is possibly one of the reasons that "Pharaoh" is anonymous in Exodus.
It is the nature of every culture to create its own mythic beginning, and associating their ancestors with the creation of treasure-houses in Egypt and eventual intervention and release from bondage by God appears likely to have been an epic historical back-story created by the early Israelites.
But your your original point remains - I had a Reform friend who was absolutely taught that Jews built the pyramids, and who would not disabuse herself of the notion until she saw the pyramids for herself.
posted by Bora Horza Gobuchul at 6:10 PM on January 10, 2010 [1 favorite]
More controversially, as Astro Zombie has suggested, there is no archeological evidence that the Jews were ever held in captivity as slaves in Egypt - so no Moses, no Passover, no parting of the Red Sea, no wandering the desert for 40 years, etc... which is possibly one of the reasons that "Pharaoh" is anonymous in Exodus.
It is the nature of every culture to create its own mythic beginning, and associating their ancestors with the creation of treasure-houses in Egypt and eventual intervention and release from bondage by God appears likely to have been an epic historical back-story created by the early Israelites.
But your your original point remains - I had a Reform friend who was absolutely taught that Jews built the pyramids, and who would not disabuse herself of the notion until she saw the pyramids for herself.
posted by Bora Horza Gobuchul at 6:10 PM on January 10, 2010 [1 favorite]
Yeah ok, but I'm more interested in HOW they were built. That's the elusive question.
It's not an elusive question at all. Is there a joke here I'm missing?
Also, yeah, Zahi Hawass is the king of taking credit for "exciting new discoveries" that are actually the relatively long-standing consensus of experts.
posted by Sidhedevil at 6:13 PM on January 10, 2010
It's not an elusive question at all. Is there a joke here I'm missing?
Also, yeah, Zahi Hawass is the king of taking credit for "exciting new discoveries" that are actually the relatively long-standing consensus of experts.
posted by Sidhedevil at 6:13 PM on January 10, 2010
i have known that it was built with free labour for about 10 years...i wonder, is zahi hawass just realising this, or is he making it more widely known?
posted by przxqgl at 6:14 PM on January 10, 2010
posted by przxqgl at 6:14 PM on January 10, 2010
My rabbi told me that the Hebrews built the pyramids as slaves but they were pissed because they had to work on Saturdays, their holy day, so they left out windows to spite the Egyptians.
posted by Postroad at 6:21 PM on January 10, 2010
posted by Postroad at 6:21 PM on January 10, 2010
So, what, Holocaust Deniers ran out of material so they're going further back now?
posted by stevil at 6:24 PM on January 10, 2010
posted by stevil at 6:24 PM on January 10, 2010
Yeah ok, but I'm more interested in HOW they were built. That's the elusive question.
The PBS series Nova did an episode called "This Old Pyramid." While they didn't exactly discover the magic formula (no one has yet), the show makes it clear that building pyramids was probably no different than building anything else: essentially, it was a bunch of guys standing around arguing about how their way was the right way.
posted by grounded at 6:35 PM on January 10, 2010
The PBS series Nova did an episode called "This Old Pyramid." While they didn't exactly discover the magic formula (no one has yet), the show makes it clear that building pyramids was probably no different than building anything else: essentially, it was a bunch of guys standing around arguing about how their way was the right way.
posted by grounded at 6:35 PM on January 10, 2010
Hmm, now that I'm reading some of these abc.go.com comments, people are claiming that this has been known for quite a while.
Looks like the real story here is that they've found more tombs:
Press Release - New Tombs Found at Giza
"A collection of tombs that belong to workers who built Khufu’s pyramid has been discovered in the area of the workmen’s tombs on the Giza plateau, Culture Minister Farouk Hosni announced. [...] 'This is the first time to uncover tombs like the ones that were found during the 1990’s, which belong to the late 4th and 5th Dynasties (2649-2374 BC),' asserted Hawass."
posted by effbot at 6:58 PM on January 10, 2010
Looks like the real story here is that they've found more tombs:
Press Release - New Tombs Found at Giza
"A collection of tombs that belong to workers who built Khufu’s pyramid has been discovered in the area of the workmen’s tombs on the Giza plateau, Culture Minister Farouk Hosni announced. [...] 'This is the first time to uncover tombs like the ones that were found during the 1990’s, which belong to the late 4th and 5th Dynasties (2649-2374 BC),' asserted Hawass."
posted by effbot at 6:58 PM on January 10, 2010
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If that's true, forgive my ignorance and feel free to delete this.
posted by defenestration at 5:13 PM on January 10, 2010