Egyptians and Slaves...

[p_p_man]

According to what I've read:

1. The pyramids were built by thousands of slaves.
2. The River Nile only irrigated its banks to a distance of
a few hundred yards on either side, only enough to feed
the Egyptions but not the slaves.
3. The Egyptians logistically could never have imported the
amount of food to feed the slaves.

How were all those slaves fed?

 

[Fleshmachine]

Where is this thread leading. If it is one of those Egyptians could not build the pyramids things, I will no longer give it any heed. I will not participate in that kind of racism.

 

[bluntforcemama]

According to what I've read:

1. The pyramids were built by thousands of slaves.
2. The River Nile only irrigated its banks to a distance of
a few hundred yards on either side, only enough to feed
the Egyptions but not the slaves.
3. The Egyptians logistically could never have imported the
amount of food to feed the slaves.

How were all those slaves fed?

Now go read the statistics about how many DIED, and I think you'll have your answer.

 

[Weird Harold]

Originally posted by p_p_man
According to what I've read:
According to recent excavations profiled on the History Channel:

1. The pyramids were built by thousands of slaves.
The pyramids were built by free men. Egypt seems to have had form of "Universal Service" draft that provided the labor.

2. The River Nile only irrigated its banks to a distance of a few hundred yards on either side, only enough to feed the Egyptions but not the slaves.

The Nile is much like the Misissippi, at it's lower reaches, it regularly flooded a dozen miles or more to either side until mankind messed with the system.

3. The Egyptians logistically could never have imported the amount of food to feed the slaves.

How were all those slaves fed?

Aside from the fact that there were none, Ancient Egypt not only fed everyone in the Nile Delta, but exported food to nearly every country in the Near East and North Africa. They grew mostly Wheat and barley -- wheat for bread, and Barley for beer.

The myth that the great pyramids and temples were built by slaves started to fall apart a few decades ago (or more.) Archeological digs over the last five years, make it almost certain that Egyptians did not keep even household slaves in large numbers. If there were large numbers of slaves (as depicted in the Bible) they seem to have had a standard of living indistinguishable from that of free Egyptians.

 

[lavender]

 

[p_p_man]

Thanks WH...

...you were only out on one point. I read it in that book that was published in the 60s "Was God An Astronaut" by ???von??? (can't remember his name).

It was just one of those questions he asked but never answered - you've cleared that one up for me anyway. Interesting about the Egytians not having slaves.

 

[scylis]

they had slaves, they just treated them a helluva lot better than slaves were treated here in the US of A.. the didn't have the vastly huge numbers like people think they did..

 

[Weird Harold]

Re: Thanks WH...

...you were only out on one point. I read it in that book that was published in the 60s "Was God An Astronaut" by ???von??? (can't remember his name).

It was just one of those questions he asked but never answered - you've cleared that one up for me anyway. Interesting about the Egytians not having slaves.

Eric von Daniken -- Author of _Chariots Of The Gods_ in about 1962 (?) _Was God An Astronaut?_ came much later, mid-70s I think. He's written several other books about his obsession with ancient space travelers.

EVD is convinced that muscle power alone couldn't build the Pyramids, and comes up with quesstions to fit his preconveived notions.

Egypt did have slaves, just not the large numbers depicted in the Bible and thought to have built the Pyramids.

Lavender,
It took me 45 years of reading almost everything I could get my hands on to get this opinionated. I'll gladly share, but knowledge doesn't soak in if it's poured too fast.

 

[Pyper]

I'm with Weird Harold. I studied a lot of Egyptian art, and basically the Egyptians wrote everything down, right down to what they had for breakfast every morning. But there are hardly any mention of slaves in all that writing.

I also saw a program a few years ago on the History Channel, about some tombs excavated in the shadow of the pyramids. The graves belonged to the people who built the pyramids, and they weren't slaves. Those Hebrews, always trying to make stuff up to make other tribes look bad.

 

[Andra_Jenny]

don't you think Ted Turner's remarks on this subject to The Reverend Jackson were a brilliant masterstroke?

 

[BrainyBeauty]

How were all those slaves fed?

2 words: Soylent Green

I don't suppose anyone here - besides me - sees the influence/link of Moses ... err... Charlton Heston?

 

[Todd]

WEll if you wanted to fingure things out a bit you could study . . .

Shut up Todd They don't want to hear about it.

 

[Andra_Jenny]

Of course we wish to hear about it. I'm bored as hell and ready for a go at it. Bring it on.

 

[Todd]

Well it invovles pre global flood conditions that existed witha water vapor/ice canopy that surrounded the planet and the effect that it would have on the populace

 

[Andra_Jenny]

Hey yeah,
I never got an answer to that one:

The flood, God or Global Warming?

 

[Todd]

Hey yeah,
I never got an answer to that one:

The flood, God or Global Warming?

God, if it was a slow global warming don't you think that there would have been a lot more people building and boats and surviving? check out the flood legend in other cultures, generally they only speak of one family surviving. If you check out chinese or japanese writing the character for flood is a combined boat and 8 people pictograph. other folklore flood legends are indicative of 8 people.

If it was Global warming, Don't you think more than one family would of clued into what was going.

 

[Andra_Jenny]

Well, they say god works in mysterious ways and that his day is longer than ours. And why does god pay attention to days? Did he sleep? Take a union break? Please this is not terribly serious and I do not wish to offend any god or buddha. There is lighting all around me right now, and I may be paranoid, but, it could be aimed at me, so I should tome it down, eh hose?

 

[Todd]

Well, they say god works in mysterious ways and that his day is longer than ours. And why does god pay attention to days? Did he sleep? Take a union break? Please this is not terribly serious and I do not wish to offend any god or buddha. There is lighting all around me right now, and I may be paranoid, but, it could be aimed at me, so I should tome it down, eh hose?

alright to answer your thoughts in order from a finite mind trying to understand an infinite mind.

Yes Godd Works in mysterious ways.
Yes Godds' days are different than ours.
I don't think Godd needs sleep.
I think God took one break.

Genesis 2:2 And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made.
Genesis 3:3 And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made.

Oh sorry I didn't read the not serious part. Kiss and make up?

 

[Styphon]

According to what I've read:

1. The pyramids were built by thousands of slaves.
Latest historical eveidence shows they were all highly qualified freemen, and probably as few as 20,000 were in use at any one time.

2. The River Nile only irrigated its banks to a distance of a few hundred yards on either side, only enough to feed the Egyptions but not the slaves.
The Egyptians made extensive use of irrigation canals and were able to move water up a series of "steps", if need be, using the shaduf, which is still in use today. Also, in the lower regions, the flood plain was massive - check out the Nile Delta.

3. The Egyptians logistically could never have imported the amount of food to feed the slaves.
The Egyptians produced so much grain they exported it across the Mediterranian - the land was known as "The Bread Basket of Rome".

How were all those slaves fed?
See answers 1 and 3... Oh, and sorry, the "aliens" didn't do it

Styphon

 

[Styphon]

Well it invovles pre global flood conditions that existed witha water vapor/ice canopy that surrounded the planet and the effect that it would have on the populace

LMFAO

Styphon

 

[crystalhunting]

Well...The Coptic Christians of Eygpt have a tradition that the pyarimids were built before the flood{Noahs Ark story}...by the followers of Nimrod that could actually understand one another as a testament to their former leader...

so who knows?



CH

 

[Todd]

Well it invovles pre global flood conditions that existed witha water vapor/ice canopy that surrounded the planet and the effect that it would have on the populace

LMFAO

Styphon

I know most people laugh at the water vapour/ice canopy theory, but thats your perogy, laugh on

 

[Styphon]

LMFAO

Styphon

I know most people laugh at the water vapour/ice canopy theory, but thats your perogy, laugh on

Rolls on floor, laughing uproariously, holding sides in glee

Styphon

 

[TygerEyez]

Finally, a thread where I have some knowledge.

As said before, Egypt had slaves, but there weren't vast, uncountable numbers of them. And here's an interesting thought, some slaves were actually Egyptians themselves, having wronged the Pharaoh, or the Gods.

The Pyramids weren't build by them either, as someone already mentioned. Those bodies found in the tombs were actually architects, buried with the King to provide him a home in the Afterlife. There has been some research done on just how the Pyramids were built. The best theory, or the one I like to believe, was a series of pullies.

With a block on the ground, two ropes were looped around each end... actually slid under, or the block was placed on top. *shrugs* Anyways, two men would be on the ground with the block, while two other men would stand on the level just above them. Pulling together, and using the "weight-loss" pullies, it could take only four men to lift the block. But they didn't lift much. They'd get the block a foot off the ground, and more workers would place a thick wooden board beneath it. That way, the block was only lifted in small incriments each time.

Each level of the pyramid had one of these systems, so the block would travel from the ground to the top in one... series?

It's an interesting concept, and makes alot more sense than a dozen slaves trying to pull a 2000 pound block up a winding ramp. Talk about hemoroids!

 

[Closet Desire]

Oh oh oh...

...I wanna say something.

I'm afraid that most of what I've learned about anthropology and archeology came off the TV (hangs head in shame), but I did see an interesting series with some scientists who are exploring the more mundane details of how the ancients did certain things. I mean, we have this 21st century concept of what they could have done. We figure we are more advanced and that couldn't have done anything we can't do.

First one, a coffin which has been hollowed out of solid stone. Now, twenty years ago World Book would have published a sketch of a loin cloth clad worker using a bow drill and sand as an abrasive. Microscopic exams reveal that it was actually done with a high speed drill and, get this, at a speed faster than can be done today. It was absolutely precise with right angles in the corners etc.

Second one, Egyptian vases machined out of a rock that is apparently the hardest material in the area. Okay, no big trick to turn the outside of it. Narrow neck, small mouth, big bulbous bottom. Here's the rub. How the hell did they hollow it out completely? They did and not just to a few of them, but thousands of them. They're found all over the known world. A straight drill wouldn't work, even today.

I love this stuff...but I'm just an observer I'm afraid. But in analysing literature I'm often arguing that we can't fully understand a period of time because we always apply our present day context and concepts to the earlier time. Sometimes it leads us to the wrong conclusions and we are left to rely on the National Enquirer to tell us that aliens did it.

Nice going WH...I didn't know that about the Egyptian non-slaves.

Curiouser and curiouser said Alice.