”We are hungry”
May 5, 2019 7:51 AM Subscribe
“The scribe Amennakht, who also seems to have served as a kind of shop steward, negotiated with local officials for the distribution of corn to the workers but this was only a temporary solution to an immediate problem; the underlying cause of the failure in payment was never addressed.” The First Labor Strike in History
I didn’t think that “maize” was ever used to refer to other than specifically corn (as in, corn-on-the-cob-type corn).
Rather, it was my impression that the British use the word “corn” to refer to a variety of grains, but mainly the principle crop in an area, such as wheat, oats or barley.
posted by darkstar at 8:36 AM on May 5, 2019 [25 favorites]
Rather, it was my impression that the British use the word “corn” to refer to a variety of grains, but mainly the principle crop in an area, such as wheat, oats or barley.
posted by darkstar at 8:36 AM on May 5, 2019 [25 favorites]
Yes, I believe it's the opposite, corn and its diminutive kernel have a long history of broader usage in Europe, whereas the word (and plant) maize was taken by the Spanish from the Taíno.
posted by notquitemaryann at 8:49 AM on May 5, 2019 [7 favorites]
posted by notquitemaryann at 8:49 AM on May 5, 2019 [7 favorites]
Thanks for this! It's one of my favorite stories about Egypt that not many people know from popular culture. There's a general idea that the Egyptians belonged to a slavish, static culture.
I do wonder a lot about the relative levels of freedom experienced by pyramid workers. They were not slaves, as popular culture has it, but corvee labor -- agricultural workers in the off season, when the fields were underwater and could not be tended. You could argue it was a kind of WPA. But my guess is that you couldn't decide against turning up to pyramid duty. The Old Kingdom was never my specialty; I should read up on this.
Interesting fact: Ramesses III was the same king who was murdered in a palace coup organized by Tiy, one of his queens. The plotters succeeded in getting him killed, but they did not succeed in putting Tiy's son, the young prince Pentawere, on the throne. He is widely believed to be Unknown Man E, the "screaming mummy" who was buried in a ritually unclean fashion. His face made it appear to his discovers that he had been buried alive, but according to the records, he "was permitted" to take his own life, as high-status prisoners generally were.
posted by Countess Elena at 8:57 AM on May 5, 2019 [12 favorites]
I do wonder a lot about the relative levels of freedom experienced by pyramid workers. They were not slaves, as popular culture has it, but corvee labor -- agricultural workers in the off season, when the fields were underwater and could not be tended. You could argue it was a kind of WPA. But my guess is that you couldn't decide against turning up to pyramid duty. The Old Kingdom was never my specialty; I should read up on this.
Interesting fact: Ramesses III was the same king who was murdered in a palace coup organized by Tiy, one of his queens. The plotters succeeded in getting him killed, but they did not succeed in putting Tiy's son, the young prince Pentawere, on the throne. He is widely believed to be Unknown Man E, the "screaming mummy" who was buried in a ritually unclean fashion. His face made it appear to his discovers that he had been buried alive, but according to the records, he "was permitted" to take his own life, as high-status prisoners generally were.
posted by Countess Elena at 8:57 AM on May 5, 2019 [12 favorites]
* I forgot to finish the first paragraph with "which was not the case over thousands of years of a changing society."
posted by Countess Elena at 8:58 AM on May 5, 2019
posted by Countess Elena at 8:58 AM on May 5, 2019
Corn was a commonly used term for wheat in Britain arounds the 18th century. See "the Corn Laws" which controlled the importing of wheat from Europe and were repealed around the 1830s.
posted by Pseudology at 9:06 AM on May 5, 2019 [2 favorites]
posted by Pseudology at 9:06 AM on May 5, 2019 [2 favorites]
(and now I'm wondering: should the coup have succeeded? I have never read any other interpretation except that it was a palace intrigue, a scheming woman's affair. Maybe it was. But maybe it got as far as it did because the queen could hear and see disgruntled officials who were unhappy with the government under the current king -- and she had a lot of allies. It wouldn't be what you'd call revolution, but -- )
posted by Countess Elena at 9:26 AM on May 5, 2019 [4 favorites]
posted by Countess Elena at 9:26 AM on May 5, 2019 [4 favorites]
Countess Elena, that "Screaming Mummy" story is fascinating. I'm not seeing when that mummy was discovered, but I wonder if it was the inspiration for the various Mummy movies. In both the '32 original and '99 remake, Imhotep was buried alive. And I don't remember about the former, but for the latter it was punishment for killing a Pharaoh.
posted by brundlefly at 12:21 PM on May 5, 2019
posted by brundlefly at 12:21 PM on May 5, 2019
Good to know I had it backwards. Thanks!
posted by Philipschall at 12:40 PM on May 5, 2019 [1 favorite]
posted by Philipschall at 12:40 PM on May 5, 2019 [1 favorite]
In both the '32 original and '99 remake, Imhotep was buried alive. And I don't remember about the former, but for the latter it was punishment for killing a Pharaoh.
I don't want to spoil anything for people who haven't seen it, but in the '32 version he's buried alive as punishment for sacrilege.
(The '32 version was one of the first, like, five DVDs I ever owned, probably 20+ years ago. I have seen it many, many times. It's a surprisingly good movie!)
Anyway, I'm fascinated by this ancient labor history. We always tend to forget that the people living in the ancient past were, you know, complex and interesting people living in complex and interesting societies. I wonder if that view of Egyptian society as static and unchanging has something to do with the colonial context that a lot of Egyptian studies were conducted in.
posted by shapes that haunt the dusk at 3:02 PM on May 5, 2019 [8 favorites]
I don't want to spoil anything for people who haven't seen it, but in the '32 version he's buried alive as punishment for sacrilege.
(The '32 version was one of the first, like, five DVDs I ever owned, probably 20+ years ago. I have seen it many, many times. It's a surprisingly good movie!)
Anyway, I'm fascinated by this ancient labor history. We always tend to forget that the people living in the ancient past were, you know, complex and interesting people living in complex and interesting societies. I wonder if that view of Egyptian society as static and unchanging has something to do with the colonial context that a lot of Egyptian studies were conducted in.
posted by shapes that haunt the dusk at 3:02 PM on May 5, 2019 [8 favorites]
I do wish the goddess Maat and the concept were explained weller.
So, yeah. Akhenaten was clever in keeping up the Maat and Nut, isolating the sun disc to #1-tying that into Ra all the while closing down the house of Amun and Co. And the sprinkle was tradition as opposed to change. Also, from the Dynasty V, a vizier was priest of Maat, responsible for justice.
posted by clavdivs at 7:04 PM on May 5, 2019
So, yeah. Akhenaten was clever in keeping up the Maat and Nut, isolating the sun disc to #1-tying that into Ra all the while closing down the house of Amun and Co. And the sprinkle was tradition as opposed to change. Also, from the Dynasty V, a vizier was priest of Maat, responsible for justice.
posted by clavdivs at 7:04 PM on May 5, 2019
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posted by Philipschall at 8:27 AM on May 5, 2019 [2 favorites]