The Pyramids
Nov. 30th, 2016 11:35 amwere not built by slaves. Stop that. Stop spreading this myth right now, it's been debunked. Here. Here are some links.
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/ancient/who-built-the-pyramids.html
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/03/080328104302.htm
http://www.usnews.com/science/articles/2010/01/12/egypt-new-find-shows-slaves-didnt-build-pyramids
Most of those within the field acknowledge the new evidence--because that's how knowledge works. You find new evidence, a lot of it, that contradicts what you knew, so you revise your conception of how the world works.
They found written documents, talking about the people working there. Overseers were full-time-it was a job. Then there were two other classes of workers. The first is a respected 'builder job' group, where they were treated with honor and given better tombs than your average citizen. The other is a group of citizens opting to pay taxes in the form of labor, rather than through contributing food to the granaries, etc.
And no, it wasn't torture to work on the pyramids. Hard work, yes. But they were paid well in food and beer (better than they could do on their own being a farmer). They weren't forced to work during important times of the year for crops. If they believed their religion, they were actually doing themselves a service as well. After death, the passage to the afterlife was treacherous and full of mishaps. They could help their Pharaoh safely make it through to the other side through the pyramids and what was placed in them. In return, once they died the Pharaoh could help them safely make the journey. That's why tomb robbers were considered so horrible-they were not only depriving the Pharaoh of what he needed to continue to live safely on the other side, they were also jeopardizing so many other lives (souls, I'll say with the caveat that the Egyptian concept of the soul was much different than our own). That's why the Ancient Egyptians put traps, such as the rock acid traps and confusing false passageways--to protect their Pharaoh, to protect themselves.
That's not to say that there weren't bad Pharaohs. Bad Pharaohs existed. But on the whole, they were actually civilized, despite how we try to undermine that.
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/ancient/who-built-the-pyramids.html
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/03/080328104302.htm
http://www.usnews.com/science/articles/2010/01/12/egypt-new-find-shows-slaves-didnt-build-pyramids
Most of those within the field acknowledge the new evidence--because that's how knowledge works. You find new evidence, a lot of it, that contradicts what you knew, so you revise your conception of how the world works.
They found written documents, talking about the people working there. Overseers were full-time-it was a job. Then there were two other classes of workers. The first is a respected 'builder job' group, where they were treated with honor and given better tombs than your average citizen. The other is a group of citizens opting to pay taxes in the form of labor, rather than through contributing food to the granaries, etc.
And no, it wasn't torture to work on the pyramids. Hard work, yes. But they were paid well in food and beer (better than they could do on their own being a farmer). They weren't forced to work during important times of the year for crops. If they believed their religion, they were actually doing themselves a service as well. After death, the passage to the afterlife was treacherous and full of mishaps. They could help their Pharaoh safely make it through to the other side through the pyramids and what was placed in them. In return, once they died the Pharaoh could help them safely make the journey. That's why tomb robbers were considered so horrible-they were not only depriving the Pharaoh of what he needed to continue to live safely on the other side, they were also jeopardizing so many other lives (souls, I'll say with the caveat that the Egyptian concept of the soul was much different than our own). That's why the Ancient Egyptians put traps, such as the rock acid traps and confusing false passageways--to protect their Pharaoh, to protect themselves.
That's not to say that there weren't bad Pharaohs. Bad Pharaohs existed. But on the whole, they were actually civilized, despite how we try to undermine that.