this post was submitted on 16 Jul 2025
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[–] MonkderVierte@lemmy.zip 3 points 56 minutes ago
[–] loomy@lemy.lol 17 points 13 hours ago (1 children)

tourtue: a more direct version of capitalism

[–] Gold_E_Lox@lemmy.dbzer0.com 11 points 5 hours ago

they were actually paid labourers, the slave thing is a victorian invention i believe

[–] LovableSidekick@lemmy.world 26 points 15 hours ago* (last edited 15 hours ago) (1 children)

Somebody once advanced the theory that the pyramids may have been public works projects, to keep the whole economy from collapsing. The pharaohs had accumulated so much of the available wealth, they spent some of it to put people to work. I think that's an interesting speculation.

[–] RQG@lemmy.world 9 points 6 hours ago

So trickle down eventually works. You just have to let them get to godhood first. Got it.

Capitalism probably

[–] VinesNFluff@pawb.social 60 points 18 hours ago (2 children)

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,

[–] pirateKaiser@sh.itjust.works 11 points 15 hours ago

I honestly forget that frequently. My general attitude when any type of believer says something I consider obvious bullshit is to spend a couple of seconds thinking we're in on a pretend joke until it hits me.

[–] oxysis@lemmy.blahaj.zone 75 points 20 hours ago (2 children)

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 16 points 17 hours ago (2 children)

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

[–] InnerScientist@lemmy.world 12 points 15 hours ago

Should have just called it the pyramid scheme.

[–] cattywampas@midwest.social 18 points 17 hours ago (1 children)

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 13 points 16 hours 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

[–] TheBat@lemmy.world 8 points 16 hours ago
[–] samus12345@sh.itjust.works 30 points 17 hours ago
[–] user_name@lemmy.world 30 points 19 hours ago (2 children)

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

[–] OfCourseNot@fedia.io 10 points 14 hours ago (1 children)

'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 6 points 3 hours ago

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

That's more than many people will get today from a single job. 💀

[–] Bronzebeard@lemmy.zip 5 points 17 hours ago

🖐️Aliens🤚

[–] wabafee@lemmy.world 11 points 17 hours ago
[–] AreaKode@lemmy.world 20 points 20 hours ago
[–] someguy3@lemmy.world 6 points 17 hours ago

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

[–] sunbrrnslapper@lemmy.world 12 points 20 hours ago

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

[–] pelespirit@sh.itjust.works 10 points 19 hours ago* (last edited 19 hours ago)

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

[–] MyDarkestTimeline01@ani.social 7 points 19 hours ago (1 children)

It's how the labour caste paid their taxes

[–] SippyCup@feddit.nl 8 points 19 hours ago* (last edited 19 hours 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.

[–] Lucky_777@lemmy.world 9 points 20 hours 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"

[–] NoneOfUrBusiness@fedia.io 7 points 19 hours ago

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

[–] balderdash9@lemmy.zip 7 points 20 hours ago (1 children)

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

[–] IrateAnteater@sh.itjust.works 8 points 19 hours ago (5 children)

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

[–] UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world 5 points 19 hours 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.

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[–] Battle_Masker@lemmy.blahaj.zone 4 points 20 hours ago

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

[–] omgboom@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 points 20 hours ago
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